Janice Kay Hahn was born on March 30, 1952, in Los Angeles, California. After earning a B.S. degree from Abilene Christian University in 1974, she served variously as director of marketing at the Alexander Haagen Company; president of the Gang Alternatives Program in the Los Angeles Harbor Area; vice president of Prudential Securities; public affairs region manager of Southern California Edison; and director of outreach at Western Waste Industries.

In 1998 Hahn, a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She then served on the Los Angeles City Council from 2001-11.

In 2006, Hahn and fellow City Council member Bill Rosendahl joined the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and a coalition of community, labor and religious groups in leading an effort to pass a “living wage” law.

May 12 2010, Hahn and fellow City Council member Ed Reyes co-authored a resolution, which was subsequently approved by the full Council, to conduct an economic boycott against the state of Arizona. The objective of the resolution was to pressure Arizona into repealing S.B.1070, a newly passed immigration law deputizing state police to check with federal authorities on the immigration status of criminal suspects. Hahn also called for the divestiture of any proceeds from Los Angeles pension funds and bonds that could be invested in Arizona.

In 2010 as well, Hahn ran a failed campaign for California lieutenant governor; she was defeated in the Democratic primary by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

In a July 12, 2011 special election to fill the legislative seat that had been vacated by the recently resigned Democrat Jane Harman, the voters of California’s 36th Congressional District elected Hahn to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she served as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In 2013 Hahn’s district was reconfigured and renumbered as the 44th.

Favoring comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would “bring people out of the shadows and [put them] on a pathway to citizenship,” Hahn supported President Barack Obama‘s executive amnesty orders—i.e., “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA, 2012) and “Deferred Action for Parental Accountability” (DAPA, 2014)—which together shielded millions of illegal aliens from potential deportation.

In 2012, when Republican Rep. Peter King of New York attempted to hold congressional hearings on the threat posed by Muslim radicalization in the United States, Hahn countered that “radical Christians” were likewise apt to use their own religious precepts to justify bigotry.

On December 15, 2012, Hahn spoke at the All Saints Episcopal Church of Pasadena, which was hosting the annual convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Other notables who addressed the audience that day included Lucille Roybal-Allard, Adam Schiff, Mike Honda, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Thomas Perez.

In a June 2014 radio interview about the rise of the brutal Islamic State terrorist organization in Iraq, Hahn said she was “kind of uncomfortable” with the notion that the U.S. could claim any moral authority in using military action to combat the organization.

As of 2014, Hahn was an advisory board member with The Harry Bridges Project, an initiative designed to promote the work of its late namesake, who had been a Bay Area labor leader and a secret member of the Communist Party USA‘s Central Committee.

In February 2015, Hahn announced that she was retiring from Congress in order to run for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Hahn won that election and was sworn in to office on December 5, 2016.

As matters of principle, Hahn believes that:

• all women should have an unrestricted right to abortion-on-demand at any stage of pregnancy – subsidized by taxpayers, in cases of economic hardship;
• public and private employers alike should be legally required to implement affirmative-action hiring and promotion policies that give preference to African Americans and women, as compensation for historical injustices;
• the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is an excellent statute that can serve a strategic stepping stone toward the eventual implementation of a government-run, single-payer healthcare system;
• more guns in the hands of private citizens inevitably result in higher levels of crime, thus the availability of firearms should be restricted by whatever means are effective;
• restrictions on immigration are basically racist because they tend to prevent Hispanics and other non-whites from entering the United States;
• social services should be available to all U.S. residents regardless of their immigration status;
• illegal aliens should be offered amnesty if they have been productive members of society;
• voter ID laws are, by and large, racially motivated attempts to suppress minority voting and should be eliminated; and
• an ever-increasing reliance on “green energy” sources such as wind and solar should be put in place, along with the phasing out of fossil fuels, the imposition of carbon taxes, and the raising of vehicle CAFE standards.

For details of Hahn’s voting record on a range of key issues during her few years in Congress, click here.

For additional information on Janice Hahn, click here.

Further Reading: “Janice Hahn” (Ballotpedia.org, Votesmart.org, Keywiki.org); “Terrorism Denial from Dhimmi Democrats” (by Daniel Greenfield, 6-26-2012, re: Hahn’s reference to “radical Christians”); “MPAC-Linked All Saints Church: ‘Evangelical Zionism’ Is ‘Evil” (by Ryan Mauro, 1-2-2013); “Dem Rep: I’m Uncomfortable With U.S. Feeling it Has Moral Authority” (Breitbart.com, 6-23-2014); Janice Hahn’s Positions on Key Issues (OnTheIssues.com).