Toni G. Atkins

Date	Party	Office	Votes	Result
11-02-2010	Democratic	AD-76	75357	Win
11-06-2012	Democratic	AD-78	116987	Win
11-04-2014	Democratic	AD-78	72224	Win
11-08-2016	Democratic	SD-39	258686	Win
11-03-2020	Democratic	SD-39	336467	Win

Candidate Biography:

Born: August 1, 1962 in Wythe County, Virginia
Spouse: Jennifer LeSar

199?-2000: Council Representative & Policy Analyst, Councilmember Christine T. Kehoe
2000-2008: Member, San Diego City Council
2001: Organizer, San Diego Medicinal Marijuana Task Force (to implement Proposition 215)
2005: Acting Mayor, City of San Diego
2008: Woman of the Year (39th Senate District) [selected by Christine Kehoe]
2012-2014: Majority Leader, California State Assembly
2014-2016: Speaker, California State Assembly
2016: Delegate, Democratic National Convention
2018-2024: President pro Tempore, California State Senate
2020: Member, Governor's Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery
2026: Early Primary Candidate for Governor (Pending)

• FULL HOUSE DROUGHT: The longest period without a floor session that all members attended (all 80 Assemblymembers and all 40 Senators) was 7 years and 11 months between July 10, 2007 and June 1, 2015. Atkins was the presiding officer of the Assembly on the day that the drought ended.
• NOTABLE HISTORY: On July 6, 2023, Atkins (as acting Governor while Governor Newsom and Lt. Governor Kounalakis were out of state, became the first Senate President pro Tem in nearly 50 years to sign legislation into law when she approved three bills; AB 354 (Nguyen), AB 588 (Rivas), and AB 410 (Jones-Sawyer).
• NOTABLE HISTORY: One of only three people to ever serve as the leader of both houses of the Legislature. The others were James T. Farley and Ransom Burnell. At the time Atkins assumes office as Senate President Pro Tem, it will have been 146 years since Farley finished his time in that role.
• QUOTABLE: In February 2016, while members of the California Coastal Commission were deciding whether to fire the commission's Executive Director, Atkins tweeted, "Let me apologize to the public. I truly thought my appointees would be better stewards of the coast."
• LEGISLATION: Author of Senate Bill 447 (Chapt. 199, Stats of 2023) which repealed the provisions of AB 1887 (Chapt. 687, Stats of 2016) which had prohibited state agencies and the Legislature from approving state-funded or state-sponsored travel to any state has enacted a law that voids or repeals local protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. By 2023, state employees were barred from official travel to more than half of the states.
• Atkins is a twin (with her sister Tenia)

Source: California Legislature Handbook (2011-12)