Hayden to Launch Mayoral Bid

Ending months of speculation, State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) plans to announce this afternoon that he will run against incumbent Richard J. Riordan in the April election for mayor of the nation’s second largest city.

Hayden, the 1960s student activist turned lifelong government watchdog, will be the first official challenger to Riordan, the multimillionaire lawyer-businessman elected in 1993. Local political observers say City Councilman Nate Holden--a veteran of two failed bids for the post--might also enter the race, but he has not yet taken any official steps to do so.

The Times reported last month that Hayden had told friends and supporters that he would enter the race, but he refused to confirm his plans until Saturday. He long ago set up an exploratory committee to allow him to begin raising and spending money, and recently moved from Santa Monica to West Los Angeles.

Hayden aide Patty Shin said her boss plans to make the official announcement today at 1:30 p.m. at his Westside campaign office. Hayden could not be reached for comment late Saturday.

First catapulted to national prominence as head of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Michigan, Hayden was among the protesters who disrupted the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Hayden has spent the last 14 years in Sacramento, earning a reputation as a maverick for his investigations of high-profile issues including the Orange County bankruptcy, the UC Irvine fertility scandal, UCLA admissions policies and plans to move St. Vibiana’s cathedral.