DOWNEY – Councilwoman Claudia M. Frometa voiced her intent to run for re-election on a recent podcast broadcast.

Frometa is currently in the final year of her first term, where she represents Downey’s fourth district.

Elected in 2018, she served the city as its mayor last year.

During a recent visit on the Downey Patriot’s LiveWire podcast, Frometa said she intends to run for re-election in November.

“I think this city needs continued stability and leadership, and I know that there will be – certainly with another council member terming out (Sean Ashton) – there will be an open seat for District 2,” said Frometa. “I think we need solid leadership in this city; people that are well vetted and individuals that actually have the best intentions for this community.”

On the podcast, Frometa reflected on her prior year as mayor – and before that, mayor pro tem - much of which was spent attending to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Looking back, I became Mayor Pro Tem at the tail end of 2019, and of course into 2020 I served as Mayor Pro Tem and just last year I ended my term as mayor, and there has never been a time in the history of our world where we have faced such a challenging time,” said Frometa, who works professionally in the medical field. “Never in our lifetime have we faced a pandemic.”

“Certainly, my background in healthcare allowed me to have, really, a front row seat at what has happening really hour by hour…That allowed me – without violating any privacy issues and violating any company information – it allowed me to have a really good understanding of the dynamics that were coming and what we were facing.”

Frometa said she was able to be more “proactive than reactive.”

“I could see things coming, and I was able to then share information…with our mayor at the time when I was vice mayor, and really plan a better strategy for our city and be able to communicate with our residents in a way that was timely,” said Frometa. “One of the things that I did a mayor in 2021 as things continued to be volatile and uncertain and changed so quickly, I was able to reach out to physicians both at Kaiser Permanente Downey and PIH and really get their input so that it wasn’t just a politician talking, but we had the local medical experts discussing and giving information to our community as to what was pertinent, and the information that was clear and concise.”

Though the pandemic took center stage for a majority of Frometa’s time at the helm, she also pointed to a relatively new challenge emerging in the community: partisan politics.

“The biggest challenge facing Downey today is political strife,” said Frometa. “I think this is true for communities around us and -again – across the country, which is a very alarming thing, is the fracturing of councils; councils that in local municipalities are becoming increasingly partisan. As I have said it before, and I will continue to say it, our streets, our sewers, and our lights are not partisan, and we shouldn’t be either.”

Over the course of her term, Frometa has gone head-to-head with a small-but-aggressive group of council critics, who have singled her out on more than one occasion. She was also targeted – along with her other council colleagues at the time – with a string of home protests in early 2020.

Frometa called it a “new low,” however said that she does not regret taking office.

“I do not regret serving this community,” said Frometa. “We love Downey. This is home; we all – those of us that have been part of this community for many years – we understand this community.”

“I think what may be regrettable is the way the current climate has gone as far as attacking our families. I think that is something that was never seen in this community. Downey has always been this bedroom community – and by no means is this community perfect, there’s always opportunities for growth and improvement, absolutely – but when you see individuals attacking this community that…are not part of this community, and I hate to call them ‘newcomers’ – I’ve talked to individuals who have maybe been here for six months, maybe a year, maybe a handful of years – that have never been truly involved, and are part of the division and the hatred, I think that that is really unfortunate.”

The entirety of the LiveWire podcast can be found on the Downey Patriot website, as well as on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.