Meet Jessica Ancona

A Proud, lifelong resident of the City of El Monte

Mayor Jessica Ancona is a proud, lifelong resident of the City of El Monte and a daughter of hardworking immigrants from Mexico. She was born and raised in this great city of El Monte, and has dedicated her adult life to public service as an educator and elected official.

Jessica attended public schools in El Monte, and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to obtaining her bachelor’s degree from UCLA, she has earned a Teaching Credential and Master’s in Education from Azusa Pacific University and an Administrative Services Credential from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Mayor Ancona is currently a high school assistant principal at Lynwood Unified School District. Prior to becoming a school administrator she was a high school teacher for 10 years. For over two decades, Jessica has been an advocate for our children, their education and their quality of life.

A Community Advocate

In 2013, Mayor Ancona was first elected to the El Monte City School District Governing Board, where she served as the President in 2016 and 2017 and Vice President in 2018. Jessica also served as a Delegate Assembly Member for the California School Board Association (CSBA) in 2017 and 2018 with 300 other members from throughout the State of California. She was elected to serve on CSBA by local school boards within Region 23.

As an elected El Monte City School District Governing Board Member for five years, Mayor Ancona supported building state of the art facilities; re-implemented music programs for all students; opened the Jeff Seymour Family Center housing over 30 community service providers for our families; increased wages and improved healthcare benefits for the district’s workforce and maintained a fiscally sound budget. While Jessica was President of the school board, she advocated to establish a Project Labor Agreement with the Building Trades for the final project of a series of school and facility improvements scheduled to begin late Winter of 2018.

A Public Servant

In 2018, Mayor Ancona was elected to the El Monte City Council as the only independent candidate in the race. Her independence has proven valuable to the community as she has been able to focus on the needs of the residents of El Monte. During the first 2 years on the council, she took on the tobacco and vape industry protecting the youth of this community. Jessica also advocated for a joint use agreement with the school district, opening up more greenspace for recreational and passive uses for her community. Additionally, she has worked with the Southwest Carpenters Union to help complete Fletcher Fetch Park by building aesthetic enhancements to the project. She supports smart conscious development and welcomes progress that considers community first.

In 2020, Jessica took on an 11 year incumbent Mayor to bring about new bold ideas to the City. Shegarnered over 11,000 votes, the highest for any Mayoral candidate in El Monte’s history. She entered into the role as Mayor at the height of the pandemic and worked tirelessly to secure more COVID testing and vaccination resources for the seniors, families and children in the community. With an increase in hate crimes, Mayor Ancona championed to establish a Human Relations Ad Hoc, championed a Walk Against API Hate with her colleagues and brought forth the first Proclamation in El Monte’s history that proclaimed June as Pride Month and subsequently held a Pride night at El Monte’s weekly Farmers’ Market.

A Champion For Working Families

Although in the minority on the dais, she has been a dedicated public servant and an ally to working families. She has fought tirelessly to bring forth Energy Efficiency Projects, a Sewer replacement and Street repair project, as well as union arborists to maintain her city’s trees amongst other projects.

She is endorsed by several Teamsters locals and Joint Council 42, Laborers District Council and Local 300, Steamfitters, Pipefitters, Plumbers and other labor groups representing working families of El Monte and San Gabriel Valley.








An Advocate for Public Safety

Her work with local law enforcement and the fire department during some of the City’s most difficult times, has made her a strong advocate for public safety and ensuring El Monte families can live safe and healthy in their beloved city. Under Mayor Ancona's administration, the City has launched the STOP Program, Strategic Traffic Offender Program, which has been rolled out in different areas of the city with community meetings held at several of our parks and she championed the Catalytic Converter Etching program in partnership with our police department and our towing companies to deter catalytic converter theft, which has been on the rise throughout the state. Mayor Ancona strongly supports establishing Community Policing so that our officers and community can build relationships to help keep El Monte safe and is currently working with the El Monte Police Department to launch a program to work with small businesses to establish best practices to deter Smash and Grab crimes that have been prevalent throughout the country.

Jessica is a proud mother of two college students who live with her. Her parents still live in the City of El Monte along with many other family members.