Laura Richardson

Laura Richardson (born April 14, 1962) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for California's 37th congressional district from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

She previously represented the 55th district in the California State Assembly for the 2007 term until she was elected to the House of Representatives for California's 37th congressional district in a special election on August 21, 2007, to fill the vacancy resulting from the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald. She was reelected to represent that district in 2008 and 2010. Following the decennial reorganization of Congressional districts in 2012, most of Richardson's territory became the 44th District. She ran against fellow Democratic Congresswoman Janice Hahn in the 2012 Congressional elections cycle. On November 6, 2012, she was defeated in her bid for re-election by Representative Hahn by a landslide 20 percentage points.

Background

Richardson is a lifelong resident of Southern California. She was born in Los Angeles and currently calls Long Beach home. She was raised by a single mother after her parents divorced when she was two. Her father belonged to the Teamsters labor union. Her father was black and her mother was white. Richardson has said that racism against their mixed-race family was "what got me since the age of about six of wanting to be a public servant."