(JNS.org) Eric Garcetti will be the first elected Jewish mayor in the history of Los Angeles after winning 54 percent of the vote in a race decided Wednesday, May 21. Garcetti, a 42-year-old Democratic city councilman whose mother is of Russian Jewish descent and whose father is Mexican American, defeated city controller Wendy Greuel.

National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) Chair Marc R. Stanley said in a statement that NJDC is “extraordinarily proud that Garcetti is the first Jewish American elected to serve as the mayor of America’s second largest city.”

The eclectic Garcetti has acted on television shows including All My Children and The Closer, in addition to being a Rhodes Scholar and serving for eight years in military intelligence for U.S. Navy Reserves.