Anamarie Avila Farias

Ávila Farías was born in Martinez, California^[2] She is the granddaughter of immigrants from Mexico who came to the United States through the Bracero Program.^[3]

Ávila Farías was elected to a single term on the Martinez City Council in 2012, becoming the first Latina elected to the body. She was appointed to the California Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors by Governor Jerry Brown in 2015 and re-appointed by Gavin Newsom in 2021.^[4]

In 2017, Ávila Farías and a group of activists filed a lawsuit under the California Voting Rights Act alleging the Martinez Unified School District board diluted minority-representation through at-large elections. The board ultimately split the board representation into districts and paid $90,000 in legal fees.^[5]

In 2022, Ávila Farías made a Facebook post encouraging boycotting the 4th of July because of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling.^[6]

Ávila Farías ran in the 2024 election for the California State Assembly in the 15th district after the incumbent Assemblymember, Tim Grayson, announced that he would forgo reelection and run for the California State Senate instead.^[4] Ávila Farías and Republican Sonia Ledo advanced to the general election.^[7] Ávila Farías was elected.^[8] As of the end of the 2025 session, Ávila Farías was a member of the standing committees on Aging and Long-Term Care; Housing and Community Development; Military and Veterans Affairs; Water, Parks and Wildlife, and Insurance, and was co-chair of the Select Committee on Housing Finance and Affordability, and a member of several other select committees.^[9] In her first session in the Assembly, she authored a number of bills on housing, education, and other issues.^[10]

In January 2026, Ávila Farías introduced a bill to bar people employed by ICE between September 2025 and January 2029 from working in law enforcement or the public school system in California.^[11]