Mia Bonta

Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) represents California's 18th Assembly District, encompassing Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville. ^[1,2] A former education nonprofit executive and school board president, she won a 2021 special election to succeed her husband, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and now chairs the Assembly Health Committee. ^[1,3,5] With a 10% CFC Biblical Values Scorecard rating — the lowest in the Assembly — Bonta's legislative record represents one of the sharpest divergences from the California Family Council's worldview framework in the Legislature. She has used her Health Committee chairmanship to advance abortion access expansion, including the Protecting Pregnant Patients Act (AB 40) and expanded Medi-Cal coverage for contraception (AB 50) ^[2,5] — measures that directly conflict with CFC's conviction that every human life possesses full moral worth from fertilization (Chapter 6). Her membership in the Progressive Caucus and her consistent alignment with Planned Parenthood's legislative priorities place her firmly in opposition to CFC's framework on the sanctity of life, parental authority (Chapter 8), and religious liberty (Chapter 9).

Mia Bonta was born on January 26, 1972, in New York City and grew up in the Bronx as the daughter of a working mother of Puerto Rican descent. ^[1,3] She identifies as a Black Latina. ^[3] She attended Yale University, earning a B.A. in Psychology in 1993, a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1996, and later a J.D. from Yale Law School. ^[1,2,3] Before entering politics, Bonta worked in the nonprofit sector on education initiatives, serving as CEO of Breakthrough Collaborative, executive director of the Bring Me A Book Foundation, and CEO of Oakland Promise, a college preparation nonprofit. ^[1,2,5]

Bonta entered elected office in 2018 on the Alameda Unified School District Board of Education, where she served as Board President. ^[1,2,3] When her husband Rob Bonta was appointed Attorney General in March 2021, she won the special election for his vacant Assembly seat, defeating Janani Ramachandran 56-44 percent in the runoff. ^[1,2,4] She has been reelected in 2022 and 2024. ^[1,2]

On education, Bonta's approach favors expanded government programs and spending over the parental empowerment and school choice that CFC's framework advocates. Her voting record has consistently supported measures that CFC views as undermining parental authority over children's moral formation. On housing and criminal justice, she has championed AB 2709, mandating expanded family visitation for state prison inmates. ^[5,7] While CFC's framework affirms the importance of family bonds, CFC evaluates criminal justice legislation by whether it protects the innocent and maintains public safety — and Bonta's progressive approach to these issues has generally favored reduced accountability over community protection.

Her 11.1% 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.

Bonta lives in Alameda with her husband and their three children. ^[1,2,3]