Nora Campos is an American politician from California. Campos is a 2020 candidate to California's 15th State Senate district. She served on the San Jose City Council and then in the California State Assembly. She is a representative on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and a member of the Latino Caucus of the League of California Cities. While a State assemblywoman, Campos was chair of the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committee, and of the Status of Girls and Women of Color Committee. Prior to taking elected office, she worked as Community Relations Coordinator and then as Chief of Staff for a San Jose City Councilmember. In addition to her role as chair of two committees, Campos was a member of the Budget Committee, the Business and Professions Committee, the Campus Climate Committee, the Governmental Organization Committee, the Health Committee, the Legislative Budget Committee, the Women in the Workplace Committee, the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, the Local Government Committee, and the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.
Throughout Campos' political career she has adhered to five pillars of public policy: 1) High performing public K-14 education. 2) Affordable post secondary education. 3) Affordable dependent health care. 4) Equality and civil rights against injustices. And 5) High-skill, high-wage, apprenticed careers. Campos has been honored for her public service by groups such as the Clean Water Coalition, the California Latino Legislative Caucus Institute for Public Policy, and the Lupus Foundation of Northern California.
San Jose City Council
Campos was elected to represent District 5 on the San Jose City Council in a special election in March 2001 and served for ten years, winning re-election twice. As a San Jose City councilwoman, as of 2015, Campos was one of only six women that have served in that role since 1998; the others are Madison Nguyen, Nancy Pyle, Judy Chirco, Cindy Chavez, and Linda J. LeZotte. As a councilwoman, Campos struggled as a Latina with a council steeped in white patriarchy. Campos was elected following the election of Ron Gonzales, the first Latino mayor at the time in the one hundred and fifty year U.S. history of San Jose; a region predominantly Latino. As a councilwoman, Campos focused on improving opportunities for youth as a counter to gang activities and looked to improve the wages of the working class in San Jose through enforcement of labor laws.
California State Assembly
In June 2009, Campos announced her candidacy for the 23rd California State Assembly District. She was elected on November 10, 2010 with 75% of the vote, succeeding term-limited Democrat Joe Coto. As an assemblywoman and a Latina, Campos alongside other Latina policymakers like Lorena Gonzalez, represented her constituents in the lopsidedly white male demographic of the California assembly. Campos prevailed in that role, in August 2012 she was appointed speaker pro tempore in the Assembly. As an assemblywoman, Campos upheld civil rights. She sponsored a bill that resolved for the federal government to "immediately halt cases it is pursuing against unrepresented immigrant children until lawyers are made available to represent them." As a champion of workers, Campos balanced social justice with environmental justice, it is jobs or health, for workers, both are important and Campos maintained a lifetime Eco score of 87%, which only a third of state assembly members achieved. In a disappointing turn during the 2015 session, Democratic Governor Brown vetoed Campos' AB1017, a bill that would have barred employers from using previous salary information to justify paying women less than their male co-workers. The bill was one of two vetoed by Governor Brown that day that targeted gender equity, the other was by fellow Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and addessed gender parity in workers compensation. In a win, with AB 2393 Campos gained the right to parental leave for all California K-14 employees; this time Governor Brown signed.
California State Senate
In 2016, termed out as an Assembly member and after advancing in the primary with the endorsement of then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Campos failed to unseat Jim Beall in the election for the 15th State Senate District by a wide margin. In 2020, Jim Beall termed out of California's 15th State Senate district. Campos was one of three leading candidates competing for the open seat; the others were one-time fellow councilmember and current termed-out Santa Clara CountySupervisorDave Cortese and UC Berkeley Law School adjunct lecturer Ann Ravel. If successful, Campos would have been the first Latina/o to hold the 15th State Senate seat. She was defeated in the primary by Cortese and Ravel, finishing in third place.
