Mialisa "Mia" Tania Bonta ( Villafañe; born January 26, 1972) is an American 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 ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the 18th Assembly District, which consists of

Oakland 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, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, Alameda, and Emeryville.

Early life and education

Bonta was born to Puerto Rican parents. Some of her ancestors came to Puerto Rico from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

via the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

. She is the daughter of a divorced working mother in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. She attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where she met

Rob Bonta Robert Andres Bonta (born September 22, 1972) is a Filipino and American lawyer and politician who has served as attorney general of California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a member of the California Stat ...

as a freshman. Bonta earned a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

degree from the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...

before attending

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

with Rob Bonta.

Career

Mia Bonta is the CEO of Oakland Promise, a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

cradle-to-college support program focused on the city's low-income students. In 2018, she was elected to the Alameda School Board. In 2021 she was elected as a member of the California State Assembly from the 18th district. During her special election campaigns, Bonta's opponents claimed that she benefited from her husband's position and name, and pointed to money she has received from

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

interests that may be intended to influence

. In the primary, Bonta finished first place with 38% of the vote, and in the runoff, she defeated human rights attorney Janani Ramachandran by 56% to 44%. Bonta 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 ...

Personal life

She has three children with her husband, Rob Bonta. Their daughter, Reina, is a filmmaker and plays

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for Brazilian club

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

and the Philippines national team.

Elections

References

External links

Join California Mia Bonta
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonta, Mia 1972 births American women chief executives Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Living people Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Nonprofit chief executives Yale Law School alumni American politicians of Puerto Rican descent People of Afro–Puerto Rican descent African-American state legislators in California 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American people of Ghanaian descent 21st-century members of the California State Legislature