Robert Garcia

Dr. Robert Garcia is an educator and the 28th Mayor of Long Beach. Mayor Garcia immigrated to the United States at age 5 and was raised in Southern California. The Mayor, a college and university educator, holds an M.A. from the University of Southern California and an Ed.D. in Higher Education from Cal State Long Beach, where he also earned his B.A. in Communications. Mayor Garcia leads a city made up of nearly 500,000 residents, 6,000 city employees, an airport and the second largest container seaports in the world. He is focused on making the City of Long Beach a leader in education, public health and climate protection. As Mayor, he has championed progressive education policy, launched an aggressive climate plan, supported workers by increasing wages; and fought to expand and protect rights for immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and women — including appointing a female majority to serve on city commissions for the first time in history. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Garcia launched a national model for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. His city became the first jurisdiction in the State of California to vaccinate public school teachers, which allowed one of the largest school districts in the state to reopen campuses. Mayor Garcia was the first mayor in the country to rollout a comprehensive city economic recovery plan — the Long Beach Recovery Act — to reinvigorate the economy, build a healthier community and get people back to work. He is married to Matthew Mendez Garcia, a professor of political science at California State University, Long Beach.