Los Angeles County Democratic Party Treasurer Jamie Kennerk and Santa Monica City Councilmember Dan Hall have been named the 2026 Assembly District 51 Democrats of the Year.
The district’s Central Committee delegates selected the pair. The district includes Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and parts of Los Angeles including Hollywood, Hancock Park and Westwood.
“Jamie and Dan represent the very best of what it means to lead our Party and serve our communities,” said Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, who represents the district and chairs the Assembly Democratic Caucus.
Kennerk and Hall were to be honored alongside Democrats of the Year from across the county at the party’s 2026 Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Awards on Oct. 24 at the JW Marriott at L.A. LIVE, 900 W. Olympic Blvd. More information is available at lacdp.org/fer26.
Kennerk is an at-large board member of LA County Young Democrats, a founding board member of Westside Young Democrats and president emerita of Stonewall Young Democrats. Her work has focused on reproductive health care, LGBTQ+ rights and youth leadership development.
She began her career as a field representative and district director for then-Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager and now works as senior public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. She is a UCLA alumna.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the delegates I organize alongside every day,” Kennerk said. “This recognition belongs to everyone fighting to protect reproductive freedom and build the next generation of Democratic leaders.”
Hall has been an elected California Democratic Party delegate for the district since 2023. He previously served as vice president of political action and treasurer of the Santa Monica Democratic Club.
Hall began his service at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and spent eight years in the Army, rising to captain. He served in South Korea and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait to fight the Islamic State group as an AH-64D Apache Longbow pilot-in-command. After the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he became the Army’s first openly LGBTQ+ attack pilot.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a master’s in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hall said since his days as a Boy Scout, a church youth volunteer and a soldier, he has believed “service means showing up for one another.”
Edited by SMDP Staff