A Firsthand Look at Maxine Waters, Up Close with Her Constituents
The meeting in Gardena seemed disorganized at times.
Arthur Schaper | February 19, 2026
Congresswoman Maxine Waters goes by many names: Kerosene Maxine, Aunty Maxine, The Queen of South L.A., the Crazy Black Lady (that’s mine). Since 1990, she’s been pushing her brand of racialized progressivism without apology: in Congress celebrating riots, calling for the nationalization of private companies, spending big for the Democrat party (and her daughter) while telling conservatives to go to hell.
On Jan. 31, 2026, Congresswoman Maxine Waters hosted a townhall in Gardena, California, a grimy lower-middle-class industrial city of 60,000 with a per capita income of $36,000, situated near the roaring intersection of the 405 and the 110, west of Compton.
These usually tiresome events remain a feature of fun for conservative activists, just to see how far they can push her buttons.
For her own constituents, however, one has to wonder if Waters is wearing out her political wealth — or welcome.
Most of the audience were old and black, with some Hispanics and whites in attendance. This demographic dynamic makes sense, since Gardena is a diverse population: a quarter white, black, Hispanic, and Asian.
Finally, Congresswoman Waters showed up, after being introduced by Gardena Mayor Tasha Cerda. The mayor of Compton also attended, along with a city councilman from Torrance (Asam Sheikh), whom Waters had endorsed for city council in 2022.
Most of the people she invited to speak on stage talked about housing, Social Security, and veterans' issues. She also brought in a lawyer on how to deal with ICE if the lawmen came to their homes or businesses. An IRS tax advocate also gave a brief presentation to the audience. I wondered how many people in the audience actually pay taxes, when it seemed that a good number of them live off the taxes of others. A couple of people from food banks talked about the higher grocery costs afflicting residents. “Why are private food banks getting federal monies?” I wondered.
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