Damon Matthew Connolly (born June 19, 1963) is an American attorney and politician serving as a member of 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 ...

for the

12th Twelfth can mean: *The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution *The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland In mathematics: * 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...

district. Elected in November 2022, he assumed office on December 5, 2022.

Early life and education

Connolly was raised in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

UC Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was ...

Career

From 1989 to 1993, Connolly worked as an associate at Thelen LLP in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He then joined the

California Department of Justice The California Department of Justice is a statewide investigative law enforcement agency and legal department of the California executive branch under the elected leadership of the Attorney General of California (AG) which carries out comple ...

, serving as a deputy attorney general from 1993 to 1998 and as an supervising deputy attorney general from 1998 to 2007. In 2007 and 2008, he was a partner at Girard Gibbs LLP. Connolly served as a member of the San Rafael City Council from 2007 to 2014 and the Marin County Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2022. In October 2021, Connolly announced he would run for California State Assembly in the 12th district. Incumbent

Marc Levine Marc Levine (born April 26, 1974) is an American politician, who served in the California State Assembly representing the California's 10th State Assembly district, 10th district between 2012 and 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United S ...

chose to run for

California Insurance Commissioner The California insurance commissioner has been an elected executive office position in California since 1991. Prior to that time, the insurance commissioner was appointed by the governor. The officeholder is in charge of the California Departme ...

. In June 2022, Connolly finished first in a field of five candidates in the jungle primary. He won the general election with 51.8% of the vote. Connolly is a member of the

California Legislative Progressive Caucus The California Legislative Progressive Caucus is a California political organization composed of progressive members of the California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the ...

Election history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Damon Living people California lawyers California Democrats Members of the California State Assembly University of California, Berkeley alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni People from Marin County, California People from San Rafael, California 1963 births 21st-century members of the California State Legislature