Tom Harman

Tom Harman
Tom Harman
	Huntington Beach City Councilman
	In office; December 5, 1994 – December 4, 2000
Personal details
Born	Thomas George Harman; May 30, 1941 (age 83); First Lieutenant
Unit	4th Infantry Division

Thomas George Harman (born May 30, 1941) is an American politician. He is a former Republican member of the California State Senate who had previously been a three-term member of the California State Assembly. Both seats represent portions of Orange County. From January 5 – November 30, 2012, he served as Senate Republican Caucus Chair, the second-ranking leadership position among Senate Republicans.

Education and military service

Harman earned a

Los Angeles, finishing near the top of his class and earning his J.D.

in 1968.

Legal career

Upon graduating from Loyola, Harman joined the

Malcolm M. Lucas and future Governor George Deukmejian

.

Harman and his wife, Dianne, moved to Huntington Beach in the 1970s to start a family. After the birth of his children, Michael and Michelle, Harman wanted to spend more time with his family, so he left Lucas & Deukmejian and started his own law firm, which he remained with for 27 years.

Political career

In 1995, Harman was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Huntington Beach

City Council. City residents elected Harman to a full term in 1996. At the conclusion of his term, Harman was elected to the State Assembly with 62% of the vote in 2000 to represent the 67th District. He was re-elected with 69% of the vote in 2002 and 64% of the vote in 2004. He was ineligible to seek a fourth term, due to term limits

.

Senate special election

Harman won a hotly contested primary election for the 35th district Senate seat in a special election held in April, 2006 to replace Senator

City Councilwoman Diane Harkey, spent $1.2 million of her own money in an attempt to defeat him. Harman won the election by a margin of only 256 votes, thereby earning the nickname "Landslide Harman."^{[citation needed}

]

In June 2006, Harman won 67.8% of the general election vote

John Campbell became a member of the United States House of Representatives

.

Senate tenure

Harman was re-elected to the 35th Senate district in November 2008. He held the position of whip, the third highest position in the Republican Caucus. In this capacity he was chiefly responsible for ensuring the enforcement of proper procedures and rules on the floor of the Senate. In addition to his leadership position, he served as vice chair of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Governmental Organization Committee.

A

Sacramento Bee

article concluded that Tom Harman had missed or abstained from the highest number of votes of any Senator during the 2010 legislative year who wasn't ill.

Bid for Attorney General

Harman announced his candidacy for California Attorney General in June 2009. On June 8, 2010, Harman lost the Republican primary to Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who narrowly lost to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for the general election.

References

^ California Secretary of State – Special Election Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine

External links

California Assembly
Preceded by Scott Baugh	67th District December 4, 2000 – June 12, 2006	Succeeded by Jim Silva
California Senate
Preceded by John Campbell	35th District June 12, 2006 – November 30, 2012	Succeeded by Rod Wright

[1] California Secretary of State – Special Election Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine