Joshua Alder Lowenthal (born February 15, 1970) is an American business executive and politician from California 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 ...

, representing the 69th district, based in

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

and Signal Hill. The son of politicians

Bonnie Bonnie is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean or Bonnie Dundee about John Graham, 7th Laird of Claverhouse. It comes from the Scots language word "bon ...

and

Alan Lowenthal Alan Stuart Lowenthal (; born March 8, 1941) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 47th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the California state ass ...

, he was first elected in 2022 after a failed run for the State Assembly in 2018.

Early life and education

Lowenthal was born on February 15, 1970 in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

and Bonnie Lowenthal, and is Jewish. He attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he became the student body president, and later attended the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

. Before becoming a politician like his parents, he worked as a teacher and as a businessman who owned restaurants and a conference calling company. Prior to running for California State Assembly, Lowenthal did community work, considering a run for a school board.

Political career

In 2018, Lowenthal ran for the

as the sole Democratic candidate in the 72nd district, facing Republican Tyler Diep in the general election in over to replace incumbent

Travis Allen Travis Ethan Allen (born September 14, 1973) is an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the California State Assembly. Allen was first elected in November 2012 to represent California's 72nd S ...

. During the campaign, Diep was accused for using anti-Semitic imagery targeting Lowenthal. Diep's campaign denied allegations of manipulating images to depict Lowenthal as stereotypically Jewish, but Diep later apologized about the mailers. In the general election, Lowenthal lost to Diep by 8 points. He ran for State Assembly again in 2022 in the newly-redrawn 69th district after incumbent Patrick O'Donnell announced his retirement. Lowenthal placed first and faced off against Long Beach councilman Al Austin, and defeated Austin in the general election.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowenthal, Josh 1970 births 21st-century members of the California State Legislature Cornell University alumni Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Jewish state legislators in California Living people Politicians from Long Beach, California