Lateefah Aaliyah Simon (born January 29, 1977) is an American politician who is the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for

California's 12th congressional district California's 12th congressional district is a congressional district in northern California. Lateefah Simon, a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, has represented the district since January 2025. The district was represented previously b ...

since January 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first member of Congress known to be congenitally blind in both eyes, and the first Muslim member from California and outside of the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. She served on the

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running to Antioch, and Oakland Airport Connecto ...

board of directors and on the board of trustees of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...

system. She served as a trustee of the San Francisco Foundation and president of MeadowFund, a community investment fund created by Patricia Quillin, the wife of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, and was president of Akonadi Foundation, an organization focused on racial justice in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. In 2003, she became the youngest woman to receive a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

for her leadership of the Center for Young Women's Development (now the Young Women's Freedom Center) 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 ...

at the age of 19.

Early life

Simon earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in public policy at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

, where she was the 2017 commencement speaker, a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

, and was a 2014 Social Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Fellow at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Earlier political career

During the tenure of

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

as San Francisco District Attorney, Simon led the creation of the city's Back on Track program for young adults charged with low-level felony drug sales. Simon also previously worked as the executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2016, Simon was appointed to the

(CSU) Board of Trustees by Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

. Simon was elected to represent the seventh district on the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board of directors in 2016. Her motivations for running included her reliance on

BART Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...

, as someone who is legally blind and unable to drive. In 2020, she was elected president of the board of directors.

U.S. House of Representatives

2024 election

In February 2023, Simon announced that she was running for

. The previous representative for the district,

Barbara Lee Barbara Jean Lee (; born July 16, 1946) is an American politician who has served as the 52nd mayor of Oakland since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Lee previously served as a United States House of Repr ...

, did not seek re-election to the seat and instead ran as a candidate in the 2024 United States Senate election in California. On November 2, 2023,

California Governor The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, th ...

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...

endorsed Simon's candidacy. Simon defeated CSU East Bay professor Jennifer Tran, a fellow Democrat, in the November general election.

Committee assignments

For the 119th Congress: *

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative United States congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one o ...

** Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services ** Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement * Committee on Small Business ** Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development ** Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations

Caucus memberships

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is a Caucuses of the United States Congress, caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Asian Pacific American, AAPI), and who ...

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is made up of Black members of the United States Congress. Representative Yvette Clarke from New York, the current chairperson, succeeded Steven Horsford from Nevada in 2025. Although most members belong ...

* Congressional Progressive Caucus (Vice Chair)

Personal life

Simon is the mother of two children. Simon's husband, Kevin Weston, was a recognized journalist and activist who died from leukemia in 2014. She is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and legally blind.

Electoral history

Awards

* 2003

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

* 2007 Jefferson Award

References

External links

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon
Official U.S. Congress website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Lateefah 1977 births 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives Activists from San Francisco African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American Muslims American blind people Blind politicians California Democrats Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Female members of the United States House of Representatives Living people MacArthur Fellows Mills College alumni Muslim members of the United States House of Representatives Muslims from California University of San Francisco alumni