In one of the closest mayoral races in the history of Los Angeles, Pepperdine alumnus James Kenneth Hahn defeated Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday, June 5, 2001 to become mayor of the nation's second largest city.

A magna cum laude graduate of Pepperdine's Seaver College in 1972, Hahn graduated from Pepperdine's School of Law in 1975. The newly elected mayor and former four-term Los Angeles city attorney was honored as the School of Law's Distinguished Alumnus in 1994. While at Seaver College, he assisted in the development of a paralegal program for the Family Law Center of the Legal Aid Society. During law school, he clerked for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

The son of longtime Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, the younger Hahn has continued a extends the family's  tradition of public service. His uncle, Gordon Hahn, served as a member on the Los Angeles City Council; his uncle, John Hahn, was assistant county clerk; and his cousin, Dale Hahn, is a Superior Court judge in San Mateo County. And on the same Tuesday he was elected mayor, his sister, Janice Hahn, (see photo) was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, District 15.  Ms. Hahn is a Seaver College alumna and her daughter, Katy Baucum, graduated from Seaver in 2000.

The new mayor espouses certain themes that are embraced in Pepperdine's approach to higher education, especially the idea of servant leadership: "To lead, one must first learn to serve," he said.

In a Los Angeles Times interview during the recent his campaign, Hahn was quoted as said, saying, "I think it's about making sure that you live your life, public or private, according to a set of values you believe in that you don't lie, you don't cheat, that you understand that holding public office is a public trust."

Hahn and his wife, Monica, live in San Pedro, California.  They have a daughter, Karinaa Natalie, and a son, Jackson Kenneth.