James Cooper (born January 5, 1964) is an American law enforcement officer and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

. He is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

who represented the 9th Assembly District, which encompassed portions of

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and San Joaquin Counties. Cooper was a member of the

California Legislative Black Caucus The California Legislative Black Caucus, also known as the CLBC, is a California political organization composed of African Americans elected to the California State Legislature. Priorities The California Legislative Black Caucus represents and ad ...

and Assistant Majority Floor Leader. Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2014, he was an Elk Grove Founding Mayor and 15-year City Councilmember and 30-year Sacramento County Sheriff's Captain. On March 3, 2022, Cooper was stopped by TSA officers at the Sacramento airport for having a loaded gun in his purse. Cooper was sworn in as the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Sacramento County, California Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacramento County is the ...

on December 16, 2022.

Political positions

Cooper has been graded an “F” by the

California Rifle and Pistol Association The California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) is an 501(c)(4) advocacy group that provides training in the safe use of firearms; sanctions shooting competitions and lobbies for pro-firearms and Second Amendment policy in the US state of Calif ...

for his positions associated with the

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

. Cooper has also been described as a "crusader against criminal justice reform". Examples of this include his opposition to Proposition 47 and support for Proposition 20. Cooper is opposed to

fossil fuel divestment Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds ...

and played a key role in halting the progression of SB 1173, a bill that would have forced

CalPERS The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families".CalPERSFac ...

and

CalSTRS The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits for California's 965,000 prekindergarten through community college educators and their families. CalSTRS was established by law in 191 ...

to divest from most fossil fuel holdings.

Sacramento County Sheriff 2010

Cooper unsuccessfully ran for Sheriff of

in 2010 and lost against Scott Jones. Before running, he had a thirty-year career in various positions at the Sheriff's office.

California State Assembly 2014-2022

2022 Sacramento County Sheriff

On March 15, 2022, Cooper announced that he would be a candidate for

Sacramento County Sheriff The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office (SSO), is a local law enforcement agency that serves Sacramento County, California. It provides general-service law enforcement to unincorporated areas of Sacramento County, as well as incorporated cities w ...

. In the election, he defeated his opponent, undersheriff Jim Barnes with 54.48% of the vote.

References

External links

*
Campaign website

Join California Jim Cooper
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Jim Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly 1964 births Living people People from Elk Grove, California California city council members African-American state legislators in California 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people