About Mike

First elected in 2014, Mike Gipson represents the 65th District in the California State Assembly.  Since 2016, Gipson has also served as Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair, responsible for driving the legislative decision-making process.

 

During his Assembly tenure, Gipson has been a leader on a wide variety of issues, authoring laws that improved the quality of education, expanded access to healthcare, addressed homelessness, and enacted sensible criminal justice reform.  Most recently, Gipson helped champion the Legislature’s successful efforts to pass a groundbreaking transportation package focused on infrastructure improvements, as well as the extension of California’s historic cap and trade program.

 

Before being elected to the Assembly, Gipson was a Carson City Council Member and local police officer, and has led local nonprofits to help at-risk youth stay engaged in school and off the streets. Gipson also previously served as a community organizer for the United Teachers of Los Angeles to protect teachers and parents and prepare LA’s students for the jobs of tomorrow. 

As a local Councilmember, Gipson protected funding for neighborhood schools, hospitals, and public safety services. Additionally, Gipson took a pay cut to help balance the city budget and protecting funding for essential local services like services for seniors and after-school programs.

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Gipson grew up in Watts, where his parents raised him to know the importance of faith, a good education, and most critically, the importance of giving back to your community. Gipson currently lives in Carson with his wife Le Cresha. They have two sons, Devon and Jordan along with their two grandchildren; Faafetai Ole Alofa, and Cataleya Acevedo Gipson.