State Senator Tom Umberg represents California's 34th Senate District, encompassing northern Orange County communities including Santa Ana, Anaheim, Fullerton, Buena Park, and La Habra, as well as the unincorporated Los Angeles County community of South Whittier [1,2]. A retired U.S. Army Colonel, former federal prosecutor, Deputy Drug Czar under President Clinton, and founder of a veteran-owned law firm, Umberg has built a career defined by public service across military, legal, and legislative arenas [2,3]. He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and has authored more than 60 measures signed into law across his four terms in the Legislature [3,4]. With a 15% CFC Biblical Values Scorecard rating, Umberg's voting record has consistently placed him 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).
Thomas John Umberg was born on September 25, 1955, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a family of German ancestry [1]. He graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1977, earned his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1980, and later completed a Master of Science at the U.S. Army War College in 2000 and the Senior Executives in National Security Course at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1999 [1,2]. This combination of rigorous academic training in law, military strategy, and national security policy laid the groundwork for a career spanning multiple fields of public service.
Umberg's military career began when he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served with the 2nd Infantry Division at the Korean Demilitarized Zone [1,2]. He later served with NATO forces in Italy and as a paratrooper with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, the Army Special Warfare Center, and the XVIII Airborne Corps, completing three overseas tours totaling over five years of deployment [2,3]. In 2009, Colonel Umberg was recalled to active duty to lead the U.S. military effort to combat corruption within the Afghan Police and Army, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in a combat zone [1,5].
On the issues central to the California Family Council's mission, Umberg's voting record has consistently diverged from CFC's worldview framework. His 15% CFC Biblical Values Scorecard rating reflects a pattern of voting that has supported abortion access expansion over the sanctity of life, government-directed education over parental authority, and progressive social mandates over religious liberty protections.
