American politician from California

Nora Campos (born June 15, 1965) is an American politician from California. Campos is a 2020 candidate to California's 15th State Senate district. She served on the San Jose City Council and then in the California State *embly. She is a representative on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and a member of the Latino Caucus of the League of California Cities. While a State *emblywoman, Campos was chair of the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committee, and of the Status of Girls and Women of Color Committee.

Prior to taking elected office, she worked as Community Relations Coordinator and then as Chief of Staff for a San Jose City Councilmember.

In addition to her role as chair of two committees, Campos was a member of the Budget Committee, the Business and Professions Committee, the Campus Climate Committee, the Governmental Organization Committee, the Health Committee, the Legislative Budget Committee, the Women in the Workplace Committee, the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, the Local Government Committee, and the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Political philosophy
• 3 San Jose City Council
• 4 California State *embly
• 5 California State Senate
• 6 Election results
  • 6.1 2010 California State *embly
  • 6.2 2012 California State *embly
  • 6.3 2014 California State *embly
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Early life and education

Nora Campos was raised in the C*ell neighborhood in East San Jose. She marched with Cesar E. Chavez and cites her early experience with the Farm Worker Movement as an influence on her decision to enter public service as an adult.

Campos graduated from William C. Overfelt High School in 1983 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Francisco State University.

Political philosophy

Throughout Campos' political career she has adhered to five pillars of public policy: 1) High performing public K-14 education. 2) Affordable post secondary education. 3) Affordable dependent health care. 4) Equality and civil rights against injustices. And 5) High-skill, high-wage, apprenticed careers.

Campos has been honored for her public service by groups such as the Clean Water Coalition, the California Latino Legislative Caucus Ins*ute for Public Policy, and the Lupus Foundation of Northern California.

San Jose City Council

Campos was elected to represent District 5 on the San Jose City Council in a special election in March 2001 and served for ten years, winning re-election twice. As a San Jose City councilwoman, as of 2015, Campos (2001) was one of only six women that have served in that role since 1998; the others are Madison Nguyen (2005), Nancy Pyle (2005), Judy Chirco (2003), Cindy Chavez (1998), and Linda J. LeZotte (1998).

As a councilwoman, Campos struggled as a Latina with a council steeped in white patriarchy. Campos was elected following the election of Ron Gonzales, the first Latino mayor at the time in the one hundred and fifty year U.S. history of San Jose; a region predominantly Latino. As a councilwoman, Campos focused on improving opportunities for youth as a counter to gang activities and looked to improve the wages of the working cl* in San Jose through enforcement of labor laws.

California State *embly

In June 2009, Campos announced her candidacy for the 23rd California State *embly District. She was elected on November 10, 2010 with 75% of the vote, succeeding term-limited Democrat Joe Coto. As an *emblywoman and a Latina, Campos alongside other Latina policymakers like Lorena Gonzalez, represented her cons*uents in the lopsidedly white male demographic of the California *embly. Campos prevailed in that role, in August 2012 she was appointed speaker pro tempore in the *embly.

As an *emblywoman, Campos upheld civil rights. She sponsored a bill that resolved for the federal government to "immediately halt cases it is pursuing against unrepresented immigrant children until lawyers are made available to represent them." As a champion of workers, Campos balanced social justice with environmental justice, it is jobs or health, for workers, both are important and Campos maintained a lifetime Eco score of 87%, which only a third of state *embly members achieved. In a disappointing turn during the 2015 session, Democratic Governor Brown vetoed Campos' AB1017, a bill that would have barred employers from using previous salary information to justify paying women less than their male co-workers. The bill was one of two vetoed by Governor Brown that day that targeted gender equity, the other was by fellow *emblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and addressed gender parity in workers' compensation. In a win, with AB 2393(2016) Campos gained the right to parental leave for all California K-14 employees; this time Governor Brown signed.

California State Senate

In 2016, termed out as an *embly member and after advancing in the primary with the endor*t of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Campos failed to unseat Jim Beall in the election for the 15th State Senate District by a wide margin.

In 2020, Jim Beall termed out of California's 15th State Senate district. Campos was one of seven candidates competing for the open seat; the others were fellow Democrats: former San Jose city council member and termed-out Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese and UC Berkeley Law School adjunct lecturer Ann Ravel along with Republicans Robert Howell and U.S. Army staff sergeant Ken Del Valle and independents Tim Gildersleeve and termed-out San Jose City Councilman Johnny Khamis. During the campaign, Campos received criticism for receiving aid from oil company including Chevron and a political organizations with ties to similar energy companies that also produce oil and gas.

Campos was defeated in the March 3rd jungle primary by Cortese and Ravel, finishing in third place. Had Campos been successful, she would have been the first Latina/o to hold the 15th State Senate seat (including prior to rezoning the 13th Senate District).

Election results

2010 California State *embly

2012 California State *embly

2014 California State *embly

See also: 2014 California State *embly elections

References

External links

• Campaign website
• Ballotpedia
• Legislative record