Takei was an alternate delegate from California to the 1972 Democratic National Convention . The following year he ran for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council , finishing second of five candidates in the special election and losing by 1,647 votes ; the winner received 42 % of the votes cast and Takei received 33 % . During the campaign , Takei 's bid for the city council caused one local station to stop running the repeats of the original '' Star Trek '' series until after the election and KNBC-TV to substitute the premiere episode of the '' Star Trek '' animated series scheduled by the network with another in which his character did not appear , in attempts to avoid violating the FCC 's equal-time rule . The other candidates in the race complained that Takei 's distinctive and powerful voice alone , even without his image on television every week , created an unfair advantage
1972 Democratic National Convention
1972 Democratic National Convention
George Takei