Hahn, Janice, 1952-

<p>Janice Hahn, perhaps the most accomplished member of an accomplished Southern California political dynasty, carved out an extensive career as a public official at local, state, and national levels. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in a 2011 special election, Hahn was forced to go up against a powerful incumbent only a year later after California officials redrew the state’s congressional districts. But Hahn won and remained in the House. The frustrations of being a junior member of the minority party on the Hill, however, led her to leave Washington for county government.</p>

<p>Janice Hahn was born on March 30, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, to Kenneth and Ramona Hahn. Her father served on the Los Angeles city council before being elected to the powerful county board of supervisors—an office he held for four decades. Her mother, the daughter of missionaries, passed on to Hahn a deep piousness. Hahn’s parents raised her brother, James, to carry on the family’s political tradition, and James went on to become Los Angeles city attorney and later mayor. “I think they probably wanted to keep me from it as long as possible, knowing the very difficult nature [of politics],” Hahn said about her parents. But in many ways, politics fit her more naturally than anyone else. “Jim would tell you he never loved it as much as I do.”</p>

<p>She graduated from Los Angeles Lutheran High School in 1970, and briefly attended Pepperdine University. She transferred to Abilene Christian University in Texas where she graduated in 1974 with a degree in education. She taught at a private religious school from 1974 to 1978. Hahn married Gary Don Baucum, and they had three children: Danny, Katy, and Mark. The marriage ended in divorce. In the mid-1990s, she became a public affairs regional manager for Southern California Edison Company and later a vice president for Prudential Securities.</p>

<p>Janice Kay Hahn (born March 30, 1952) is an American politician serving as the member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from the 4th district since 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a U.S. Representative from California from 2011 to 2016, elected in the 36th congressional district until 2013 and later in the 44th congressional district. She was previously a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 15th district from 2001 to 2011. From 1997 to 1999, she served as an elected representative on the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission.</p>

<p>On July 12, 2011, Hahn won a special election for Congress to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Jane Harman. She defeated Republican Craig Huey, a Tea Party-backed direct marketer from the Torrance area, with 55 percent of the vote to Huey's 45 percent. In February 2015, Hahn announced she was retiring from Congress to run for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 2016. In the general election, Hahn defeated Steve Napolitano to succeed Don Knabe to become the next Los Angeles County supervisor from the 4th district. She was sworn in on December 5, 2016.</p>