Jacqui Irwin

Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) is a systems engineer turned legislator who has represented portions of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties since 2014, first in the 44th Assembly District and now in the 42nd following redistricting ^[1,2]. A daughter of Dutch immigrants, mother of three, and former two-term mayor of Thousand Oaks, Irwin brings a pragmatic, technically oriented perspective to Sacramento that has made her a recognized leader on cybersecurity and technology policy, while her positions on firearms regulation and privacy law represent areas of significant divergence from traditional family-values priorities ^[3,4]. With a 19% CFC Biblical Values Scorecard rating, Irwin's voting record has consistently placed her at considerable distance from the California Family Council's worldview framework on the sanctity of life (Chapter 6), parental authority in education (Chapter 8), and religious liberty (Chapter 9).

Jacqueline Van Egmond Irwin was born on January 3, 1962, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles to Dutch immigrants John and Barbara Van Egmond, and grew up in Woodland Hills ^[1,2]. She graduated from Taft High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from the University of California, San Diego in 1985, where she was an Academic All-American swimmer who competed in the national championships all four years ^[1,2,3]. After college, Irwin worked as an engineer at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab for three years, then spent five years at Teledyne Systems ^[1,2]. She married Jon Irwin, a corporate executive, in 1986, and together they raised three children while living in Thousand Oaks for nearly two decades ^[1,3].

Irwin's entry into public service began at the local level. In 2003, she was appointed to the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission, and in 2004 she won a seat on the Thousand Oaks City Council, where she served for a decade ^[1,2]. Her path to politics was notably organic: she became civically engaged after working with parents and school officials to improve dangerous high school sports facilities, an effort that led to a city-school district partnership to build new athletic facilities ^[4].

Her 23.1% Biblical Values Scorecard rating across 104 scored floor votes reflects consistent divergence from CFC's worldview framework. Her voting record has supported abortion access expansion over the sanctity of human life, government-directed education over parental authority and school choice, and progressive social mandates over religious liberty protections.

Irwin's record includes areas of both convergence and divergence with CFC's mission. On the positive side, her decade of local government service demonstrated a commitment to family-friendly communities, youth development, and public safety that resonates with CFC's emphasis on strong families and safe environments for children. Her veterans' advocacy work, which earned bipartisan support, reflects respect for service and sacrifice. Her CITY internship program and work combating youth substance abuse show practical concern for young people's well-being ^[3,4]. However, her support for expanded gun control measures and her positions on social issues place her outside the mainstream of CFC's policy priorities. The privacy law controversy involving her husband's role as COO of Amazon-owned Ring also raised questions about potential conflicts of interest, though Irwin maintained she consulted with the Assembly's ethics officer on such matters ^[6]. Currently, Irwin chairs the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and the Joint Committee on Climate Change Policies, and she has announced her candidacy for the U.S. House seat in California's 26th Congressional District following Congresswoman Julia Brownley's retirement, with the primary scheduled for June 2, 2026 ^[2,5].