Had you asked Hydee Feldstein Soto five years ago if she’d ever consider running for public office, she’d likely have asked if you were joking, then returned to structuring and negotiating multibillion-dollar contracts for her legal clients.
“I have never aspired to be a politician,” she told The Jewish Journal on a video call. “It’s not something I ever wanted to do.”
And yet, after three-plus decades working as a lawyer in several private practices, Feldstein Soto is doing exactly what she never expected she’d do—campaigning to become the next City Attorney of Los Angeles.
If she were to win, she’d be the first woman to hold the position, which was created in 1850. She’d also be the first Latina Jew to serve as Los Angeles City Attorney and is the only Jewish candidate running to succeed Mike Feuer, a progressive Jew who will be termed out.
Feldstein Soto’s journey to this point has been unconventional, yet remarkable.
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she spoke Spanish at home and English in the classroom. Though her mother wasn’t Jewish (her father was), she started studying Torah at age 11. As a teenager, she converted to Judaism, which she says is as much a part of her identity as “having five fingers on my right hand.”
“I’ve always felt like a Jew,” Feldstein Soto said. “It was just part of my life; I never really questioned it.”
But growing up Jewish in Puerto Rico forced her to reconcile both aspects of her identity at an early age. While fellow Puerto Ricans used disparaging words likening her to a foreigner due to her last name, members of her own synagogue similarly invoked Yiddish-based tropes referring to non-Jews.
“Until I converted, I kept thinking I fit in nowhere,” she said. “As I matured and grew into my own skin, I got to the point where I viewed that as a plus. I owned both parts of my heritage.”
At age 17, she moved to the United States to attend Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She later attended Columbia University School of Law, graduating in 1982.
Thus began a career in financial law, which includes everything from commercial finance and lending to restructuring and bankruptcy. She even served as general counsel for an entertainment company.
Her professional accomplishments may be equally matched by how she navigated what was, for the longest time, a male-dominated field. Feldstein Soto says she led efforts to secure an emergency childcare facility at one of her firms as well as a private nursing room for new mothers. She also succeeded in getting sexually explicit images removed from the copy room in one of her first jobs in the early 1980s.
But her experience managing financial transactions dwarfing the annual budget of Los Angeles are what make her more than qualified to be the next City Attorney, Feldstein Soto says.
“It’s a job I can do from Day One,” she said. “Most of the job is what I did for a living.”
So why the sudden change of heart for Feldstein Soto when it comes to running for public office? For one, it’s a direct response to experiences she’s had speaking with former Angelenos who have left town for places like Utah, Texas, Tennessee, and Nevada.
It’s a direct response to experiences she’s had speaking with former Angelenos who have left town for places like Utah, Texas, Tennessee, and Nevada.
“I think that the only thing that’s improved since I moved here in 1982 is the air quality,” she said. “Everything else, to me, has declined, and the rate of decline has accelerated precipitously over the course of the last 8 to 10 years.”
“I don’t want to give up on our city,” she added.
That “everything else” she aims to address includes increasing transparency and accountability in city government, addressing homelessness without criminalizing poverty, and protecting vulnerable communities from violence. More specifically, she called out how easily accessible firearms are to dangerous people and expressed concern over recent attacks at houses of worship, from Jewish synagogues to Black churches to Sikh temples.
“The incidents of trying to make people feel afraid as they go to pray is really something we need to work on,” she said. “I would start by appointing a hate crimes deputy.”
The second reason she shifted her outlook is due to her late father Stanley L. Feldstein, who passed away in March 2020. A well-respected attorney in his own right, the Staten Island native is notable for establishing the law firm that eventually forced the Puerto Rican government to shut down a prison notorious for mistreating inmates.
“He was a corporate lawyer by day, a do-gooder by night, and a mensch all the time,” Feldstein Soto said. “If I can positively affect the lives of 30 percent of people he affected, I’ll feel good about having lived up to his legacy.”
She called out how easily accessible firearms are to dangerous people and expressed concern over recent attacks at houses of worship, from Jewish synagogues to Black churches to Sikh temples.
Given her resume, background, and demeanor, it tracks when Feldstein Soto says she doesn’t believe that being a woman, a Jew, or a Latina are good enough reasons on their own to vote for her. However, she said she would embrace the best of each as Los Angeles City Attorney.
“I draw on Jewish values in my personal life and in my career,” citing justice and personal accountability as front and center for her. Meanwhile, she noted that “we Latinas tend not to take credit” while emphasizing hard work, inclusivity, and communication.
Though she said that her primary identities aren’t in conflict with each other as much these days, she experienced a clash of the two recently after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocated against funding the Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Feldstein Soto said, noting that progressives in Congress say they believe in protecting women and children. “What you’re doing is exposing innocent people to the rockets targeting them.”
Perhaps the greatest difference between Feldstein Soto and Ocasio-Cortez is notoriety. AOC is a newsmaker with 12.7 million followers on Twitter while Feldstein Soto is a workhorse who never sought the public eye. The fact that she is a bit of an outsider though is what makes her perfectly suited for this position, she said.
“This race is for an attorney—the kind of lawyer that I’ve been.”
When Angelenos fill out their ballots next November, Feldstein Soto wants them to know that she’s dedicated to making the city work for its people.
“I’m here to do the job and make sure we deliver the results that the residents of this city deserve,” she said. “They’re not getting them now.”
Benjamin Raziel is a writer and novelist based in Tel Aviv.
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