Fast Facts

  • Senior Pastor of the Historic McCarty Memorial Church in West Adams; Community Organizer for 10+ years; Co-Founder of Partnership for Growth LA

  • I have been a renter in Jefferson Park and now Mid-City

  • Married to Clare Anderson-Fox; youngest of four children

  • Morehouse College and Claremont School of Theology

  • Measure J to move 10% of County budget into community services and alternatives to incarceration

    Measure A to increase oversight of Los Angeles Sheriff Department,

    United to House LA to reduce homelessness, make housing more affordable, and protect low-income seniors from losing their homes.

Meet Eddie

I am Reverend Eddie Anderson, affectionately known by community members as "Pastor Eddie.” I am a community organizer, advocate and ordained minister. I serve as Senior Pastor of McCarty Memorial Christian Church in West Adams, an historic place of civil rights organizing in the heart of our district. I am also a seasoned community organizer with LA Voice, a multi-racial, multi-faith non-profit organization dedicated to equity and abundance for all. In 2020, I co-founded the Partnership for Growth LA, a pioneering Black and Jewish Community Development Corporation to improve quality of life and offer economic empowerment for underserved residents in our community. 

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, I am the youngest of four siblings in a close-knit, extended family. My father, a retired Air Force veteran and preacher, and my mother, a volunteer education advocate, instilled in me the values of faith, community service, and compassion for our neighbors. Growing up, I was inspired by the extraordinary legacy of my grandfather, a civil rights leader in rural southern Georgia. He shattered barriers by spearheading the desegregation of the largest Army base in the Eastern United States and became one of the first Black elected officials in his county since the Reconstruction era. From my family's heritage, I inherited a deep appreciation for history and a commitment to shaping a brighter future for all.

While following in the footsteps of my father and grandfather as a minister was never a part of my initial plan, life had a way of leading me to unexpected paths. After graduating from Morehouse College, a fortuitous encounter brought me all the way to Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles. Like many others, I was drawn to the allure of the California Dream. However, the dream soon became a nightmare, and I found myself homeless despite working two jobs. Uncertainty and anxiety engulfed me, leaving me feeling as though I had let down my community. 

Through those challenging times, I experienced firsthand the systemic failures that so many hardworking residents face in this city. It was during those moments of adversity that I made a commitment to dedicate my life to transforming lives by changing these broken systems. Joining movements for social and economic justice, and finding my purpose as a freedom fighter allowed me to rediscover my voice.

For over a decade, I have worked tirelessly to build and lead coalitions advocating for affordable housing, fair wages, union jobs, immigrant rights, Black Lives Matter, and policies that uplift families out of poverty. Together, we have protested, engaged in civil disobedience, achieved policy victories, reimagined budgets, and compelled political systems to address the urgent needs of our communities. I draw inspiration from the exemplary leadership of civil rights legends like Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., as well as my mentor, Reverend James Lawson, who have shown me the power of combining compassion and faith in the fight for freedom and human dignity.

Throughout my years of service, I have been on the front lines meeting the needs of my neighbors in Council District 10. I have witnessed their pain and struggled alongside them—helping families make timely rent payments, finding shelter for the unhoused, creating safe spaces for our youth, and offering solace to grieving families affected by police and gang violence.During the height of the pandemic, with little resources but with community collaboration, I led my congregation to feed over 25k neighbors and vaccinate over a 1k parents, street vendors and residents of Council District 10.

In 2020, I had the honor of serving on the Los Angeles Redistricting Commission for Council District 10. As a commissioner, I focused on listening and responding to the needs of our residents, resulting in the preservation of Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, and many other historically significant neighborhoods belonging to our diverse Latino, Jewish, and African American communities. Through my community development organization, I secured over $7 million in investment for mental health resources and job placement for at-risk youth, and food access, economic opportunity and urban farming initiatives in Council District 10.

It has become evident to me that the status quo of politics has failed us, and yet I still believe we have many opportunities to create policies that empower and heal our people. That is why I feel called to serve Council District 10 on the Los Angeles City Council: to fight for our fair share of city services in the 10th District, to win policies that advance equity, and to create a district that respects the dignity, power, pride and participation of all its residents.