From Venice to MAGA: One of Councilmember Traci Park’s Biggest Supporters Joins Trump Administration

When Traci Park ran for Los Angeles City Council in 2022, she framed herself as a pragmatic voice ready to bring “common sense” to Council District 11. But a closer look at her political alliances reveals something much more aligned with far-right ideology—and increasingly tied to figures who have now joined the Trump administration.

At the center of this story is Soledad Ursúa, a Venice Neighborhood Councilmember, conservative media figure, and one of Traci Park’s most vocal and visible allies. Ursúa isn’t just a right-wing activist. She’s a regular on Fox News, a contributor to City Journal, and now a senior policy advisor for Donald Trump’s HUD.

Yes—Park’s longtime political ally is now serving in the Trump administration.

This isn’t guilt by association. It’s a roadmap of mutual endorsement, shared ideology, and coordinated messaging that traces a direct line from Park’s platform in Los Angeles to MAGA politics at the federal level.

Soledad Ursúa was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Traci Park’s campaign to unseat progressive Councilmember Mike Bonin. Park stepped into the race in the wake of a failed right-wing-led recall effort against Bonin—a campaign that Ursúa helped spearhead. She later celebrated Park’s entry into the race as a turning point for Venice, calling Park’s campaign “a better political track” and lauding her for “actually caring about the community” when “nobody else would.”

This wasn’t just rhetoric—it was an endorsement of a shared worldview: criminalize homelessness, dismantle progressive city policy, and restore “order” through increased policing and sweeps.

Throughout 2022 and beyond, Ursúa continued to use her large social media platform to amplify Park’s candidacy and later her policy positions, especially when they aligned with conservative talking points. When Park said it was time to “get serious about public safety” and called Los Angeles a “failed social experiment,” Ursúa echoed it word for word. Even Nathan Hochman, the GOP’s 2022 candidate for California Attorney General, reposted the quote in praise. These weren’t isolated moments—they were signals to a base that thrives on fear, criminalization, and exclusion.

Councilmember Park hasn’t just accepted Ursúa’s support—she’s governed in ways that reinforce their alignment. Take the sanctuary city vote in late 2024, when the City Council overwhelmingly approved a resolution making Los Angeles a sanctuary city. Traci Park and one other councilmember skipped the vote. Afterward, Park claimed she would have voted no, calling the measure “symbolic resistance” that could threaten federal funding. Ursúa immediately picked up Park’s quote, broadcasting her stance to conservative followers as validation for their shared skepticism of immigrant protections.

This pattern has repeated across issues—especially around homelessness. At a 2023 Venice Neighborhood Council meeting, Soledad Ursúa asked Park if the local Bridge Housing facility was “hosting illegal migrants.” Park didn’t dismiss the framing—instead, she called it “interesting” and engaged with it as a legitimate concern. Park didn’t challenge the inflammatory language. She gave it oxygen.

And while Traci Park hasn’t publicly endorsed Ursúa, she has repeatedly praised the “activists” who helped oust Bonin and “restore balance” in Venice—activists like Ursúa, who now sits in a Trump administration housing post helping shape federal policy from the right.

Ursúa isn’t an outlier. She’s part of a larger network of Westside figures who backed Park’s rise, many of whom have also pushed for anti-tenant, anti-homeless, and anti-immigrant policies. That network includes former recall leaders, hardline public safety activists, and even former VNC members like Helen Fallon, who not only supported Park’s campaign but also chaired local committees alongside Ursúa.

This isn't coincidence—it's coalition. A coalition built on nostalgia for a Venice that excluded unhoused people, pushed out renters, and turned public spaces into battlegrounds. And it’s a coalition that Traci Park has empowered, embraced, and carried with her into office.

With Soledad Ursúa’s appointment to HUD, the connection between Park’s local policies and national MAGA priorities is no longer abstract. It’s official. A Park-aligned activist is now helping shape federal housing decisions under Donald Trump.

That means the ideology guiding key decisions in CD11—on housing, policing, public space—is being reinforced by a growing MAGA influence. And Traci Park’s close working relationship with Ursúa signals at best a strategic alliance, and at worst a shared agenda.

Either way, voters deserve to know: Is this the future Councilmember Park envisions for Los Angeles? Because what started as a local race to replace a progressive councilmember has now become something much more dangerous: a gateway for MAGA ideology to gain ground in L.A. politics—disguised in the language of “common sense,” but backed by federal power.