Laura Richardson

Laura Richardson, a  Democrat, has represented the 37th Congressional District of California in the United States House of Representatives since 2008. (map)

Bio
Laura Richardson was born on April 14, 1962 in Los Angeles, California. Richardson was raised by a single father who belonged to the Teamsters labor union. Her father was African American and her mother was white.

At the age of six, living through the civil rights movement and having picked her first profession of public service, Ms. Richardson started on that path by getting her first job at the age of 12 and later by participating in the Olympic trials at the age of 17. She graduated from UCLA, received a Masters from USC, and went on to spend fourteen years working in corporate America.

In 2006, after serving six years as a Long Beach City Councilwoman, Laura Richardson won a seat in the California Assembly in the 55th District serving as Assistant Pro Tempore in the Assembly. She was recognized as the first African-American woman, South Bay representative, and freshman to hold this prestigious position. In the nine short months she spent in the California Legislature, she succeeded in three bills signed by the Governor and was vital in the Legislatures ability to further the initiatives of expanding access to healthcare, empowering public education, and ensuring safe neighborhoods.

In 2007, Richardson succeeded 16 candidates in a special election and was elected to her first term in the House of Representatives to represent California's culturally and economically diverse 37th Congressional District setting a record of distinction in having served all three levels of government; local, state and federal all in the span of ¬less than a year.

Since being elected to serve in the House of Representatives Richardson was assigned to serve on the influential Committee on Science and Technology. Laura Richardson intends to focus on lobbying for the United States to withdraw from Iraq, Homeland Security, expanding access to health care services, and increasing funding for HIV / AIDS programs. Speaker Pelosi has referred to Representative Richardson as bright, energetic, intelligent, and an asset to the committee chairs, caucuses and her constituents.

Representative Laura Richardson is the 26th African-American female and the 239th female to serve in the U.S. Congress.

2007 special election
Rep. Juanita Millender McDonald (D-Calif.) died in April 2007, leaving her seat (California's 37th District) vacant. A special election was held on August 21, 2007, and Richardson ran as the Democratic nominee.

On August 21, 2007, it appeared that, as expected, Laura Richardson swept the election. Early estimates, with 85 percent of precincts reporting, stated that Richardson had 67 percent of the vote as compared to 25 percent for Republican candidate John Kanaley. Green Party candidate Daniel Brezenoff received only 5 percent of the vote, while Libertarian candidate Herb Peters had 2 percent.

It was arranged that Richardson would be sworn in as soon as Congress returned from its August recess.

Committees
Richardson will be assigned committees once she is sworn into Congress.

Contact
DC Office: 1725 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-0537 Phone: (202) 225-7924 Fax: (202) 225-7926 Email: laura.richardson@mail.house.gov Email Website

Torrance Office: 970 West 190th Street, Suite 900 Torrance, California 90502 Phone: (310) 538-1190 Fax: (310) 538-9672

Related SourceWatch articles

 * 2008 U.S. congressional elections
 * 2008 U.S. congressional election dates
 * Portal:California and the U.S. Congress

External resources

 * Laura Richardson's official 2008 campaign website
 * 2008 Race Tracker page on California’s 37th Congressional District