# Laura Friedman

Laura Syril Friedman (born December 3, 1966) is an American politician and former film producer who is the member for California's 30th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented California's 44th State Assembly district from 2016 to 2024.
Prior to her election to the Assembly in 2016, Friedman was a member of the Glendale City Council from 2009 to 2016, where she served as mayor of Glendale from 2011 until 2012. She authored a bill to eliminate minimum parking requirements for housing near mass transit stations in California, which was signed into law in 2022.

## Early life and career

Friedman comes from a Jewish family in New York. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rochester in New York. In 1992, Friedman moved to Hollywood, eventually relocating to Glendale in 2000 where she currently resides.
Between 1994 and 1997, Friedman was the vice president of development at Rysher Entertainment, where she oversaw the production of approximately ten feature films annually as well as extensive television programming. In 1995, Friedman was the co-producer of the Warner Brothers release It Takes Two. In 1996 she was associate producer of House Arrest; executive producer of Foxfire; executive producer of the family film Zeus and Roxanne; and associate producer of the independent film Aberration, which was released by LIVE Entertainment. Between 1998 and 1999, Friedman was the vice president of development at Cort/Madden Company. Since 2000, Friedman has owned and managed PlanetGlass.net, a web-based art glass dealership.

## Earlier political career

In April 2011, Friedman became the mayor of Glendale, California.

## California State Assembly

After serving seven years on the Glendale City Council, including a term as the mayor of Glendale, Laura Friedman was elected to the California State Assembly in 2016. During her first term in office, Laura authored a package of bills to establish landmark water efficiency standards, strengthen environmental sustainability, improve access to higher education, health care, and transportation alternatives, and create new avenues for communities to tackle the affordable housing crisis. In addition, she secured $20 million in funding for the completion of the Glendale Riverwalk Project, which for the first time will provide a safe bicycle and pedestrian connection from Glendale to Griffith Park. She has been tapped for several leadership roles in the legislature and served as the Assistant Speaker pro Tempore for the Assembly in 2018. She has also served as Chair of Transportation Committee, Chair of Natural Resources, and the Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. As the Chair of the Joint Rules Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, she's led a historic bicameral and bipartisan reform of the legislature's response to sexual harassment that's become a model for other states and local governments.
She also introduced the California legislative bill, AB-44, which made the sale and manufacture of new fur products illegal in California. It was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 12, 2019.
On September 7, 2021, she delayed the release of $4 billion of voter approved bonds for the California High-Speed Rail, stating that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has "not provided us any real details about what the money would go towards this year". The CHSRA Chief Financial Officer, Brian Annis, countered by stating that the CHSRA already presented to the legislature the expenditure plan in February 2021 and that this delayed release by Friedman could cause budget delays to snowball.
Friedman is a member of the California Legislative Progressive Caucus.

## U.S. House of Representatives
### Elections
#### 2024

In January 2023, Friedman launched her candidacy in the 2024 election in California's 30th congressional district. The incumbent representative, Adam Schiff, vacated the seat in his successful bid in the 2024 United States Senate election in California. Friedman defeated physician Alex Balekian, receiving 68.4% of the vote.

### Committee assignments

* Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
** Subcommittee on Energy
* Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
** Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management (Vice Ranking Member)
** Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
** Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
** Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

### Caucus membership

* Congressional Progressive Caucus

## Electoral history
### 2016

California's 43rd State Assembly district election, 2016 :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman | 33,276 | 31.9 |
| | Democratic | Ardy Kassakhian | 25,357 | 24.3 |
| | Republican | Mark MacCarley | 16,551 | 15.9 |
| | Democratic | Andrew J. Blumenfield | 13,309 | 12.8 |
| | Republican | Alexandra A. Bustamante | 6,524 | 6.3 |
| | Democratic | Dennis R. Bullock | 4,294 | 4.1 |
| | Democratic | Rajiv Dalal | 3,173 | 3.0 |
| | American Independent | Aaron Cervantes | 1,873 | 1.8 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 104,357 | 100.0 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman | 106,186 | 64.5 |
| | Democratic | Ardy Kassakhian | 58,561 | 35.5 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 164,747 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

### 2018

California's 43rd State Assembly district election, 2018 :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman (incumbent) | 58,310 | 100.0 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 58,310 | 100.0 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman (incumbent) | 125,568 | 100.0 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 125,568 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

### 2020

2020 California's 43rd State Assembly district election :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman (incumbent) | 88,541 | 75.6% |
| | Republican | Mike Graves | 24,258 | 20.7% |
| | No party preference | Robert J. Sexton | 4,264 | 3.6% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | | |

### 2022

2022 California's 44th State Assembly district election :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman (incumbent) | 80,209 | 73.2 |
| | Republican | Barry Curtis Jacobsen | 29,381 | 26.8 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 109,590 | 100% |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman (incumbent) | 113,380 | 71.4 |
| | Republican | Barry Curtis Jacobsen | 45,519 | 28.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 158,899 | 100% |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

### 2024

2024 California's 30th congressional district election :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman | 46,329 | 30.1 |
| | Republican | Alex Balekian | 26,826 | 17.4 |
| | Democratic | Anthony Portantino | 20,459 | 13.3 |
| | Democratic | Mike Feuer | 18,878 | 12.3 |
| | Democratic | Maebe A. Girl | 15,791 | 10.3 |
| | Republican | Emilio Martinez | 6,775 | 4.4 |
| | Democratic | Ben Savage | 6,147 | 4.0 |
| | Democratic | Nick Melvoin | 4,134 | 2.7 |
| | Democratic | Jirair Ratevosian | 2,889 | 1.9 |
| | Democratic | Sepi Shyne | 2,126 | 1.4 |
| | Democratic | Courtney Simone Najera | 1,167 | 0.8 |
| | No party preference | Joshua Bocanegra | 780 | 0.5 |
| | Democratic | Steve Dunwoody | 727 | 0.5 |
| | Democratic | Francisco Arreaga | 532 | 0.3 |
| | Democratic | Sal Genovese | 442 | 0.3 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 154,002 | 100.0 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Laura Friedman | 213,100 | 68.4 |
| | Republican | Alex Balekian | 98,559 | 31.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 311,659 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

## Personal life

Friedman is married to Guillaume Lemoine, a professional landscape designer. The couple has a daughter, Rachel, born in 2013.