Andy Licht Announces Run For Beverly Hills City Council

For voters, the real question is not the announcement but the profile Andy Licht brings into the race. He is a familiar presence in Beverly Hills civic life, with years of hands-on involvement in planning, traffic, parking, and more recently historic preservation. His current service on the Cultural Heritage Commission runs through the 2026 election, placing his latest work in full view of the electorate as he makes his case for a seat on the City Council.

That timing matters because commission service is often where Beverly Hills tests future councilmembers. Planning and preservation are not abstract topics here. They decide what gets built, what gets protected, how long projects take, and whether residents feel heard or steamrolled. Licht’s supporters can point to a long apprenticeship in that system. His critics can argue that years inside City Hall’s process can also make a candidate too process-focused, too comfortable with the status quo, or too tied to the city’s familiar decision loops.

What is not debatable is that Licht has already asked voters for the job and come up short. In the June 7, 2022 municipal election, the City of Beverly Hills’ certified results show he received 2,476 votes, finishing behind the top three vote-getters who won seats.

That fourth-place cluster in 2022 is a useful reality check for any second run. Licht was not dismissed by voters, he was in the mix. But he also did not break through, and the difference between “in the mix” and “on the dais” is what a 2026 campaign has to answer. Is the city’s electorate looking for steadier governance from experienced hands, or a sharper change in direction? The answer is rarely ideological in Beverly Hills. It is usually about competence, trust, and whether a candidate seems equipped to handle the full portfolio, not just the issues they know best.

On experience, Licht’s record is vast. 2021 that Beverly Hills appointed him to the Planning Commission in 2016, that he served as Planning Commission chair twice, and that he served two terms on the Traffic and Parking Commission.

Licht has also had a long career as a film and television producer through his Beverly Hills-based company, with credits dating back decades on major studio projects including executive producing roles on films such as Waterworld, The Cable Guy and Idle Hands and producing television movies like Cooking with Love, giving him more than 30 years of experience navigating production and creative partnerships in the entertainment business.

Licht holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, along with a master’s degree from USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program.

None of this guarantees good council performance, but it does give voters something real to judge: a candidate shaped by land-use hearings, neighborhood testimony, and the kind of slow, technical decision-making that can either protect a city’s character or paralyze it. In Beverly Hills, both outcomes are possible, sometimes in the same meeting.

The strongest argument for Licht is straightforward. Beverly Hills is facing ongoing pressure around development, mobility, and the knock-on effects of regional projects that the city cannot fully control. A candidate who has lived inside the planning and traffic ecosystem is less likely to be surprised by how decisions get made, how policies backfire, or how quickly small changes ripple through neighborhoods and business districts. 

The strongest argument against him is also straightforward. City Council is not a commission. It is the final stop for everything, public safety, contracts, labor issues, budgets, intergovernmental fights, emergencies, lawsuits, and the endless human problems that do not fit neatly into staff reports. Commission experience can be a foundation, but it can also become a comfort zone. If a candidate’s public identity is too closely linked to planning fights, voters can reasonably ask whether he has demonstrated the broader leadership style the job demands.

There is also a political reality in Beverly Hills that candidates sometimes underestimate: voters often reward calm competence, but they also punish candidates who feel like a rerun unless the pitch is clearly updated. Licht’s 2022 vote total shows he had meaningful support.

So the 2026 contest becomes a test of evolution. A second run gives a candidate the chance to show what they learned, how their priorities sharpened, and whether their approach can expand beyond the commission world into citywide governance. Licht is entering that test with documented service, a certified election track record, and a current appointment that ties him to preservation issues at a moment when Beverly Hills debates identity as much as it debates projects. 

Voters should demand specifics, not in the form of slogans, but in the form of measurable commitments: what he would prioritize first, how he would evaluate public safety resources against budget constraints, how he would handle development disputes without turning every project into trench warfare, and how he would define success at the end of a first term. If Licht can answer those questions with clarity and restraint, his commission-heavy background becomes a strength.