Cathleen Galgiani (born January 4, 1964) is an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served in the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

. A Democrat, she represented the 5th Senate District, which encompasses

San Joaquin County San Joaquin County ( ; , meaning " St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 779,233. The county seat is Stockton. San Jo ...

, and portions of Stanislaus and Sacramento counties. Galgiani was a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus. Prior to her election to the State Senate in 2012, she served in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

, representing the 17th Assembly District. Before her service as an elected official, she was the

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

to her predecessor, Assemblymember Barbara Matthews.

Biography

Galgiani attended San Joaquin Delta College before receiving her Bachelor's degree from

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

. Prior to working in the Legislature, Galgiani spent eight years as a physical therapy aide at San Joaquin General Hospital and Dameron Hospital in

. Galgiani served as the consultant to the legislative committee on the development of

University of California, Merced The University of California, Merced (UC Merced or colloquially, UCM) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Merced, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of ...

. She helped secure funding and support for UC Merced to ensure that the university continues to grow as the tenth campus in the University of California system. Galgiani also served as a staffer for Pat Johnston,

John Garamendi John Raymond Garamendi ( ; born January 24, 1945) is an American businessman, politician and member of the Democratic Party who has represented areas of Northern California between San Francisco and Sacramento, including the cities of Fairfiel ...

, and Barbara Matthews. In a 2011 interview with the '' Stockton Record'', Galgiani publicly disclosed that she is gay. In so doing, she became the eighth openly

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

currently-serving member of the California Legislature, alongside Speaker

Toni Atkins Toni Gayle Atkins (born August 1, 1962) is an American politician who served as the 51st president pro tempore of the California State Senate from 2018 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 69th speaker of the ...

(D–San Diego), Assemblymembers Sabrina Cervantes (D–Riverside), Susan Eggman (D–Stockton),

Todd Gloria Todd Rex Gloria (born May 10, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 37th mayor of San Diego since 2020. As mayor, he is the chief executive officer of the City of San Diego. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

(D–San Diego) and Evan Low (D–Campbell), as well as Senators Ricardo Lara (D–Bell Gardens) and Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco). Galgiani was first elected to the State Senate after narrowly defeating Republican Assemblyman Bill Berryhill on November 6, 2012. In 2016, she won a second term, defeating Lodi Mayor Alan Nakanishi. In 2018 Galgiani ran for the California Board of Equalization, to represent the 2nd district, but finished in 3rd place in the primaries, 1.2 points behind second place, which eliminated her from the general election.

References

External links

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Campaign website

Cathleen_Galgiani

Join California Cathleen Galgiani
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galgiani, Cathleen Democratic Party California state senators 1964 births Living people Politicians from Stockton, California American people of Italian descent San Joaquin Delta College alumni California State University, Sacramento alumni Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Women state legislators in California LGBTQ state legislators in California American lesbian politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century members of the California State Legislature