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Alan Lowenthal | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's47th district | |
| In office January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Loretta Sanchez |
| Succeeded by | Robert Garcia (redistricted) |
| Member of theCalifornia State Senate from the27th district | |
| In office December 6, 2004 – November 30, 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Betty Karnette |
| Succeeded by | Fran Pavley |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the54th district | |
| In office December 7, 1998 – December 6, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Steven T. Kuykendall |
| Succeeded by | Betty Karnette |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alan Stuart Lowenthal (1941-03-08)March 8, 1941 (age 84) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Deborah Malumed |
| Children | 2, includingJosh |
| Education | Hobart College (BA) Ohio State University (MA,PhD) |
Alan Stuart Lowenthal (/ˈloʊənˌθɔːl/; born March 8, 1941) is an American politician who served as theU.S. representative forCalifornia's 47th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. A member of theDemocratic Party, he served as theCalifornia state assemblyman for the54th district from 1998 to 2004 andCalifornia state senator from the27th district from 2004 to 2012. In both posts, Lowenthal represented the city ofLong Beach and its surrounding suburbs. On December 16, 2021, Lowenthal announced that he would not seek reelection to Congress.[1]
Lowenthal was born and raised inQueens,New York City. His family is Jewish. He was graduated with a B.A. fromHobart College and earned a Ph.D. fromOhio State University. In 1969, Lowenthal moved toLong Beach and became a professor ofcommunity psychology atCalifornia State University, Long Beach. He went on leave to become a Long Beach City Councilman in 1992. He remained on leave for several years until retiring in 1998.[2][unreliable source]
In 1998, Lowenthal decided to run for the54th district of theCalifornia State Assembly. He defeated Republican nominee Julie Alban 50%-47%.[3] In 2000, he was reelected, defeating Republican nomineeRudy Svorinich, aLos Angeles City Council member, 59%-39%.[4] In 2002, he was reelected to a third term, defeating Republican nominee Cesar Castellanos, 60%-40%.[5]
In the Assembly, Lowenthal authored gun control legislation that would ban gun selling in people's homes.[6] He was also a founding member of the Assembly's Bipartisan Caucus and authored legislation for the creation of California's first everBipartisan Citizens Redistricting Commission.[2]
In 2002, the California Firefighters Association named Lowenthal Legislator of the Year by after he passed a law that limited liability for organizations that donated firefighting equipment. TheLeague of California Cities named him Legislator of the Year in 2001 due to his advocacy on behalf of local governments. He has also received the "Rivie" Award from the Friends of the Los Angeles River due to his efforts to help clean up the river.[citation needed]
In 2004, Lowenthal ran for theCalifornia Senate in the27th Senate district. He won the Democratic primary unopposed. In the general election, he defeated Republican nominee Cesar Navarro Castellanos 63%-37%.[7] In 2008, he was reelected, defeating Allen Wood 67%-33%.[8]
The 47th district includes theLos Angeles County communities ofAvalon,Long Beach, Signal Hill,Lakewood,Cerritos,Artesia,Bellflower,Downey,South Gate,Lynwood,Paramount,Hawaiian Gardens, Florence-Graham andWillowbrook. It also extends to the westernOrange County cities ofGarden Grove,Westminster,Stanton,Buena Park,Los Alamitos, andCypress, and includesCatalina Island.
Legislation that Lowenthal had signed into law include a law to reduce diesel emissions at the ports by limiting idling time for trucks conducting transactions at the ports, a bill that established a grant program to provide financial incentives for purchasing or leasing electric vehicles, and a bill to protect highways.
With Bonnie Lowenthal's election to the Assembly and Alan Lowenthal's reelection in 2008, Senator and Assemblywoman Lowenthal were the first divorced husband and wife to serve concurrently in theCalifornia State Legislature.
Lowenthal provided significant commentary throughout the documentaryWho Killed the Electric Car?.
On November 6, 2012, Lowenthal was elected to theU.S. House of Representatives from the newly created47th district after defeating RepublicanGary DeLong.[11] DeLong carried theOrange County portion of the district with 54% of the vote, but Lowenthal swamped him in theLos Angeles County portion by over 38,000 votes, more than the overall margin of 30,100. He took office on January 3, 2013. Lowenthal is the first non-Hispanic Democrat to represent a significant portion of traditionally heavily Republican Orange County in Congress sinceJerry M. Patterson, who served from 1975 to 1985. He was reelected in 2014, 2016 and 2018 by similar margins.
Until the Democrats swept every seat in Orange County at the 2018 elections, Lowenthal was the only elected white Democrat above the county level in much of the Orange County portion of the district. But the Los Angeles County portion has more than double the population of the Orange County portion; the district's share of Long Beach alone accounts for over half of its population.
Lowenthal is a member of theCongressional Progressive Caucus.[12]
Lowenthal is a strong supporter ofIsrael. He said that the "historical denial about the right of Jewish people to have their own homeland" and thePalestinian "refusal to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, that is a critical issue that needs to be addressed."[13]
Lowenthal has been critical ofBrazil's presidentJair Bolsonaro. In March 2019 he and 29 other Democratic lawmakers wrote Secretary of StateMike Pompeo a letter that read in part, "Since the election of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro as president, we have been particularly alarmed by the threat Bolsonaro’s agenda poses to the LGBTQ+ community and other minority communities, women, labor activists, and political dissidents in Brazil."[14][15]
On December 16, 2021, Lowenthal announced that he would retire from the U.S. House at the end of his term on January 3, 2023.[1]
As of 2020, Lowenthal has a 100% rating fromNARAL Pro-Choice America and an F rating from theSusan B. Anthony List for his abortion-related voting record.[22][23] He opposed theoverturning ofRoe v. Wade, calling it "devastating to every American woman who has, with the stroke of a pen, had their rights curtailed and their status as free and equal citizens abridged."[24] Noted for his work on environmental issues, among other things he has supported banning the use of hydrofluoric acid (HF) at oil refineries.[25]
Lowenthal was married toBonnie Adler from 1966 to 1989. The marriage produced two sons: Daniel, who has been a judge on theLos Angeles County Superior Court since 2006, andJosh, who has been serving in theCalifornia State Assembly since 2022.[26][27][28]
Lowenthal's second wife is Deborah Malumed, a physician.[29]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 47th congressional district 2013–2023 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| People | |
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| Other | |
