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Steven Craig Bradford (born January 12, 1960) is an American politician who served in the
California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...
from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the 35th district, encompassing parts of
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
. Prior to his election to the state senate, he was an assemblymember for the 62nd district of 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, Califor ...
. Bradford was elected to represent the 51st district in a special election held on September 1, 2009, after Curren Price resigned his seat to take a seat in the
California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...
. He was re-elected in 2010 and, with 72% of the vote, was elected once more to represent the brand new 62nd District, comprising the communities of Del Aire, Del Rey, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne,
Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewoo ...
, Lawndale, Lennox,
Marina del Rey Marina del Rey ( Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The eponymous harbor is a major boating and water recreation destination of the Greater Los Angeles ar ...
, West Athens, Westchester, Westmont and Venice Beach. Before his election to the assembly, Bradford served on the Gardena City Council. He is currently a candidate for
California Insurance Commissioner The California insurance commissioner has been an elected executive office position in California since 1991. Prior to that time, the insurance commissioner was appointed by the governor. The officeholder is in charge of the California Departme ...
in the 2026 election.


Early life and career

Bradford moved to Gardena with his family at age nine. He attended Purche Avenue Elementary School, Henry Clay Junior High School and
Gardena High School Gardena High School (GHS) is a public high school in the Harbor Gateway neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, adjacent to the City of Gardena. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School Distri ...
. Following high school, he attended
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...
and
California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...
, where he earned a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
and certificate in paralegal studies. Bradford was the first African American elected to the Gardena City Council, a post he held for over 12 years. He served one year as Mayor Pro Tem of the city. He also worked twelve years as a public affairs executive at
Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximate ...
, seven years at
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
, and four years as a program director at the Los Angeles Conservation Corps.


Assembly career

Bradford's time in the assembly has been marked by his chairmanship of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce, which has legislative jurisdiction over electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, private water corporations and other issues related to commerce. Actions taken in this committee affect California homeowners and businesses, the economy, jobs, and the environment. In his role as chair, Bradford has garnered national attention presiding over important hearings investigating major power outages, and how federal, state, and local authorities might better respond to such events and prevent them from happening in the future. In October 2011, Bradford convened a joint legislative hearing with Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management, in San Diego to discuss the massive power outage that struck the Pacific Southwest region in September of that year. In February 2012 Bradford and Lowenthal convened another hearing in
Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...
to investigate another major power outage that struck the Los Angeles area as a result of a massive windstorm. Early in 2013, Assembly Speaker John A. Perez named Bradford the Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color. The Select Committee is a bipartisan panel of legislators from around the state tasked with fact finding and making recommendations for addressing the issues facing young men in California, particularly black and Latino boys. In February Bradford accepted an invitation to the White House to attend President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's announcement of "My Brother's Keeper," a federal investment in the lives of boys and men of color. The program follows the work Bradford's Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color has done to give young men of color the tools they need to succeed, while dismantling systemic injustices that stand in the way of their success.


