by Rick Gonzales
Gloria Partida moved from East Los Angeles to Davis in 1989 as a single mother of three small children, one with special needs, determined to better the opportunities for herself and her family. She attended UC Davis and earned a BS in Zoology and later worked at UCD for 30 years as a Neurobiologist.
As she studied and worked to support her family, she advocated for her own and all children in the school system. Gloria helped start mainstream education for special needs students in Davis, established a community-based work program for people with disabilities in Davis and founded the Davis Phoenix Coalition, a non-profit to 
promote inclusion and prevent hate crimes.
She has served on PTA and School Site Councils, on the Board of Summer House and Purple Tree Café (both organizations that serve people with disabilities), and has volunteered with STEAC. In 2016 she ran for Davis City Council. Gloria became mayor in 2020 during the Covid- 19 pandemic.
She is the first Latino person (male or female) ever to be elected to the Davis City Council. Her greatest achievement while serving the past four years was the collaboration effort between the City of Davis and UCD.
As mayor, she was the top advocate for the city in these collaborations. This resulted in the Davis Healthy Together program that administered 800,000 Covid tests to all Davis residents, UCD students and staff and many from surrounding towns. Of these tests, 13,000 were positive for Covid-19.
But the most astonishing stat was that 200 people per week who were asymptomatic tested positive also. Had they not tested, they would have undoubtedly infected everyone they came in contact with. We don’t know how many lives were saved by this statistic alone. She served on the roads and bike paths committee and created a ten-year plan with funding to improve every street in Davis.
She also played a significant role in creating the new Dept. of Social Services and Homelessness. Gloria Partida is an incumbent councilwoman who listens to her constituents and fellow council members. She has a long track record of Social Justice advocacy even before she joined the DCC.
As Davis changes to district elections, if elected, she will be the District 4 representative to the Davis City Council. If anyone in District 4 has a concern, just give her a call. She will respond directly and if she doesn’t have the answer, she will research it to find the answer and get back to her constituent. This is how the new Davis City Council will be working going forward.
Her perspective (as a female and an ethnic minority) is the most needed at this point in time to have a balanced council.
She is endorsed by every DCC member, by every member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, former elected officials, State Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, State Senator Bill Dodd and Congressman Mike Thompson. She has truly earned another term to the council. Gloria Partida is the best candidate to be elected to the Davis City Council, District 4. Please consider her candidacy.
Rick Gonzales is a longtime Davis resident, Davis Citizen of the Year, 2012, International Educators Hall of Fame Recipient, 2013 and Vietnam Veteran, 1966-7
Refreshing… a positive campaign-related post…
I recently read an article in the national news about how Davis had lower rates of Covid than the rest of California because of Healthy Davis Together.