Shirley Weber

Weber's record is built on firsts that took decades to arrive. She was the first African American elected to the California State Legislature from south of Los Angeles, winning the 79th Assembly District in 2012, and in 2021 she became the first African American to serve as California's secretary of state, the fifth African American in any statewide constitutional office in the state's history. Her 2019 deadly-force law changed the legal standard for police use of force across the most populous state in the country, and it remains the piece of legislation most often attached to her name. The academic side of her record is just as long: a UCLA doctorate and decades on the San Diego State University faculty before she ever held elected office.