Legislation

In addition to his management of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce, Bradford has also authored several pieces of legislation on energy and utilities. In 2012 Governor
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
signed into law AB 1511, which requires property sellers to inform buyers of important information about natural gas pipelines near their homes. The law was authored in response to the deadly explosion of an underground pipeline in
San Bruno, California San Bruno () is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States census. The city is between South San Francisco, California, South San Francisco and Millbrae, Cali ...
. Bradford also authored AB 2201, which increases civil penalties on pipeline operators for safety violations. Bradford's bill brings the cap on penalties under California law into line with those under federal law: $200,000 per day, and a maximum of $2,000,000. Bradford drew national attention for AB 2514, a bill requiring the California Public Utilities Commission to conduct a study examining the costs and benefits of California's net-energy metering (NEM) program. While NEM programs have helped develop solar power industries in countries around the world, Bradford believes they may shift costs unfairly onto homes without solar panels. Bradford closed the 2013 legislative year having 11 bills signed into law by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. Among these were bills focused on public safety, solar energy, and criminal justice reform: * AB 128: Following a recommendation made by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), AB 128 reclassifies the Los Angeles World Airports police department under Penal Code 830.1. Officers with 830.1 status are considered full peace officers, equivalent to municipal police departments. Without 830.1 status, airport officers are prohibited from removing vehicles, seizing drugs or weapons, or other functions for which they may need to wait for backup to arrive. Bradford, whose district includes
Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...
, introduced the bill ten years after the POST recommendation. Earlier versions of the bill died in the legislature. * AB 170: For purposes of obtaining an assault weapons permit, under current law a "person" is defined as an "individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or any other group or entity." AB 170 limits the definition of a person to an individual. * AB 217: Extends existing financial support for solar installations on low-income households. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) directs 10 percent of its funding to solar subsidies for low and very-low income households. AB 217 extends this component for another six years after the CSI sunsets. * AB 651: Gives judges more discretion to grant an expungement of a low-level offense when the offender has completed supervision, paid restitution, and demonstrated a commitment to reentry. * AB 721: Clarifies the existing drug trafficking statute, which allows prosecutors to add a felony transportation charge to a person found physically moving any amount of illegal drugs. AB 721 adds the words "with the intent to sell" to clarify the Legislature's intent to punish drug dealers. An individual may still be eligible for a drug possession charge, but prosecutors will now have to show an individual had the intent to sell in order to qualify for an additional trafficking charge. * AB 1371: The Three Feet for Safety Act establishes a minimum three-foot buffer around bicyclists on public roads in California. Motorists wishing to pass a cyclist must keep a distance of at least three feet, or slow to a safe and prudent speed if there is not enough room to give three feet. Bradford's version of the bill was the fifth attempt at a safe passing distance in California. Earlier versions died in the Legislature twice, and were twice vetoed by the Governor. The safe passing distance took effect September 16, 2014. By the close of the 2014 legislative year, Bradford had sent 15 bills to the governor's desk. As of September 21, he had already signed AB 2634, which gives courts "greater authority to issue injunctions against police departments that have a history of civil rights violations." Still awaiting gubernatorial action are bills including: * AB 2673: Sponsored by City Attorney Mike Feuer and endorsed by the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', this bill eliminates "the use of civil compromise in misdemeanor hit-and-run collisions that result in injury or death." Under current law, a hit-and-run driver may reach a civil compromise—usually a financial settlement—and have criminal charges dropped. This bill ensures that hit-and-run drivers face criminal responsibility for their actions. *AB 1327: Jointly authored with Assembly Members Jeff Gorell and Bill Quirk, this bill establishes regulations for public agencies wishing to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles. Among those, agencies would need a warrant and to give public notice before deploying a drone; would be required to destroy any data and images collected from a drone within one year, unless part of an ongoing investigation; and would be expressly prohibited from arming a drone with weapons. This bill has been endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to India, United States ambassador to India from 2023 to 2025. He was the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles f ...
and the ''
San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
''.


2026 Insurance Commissioner election

On April 15, 2024, Bradford announced he would run for
lieutenant governor of California The lieutenant governor of California is the second highest Executive (government), executive officer of the government of the U.S. state of California. The Lieutenant governor (United States), lieutenant governor is elected to serve a four-yea ...
for the 2026 election. The field of candidates included numerous other elected officials, leading Bradford to switch his campaign to the concurrent election for
California Insurance Commissioner The California insurance commissioner has been an elected executive office position in California since 1991. Prior to that time, the insurance commissioner was appointed by the governor. The officeholder is in charge of the California Departme ...
on May 29, 2025. He and
Fiona Ma Fiona Ma (born March 4, 1966) is an American politician and accountant. She has been serving as the California state treasurer since January 7, 2019. She previously was a member of the California Board of Equalization (2015–2019), the Californ ...
mutually endorsed each other in their respective primary elections.


Electoral history

Steven Bradford was elected in a 2009 special election, following the resignation of Curren Price, who had recently won election to the
California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...
. He was elected to his first outright term in 2010. Following the 2010 Census, California's legislative districts were redrawn. Bradford ran for the newly drawn 62nd district, which maintained many of the cities from the previous 51st district. Bradford was endorsed for election to the 62nd Assembly district by the local newspaper of the South Bay, the ''
Daily Breeze The ''Daily Breeze'' is a 57,000-circulation daily newspaper published in Hermosa Beach, California, United States. It serves the South Bay cities of Los Angeles County. Its slogan is "LAX to LA Harbor". Early history The paper was found ...
''. His electoral results are shown below.


References


External links

*
www.electstevebradford.com
- campaign website
Join California Steven Bradford
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Steven 1960 births 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians African-American state legislators in California Appropriations Committee member, California State Senate California city council members California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni Democratic Party California state senators Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Gardena High School alumni Living people People from Gardena, California Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the California State Legislature