Lateefah Simon
U.S. Representative from CA, District 12
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Biography
Lateefah Simon is a California Democratic congresswoman, civil rights advocate, and former BART board chair representing the 12th District since 2025.
Lateefah Simon represents California's 12th Congressional District, an East Bay district centered on Oakland, as a Democrat sworn in January 2025 after winning the seat vacated by Barbara Lee, who ran for U.S. Senate. A San Francisco native and legally blind mother, Simon became executive director of the Center for Young Women's Development at age 19 and received a MacArthur Foundation 'genius' fellowship in 2003 for her youth criminal-justice reform work. She later served as senior adviser to then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris and led the Akonadi Foundation's racial-justice grant-making before chairing the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors, where she championed transit accessibility and safety. In the 119th Congress, Simon serves on the House Committee on Small Business and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, with subcommittee assignments on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development; Federal Law Enforcement; and Health Care and Financial Services. As a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, her priorities include racial and economic justice, transit equity, disability rights, and housing affordability.