When they voted for Raul Urena in 2020, the residents of Calexico wanted to inject new blood into the city council of this Californian city burdened by unemployment, delinquency and corruption.
But when this 26-year-old transgender politician, who campaigned looking like a man, started wearing dresses and heels, it disconcerted many in this predominantly Catholic Latino stronghold.
Targeted by a referendum calling for her dismissal, she now considers herself the victim of a hate campaign.
“From the start, this opposition movement has been transphobic towards me,” assures AFP the politician, who uses female pronouns.
Its detractors denounce its program which is too left-wing, which combines compassion towards drug users and the installation of chargers for electric cars, in a place where few have the means to buy a clean vehicle.
“I didn’t vote for that,” confides Angela Moreno, a 62-year-old resident.
“I voted for him, because he was a young man who (…) represented a good change,” adds this retiree.
The controversy surrounding Mme Urena plunged Calexico into the culture wars that divide the America of Joe Biden and that of Donald Trump.
A shame for this border town with Mexico, used to voting Democratic. Here, the old guard of the party and the younger generation, further to the left, can no longer stand each other.
Lightning Ascent
Lost in the desert, Calexico is located in a rural county that suffers from an astronomical unemployment rate: 17% in 2023, the highest in California.
Young people tend to flee this place to seek a better life elsewhere.
But after studying economics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, near San Francisco, Mme Urena decided to return to her city in 2020.
She then experienced a rapid political rise, winning the by-election caused by the withdrawal of a municipal councilor convicted of corruption.
At the end of 2022, she was re-elected for a four-year term, which allowed her to become the first transgender mayor of Calexico – a city where the office is assigned to a different city councilor each year.
Her trans identity has never been a secret, according to her.
“People have been making fun of my gender identity since 2020,” insists the politician.
But it was only after her re-election that she agreed to wear dresses in public. A few months later, her fallen opponents mounted a campaign to collect signatures to revoke her.
They obtained enough to provoke the organization of a local referendum, which will take place on Wednesday.
Identity debates
Supporter of this initiative, former mayor Alex Perrone criticizes the inexperience of Mr.me Urena and his lack of listening to the opposition.
“If you attend a council meeting and you say something that goes against their beliefs, their agenda, you are their enemy,” he says. “He will have you escorted by the police.”
Some residents also felt cheated by his change in appearance, he admits.
“When he campaigned, he wore nice little pants and a shirt. After being elected, he started wearing a dress,” he says. “He deceived people. They thought they were voting for one person, but they were voting for another.”
The movement to revoke Mme Urena, however, insists that her trans identity is irrelevant. The recall attempt also targets other municipal councilors, considered too progressive.
“This reminder will not focus on anyone’s life because of their personal and sexual choices,” says the initiative’s Facebook page.
But in Calexico, identity debates now take on a disproportionate place.
The choice to fly the LGBT+ flag sparked heated controversy. And city council sessions conducted in Spanish, without English translation, are also the subject of controversy.
The municipal council may well be predominantly Democratic, but it can no longer agree on much, explains Gilberto Manzanarez, also targeted by the referendum.
“Even the approval of the police chief was not unanimous,” he whispers. “It shows that this council is as divided and fractured as the community.”
