# Malia Cohen

Malia M. Cohen (born December 16, 1977) is an American politician serving as the 33rd Controller of California since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Cohen previously served as Chair of the California State Board of Equalization from the 2nd district from 2019 to 2023 and as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from District 10 from 2011 to 2019.
She is the seventh African American to hold statewide office following Wilson Riles, Mervyn Dymally, Kamala Harris, Tony Thurmond, Shirley Weber and Laphonza Butler.

## Early life and education

Cohen was born in San Francisco on December 16, 1977. The eldest of five girls, she grew up in the Richmond District in San Francisco and graduated from Lowell High School. Her mother was a social worker and her father a telecommunication worker.
Cohen earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Fisk University and a graduate degree in political science from Carnegie Mellon University.

## Career

Cohen worked as a field organizer for Gavin Newsom in the 2003 San Francisco mayoral election and as his confidential secretary for two years when he was mayor. After leaving Newsom's office, Cohen worked as a legislative aide for San Mateo County supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson.

### San Francisco Board of Supervisors

In the 2010 election for District 10 of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, she was third in receiving first place votes out of a field of 22, but eventually won the election based on ranked choice voting.
In October 2013, Cohen introduced legislation that expanded an existing San Francisco law making it illegal to sell firearms with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The gun-control legislation passed unanimously.
In 2013, Cohen and Jane Kim authored the Fair Chance ordinance, a "ban the box" legislation barring employers and landlords from asking applicants to state their criminal history on applications, which passed the Board of Supervisors unanimously.
In 2014, Cohen was re-elected for a second term to represent District 10 after being challenged by Marlene Tran and Tony Kelly.
In 2015, Cohen publicly defended San Francisco's sanctuary city laws, which drew the attention of Fox News Host Bill O'Reilly.

### California State Board of Equalization

Cohen succeeded London Breed as president of the Board of Supervisors on June 26, 2018, following Breed's election as mayor of San Francisco. Later that year, she was elected to represent District 2 on the California State Board of Equalization.

### Controller of California

Cohen ran in the 2022 election for California State Controller against Republican Lanhee Chen winning the race with 55% of the vote, the lowest margin of victory for any statewide candidate that election cycle. In September 2024, Cohen announced new recommendations aimed at preventing and detecting charter school fraud.
After the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein in September 2023, Cohen was discussed as one of several possible people to serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term.

## Personal life

She married workers' compensation attorney Warren Pulley in May 2016.

## Electoral history
### 2018

California State Board of Equalization 2nd District Election, 2018 :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Malia Cohen | 723,355 | 38.7 |
| | Republican | Mark Burns | 502,143 | 26.9 |
| | Democratic | Cathleen Galgiani | 480,887 | 25.7 |
| | Democratic | Barry Chang | 163,102 | 8.7 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,869,467 | 100.0 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Malia Cohen | 2,482,171 | 72.8 |
| | Republican | Mark Burns | 927,949 | 27.2 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 3,410,120 | 100.0% |

### 2022

2022 California State Controller election :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Lanhee Chen | 2,533,305 | 37.22% |
| | Democratic | Malia Cohen | 1,542,397 | 22.66% |
| | Democratic | Yvonne Yiu | 1,024,707 | 15.06% |
| | Democratic | Steve Glazer | 756,518 | 11.11% |
| | Democratic | Ron Galperin | 690,484 | 10.15% |
| | Green | Laura Wells | 258,053 | 3.79% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 6,805,874 | 100.0% |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Malia Cohen | 5,936,852 | 55.35% |
| | Republican | Lanhee Chen | 4,789,340 | 44.65% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 10,726,192 | 100.0% |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |