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# Candidate profile: Ashley Oelsen
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/candidate-profile-ashley-oelsen/
- Published: 2026-10-05T17:19:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-09T17:24:23.000Z
- Author: Matthew Hall
- Tags: Election 2026, Government & Politics

Ashley Oelsen enters the race as an independent conservation biologist, positioning herself as a data-driven alternative to the established political blocs. Her campaign emphasizes a science-based methodology for policy evaluation, aiming to dissolve ideological silos in favor of empirical transparency and measurable results.

Position summaries: 

Homelessness: Oelsen advocates for a system of care anchored in quantifiable data and retention rates to ensure participants move toward stability rather than perpetual dependency. She emphasizes the necessity of tracking individuals through the system to determine the actual return on investment for municipal spending.

Crime & Public Safety: She identifies the restoration of public safety as the mandatory prerequisite for rebuilding business confidence and revitalizing the downtown core. Oelsen supports equipping the police department with the necessary staffing and resources to repair the city's "dismal" post-COVID safety reputation.

Housing Construction: She maintains that no significant upzoning should proceed without comprehensive infrastructure and evacuation studies to assess the city's actual carrying capacity. Oelsen is committed to protecting the integrity of single-family neighborhoods while ensuring residents retain a direct voice in local land-use decisions.

Economic Recovery: Her strategy focuses on providing tangible business incentives and restoring street-level safety to return vibrancy to the Third Street Promenade. She asserts that a clean and safe environment is the only pathway to re-capitalizing on Santa Monica’s status as a global destination.

Governmental Philosophy: Oelsen’s philosophy is rooted in "radical transparency" and the application of the scientific method to legislative decision-making. She believes elected leaders must be honest about policy outcomes and be willing to pivot when empirical evidence reveals failure.

Qualifications & Narrative 

A conservation biologist and environmental advocate, Oelsen holds degrees from the University of Southern California and a Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania. Her professional pedigree includes a Directorate Fellowship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and lobbying on Capitol Hill for international conservation causes. Locally, she serves on the Commission on Sustainability and the Environment and chaired the Clean Oceans and Beaches Measure V Oversight Committee. Oelsen brings a unique "boots-on-the-ground" realism to her scholarly approach; she notably sampled sand and sediment post-Palisades fire to identify community toxins and led the effort against the toxic sorting site at Will Rogers.

Perhaps her most significant narrative differentiator is her stated "lived experience" of having lived in her car in Santa Monica for a period, an experience she uses to illuminate the "layers" of homelessness that often elude traditional policy models. As the first in her family to go to college, raised by a single mother who worked as a flight attendant, she frames her candidacy around social mobility and transparency. Oelsen founded "Santa Monica Neighbors" to educate residents on civic engagement and charter rules, driven by the belief that the current council has failed to reflect the actual voices of the resident base.