Progressives Win Lakewood City Council 2025

Every Lakewood candidate recommended by the Progressive Voters Guide won the 2025 race in all five ward districts. The Progressive Voter Guide also identified Wendi Strom, Isabel Cruz and Glenda Sinks as progressive candidates in 2023.

Under progressive leadership, Lakewood’s quality of life has declined while Council focuses on issues that residents consider secondary. With progressive ideology dominant, those with differing opinions have been run off, such as liberal-leaning Rich Olver and Anita Springsteen, and conservative-leaning Mary Janssen.

All candidates except Bill Furman ran on climate issues, even at a time when even Bill Gates has said that past investments in climate change have been misplaced. Bill Furman only wrote three little paragraphs on issues, saying the least of all candidates.

The biggest issue during the campaign was the change in zoning code, and only two of the progressive candidates said anything concrete about that. They all committed to affordable housing. Ken Cruz talked extensively about his listening tour and amendments. Without watching City Council meetings or finding alternative media outlets, residents would have no idea how zoning code changes would affect them personally.

Readers may be interested in checking out some voting guide partners and platforms because 1984-type double-speak is heavy in these campaigns. “Public safety” traditionally meant police support, but under the progressive platform it means providing housing for homeless and installing streetlights. “Economic development” used to mean supporting small businesses, but progressive support means government handouts to individuals and nonprofits.

Wards 1 and 2 were uncontested races. These progressive candidates were endorsed by most of Lakewood City Council members.

Ward 3 was a three-way race with the named progressive candidate and incumbent competing with one liberal-leaning and one conservative-leaning candidate. The considerable efforts of the two non-incumbents split the vote. Combined, they won 49% of the vote, and the winner gained a bare 51% plurality. In this case, the winner, Ken Cruz, also had the considerable power of the incumbent position to help him. Without that position, he may have lost or been in the same position as Mayor Wendi Strom. Strom won the race but did not gain a majority approval in a three-way split.

Ward 4 was also a three-way race, but unlike the Ward 3 description, the Voter’s Guide was not respectful of other candidates. Instead of discussing issues, the Guide repeated half-truths about the other candidates. Ward 4 challengers were not as aggressive in asking for votes, giving Furman a bigger lead than Ken Cruz.

In Ward 5, the Guide also had to resort to smearing the other candidate. In a demonstration of supreme irony, the Progressive Voter Guide discussed the opponent’s unaffiliated status “despite the non-partisan nature of City Council seats.”

In short, none of the progressive candidates got into the weeds with platform details. That is how these same candidates, mostly incumbents, could advance radical, progressive, re-zoning on the premise of affordable housing.

In 2025, progressives won the day.