Richardson, Laura, 1962-

RICHARDSON, Laura, a Representative from California; born in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Calif., April 14, 1962; B.A., University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1984; M.B.A., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1996; businesswoman; staff, United States Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald of California, 1996-1998; member, Long Beach, Calif., city council, 2000-2006; staff, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante of California, 2001-2006; member, California state assembly, 2006-2007; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Tenth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald and reelected to the two succeeding Congresses (August 21, 2007-January 3, 2013); reprimanded by the U.S. House of Representatives on August 2, 2012, for compelling official congressional staff to work on her political campaign; unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress in 2012.

<p>Laura Richardson (born April 14, 1962) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for California's 37th congressional district from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Party.</p>

<p>She previously represented the 55th district in the California State Assembly for the 2007 term until she was elected to the House of Representatives for California's 37th congressional district in a special election on August 21, 2007, to fill the vacancy resulting from the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald. She was reelected to represent that district in 2008 and 2010. Following the decennial reorganization of Congressional districts in 2012, most of Richardson's territory became the 44th District. She ran against fellow Democratic Congresswoman Janice Hahn in the 2012 Congressional elections cycle. On November 6, 2012, she was defeated in her bid for re-election by Representative Hahn by a landslide 20 percentage points.</p>

<p>Richardson was born in Los Angeles and lives in Long Beach. She was raised by a single mother after her parents divorced when she was two. Her father was a member of the Teamsters. Her father was black and her mother was white. Richardson has said that racism against their mixed-race family was "what got me since the age of about six of wanting to be a public servant."</p>

<p>In 2007 Laura Richardson won a special election to the United States House of Representatives to fill the seat held by her late boss, Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald of California. Richardson, who had served on the Long Beach city council and in the California state assembly, spent nearly three terms in the House before redistricting and ethics investigations cut her career short.</p>

<p>Laura Richardson was born April 14, 1962, in Los Angeles, California to Lawrence (Larry) J. Richardson and Maryann Fritschler. Her father Larry worked as an educator, and her mother, Maryann, was a teamster for a local trucking company. Her parents divorced when she was young, and Richardson and her sister, Leslie, were raised by their mother. The family’s brief time on government assistance and encounters with racism sparked Richardson’s interest in using the political system to improve living conditions in California. Richardson married police officer Anthony Batts in 1997, but the couple later divorced.</p>

<p>Richardson attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1980 to 1981. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1984, with a BA in political science. Richardson later received her MBA from the University of Southern California in 1996. She worked a variety of private sector jobs—as a marketing director of a document managing company, the owner of a customized clothing company, and a teacher—before she became senior staff in Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald’s southern California district office. Richardson also worked as an aide to California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.</p>