California Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur has named former Santa Monica Mayor Judy Abdo as the 2026 Assembly District 51 Woman of the Year, recognizing her decades of public service and historic role as the city's first openly LGBTQ+ elected official.
Zbur, a Democrat who represents the local area as caucus chair of the Assembly Democratic Caucus, announced the honor during Women's History Month.
"Judy Abdo has spent her life fighting to make Santa Monica a more just, inclusive, and compassionate community," Zbur said. "As Santa Monica's first openly LGBTQ+ mayor, she helped break barriers and expand representation at a time when that visibility mattered deeply. Her years of advocacy and grassroots leadership helped shape Santa Monica into the progressive and caring community it is today. I am incredibly proud to honor her as Assembly District 51's 2026 Woman of the Year."
Abdo, now in her early 80s, said the recognition reflects a lifetime of work rooted first in the classroom before expanding into civic life.
"I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur," she said. "My commitment to service began in the classroom, where I spent 13 years as a teacher and later served as Director of Child Development Services for the Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District. Those experiences shaped my belief that strong communities are built by investing in people — especially children and families. From organizing in Ocean Park to advocating for renters' rights, equality, and social services, I have always tried to help make Santa Monica a more compassionate and inclusive place where everyone can thrive."
Born Inglewood, Abdo grew up in West Hollywood and graduated from Hollywood High School before earning a degree in early childhood education from UC Santa Barbara. After teaching elementary school through the 1960s and early 1970s, she entered the political arena during the fight against the Briggs Initiative, which would have barred gay and lesbian teachers from California public schools.
Her path into politics grew from community organizing through the Church in Ocean Park, a progressive congregation led by the Rev. Jim Conn where she helped to pass rent control — an issue that would define much of her public career.
Abdo won a seat on the Santa Monica City Council in November 1988 on the Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights slate, running as the first openly lesbian candidate to ensure the Ocean Park neighborhood had a strong voice in city government. Her election gave progressives a council majority. She served two full terms through 1996, and her council colleagues selected her as mayor twice, with Abdo serving roughly three years as mayor between 1990 and 1994 — making her one of fewer than a dozen openly LGBTQ+ mayors in the nation at the time.
A significant moment of her tenure came on Jan. 17, 1994, when a 6.7-magnitude earthquake centered in Northridge damaged more than 1,600 housing units in Santa Monica along with the city's main library, two hospitals and Saint Monica Catholic Church. Abdo lobbied the Clinton administration directly and worked alongside U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to secure a dedicated FEMA field office and millions in federal aid. She met President Clinton at Santa Monica Airport that May.
Beyond earthquake recovery, Abdo's council tenure produced an environmental task force that became the city's Sustainability Commission, expanded nonprofit funding, strengthened rent control protections and established an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting people with HIV/AIDS.
After leaving the council, Abdo served as Santa Monica's representative on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board for approximately 28 years, rising to vice chair. When she retired from that role in 2024, the MWD named the Wildflower Trail at Diamond Valley Lake in her honor.
She also helped found Sojourn Shelter for domestic violence survivors in 1977 — now the second-oldest such program in California — and co-founded the Santa Monica AIDS Project.
Abdo served as Grand Marshal of Santa Monica's 2024 Fourth of July Parade and continues to sit on the steering committee of Climate Action Santa Monica. She remains a resident of the Ocean Park neighborhood, where she has lived since the 1970s.