Hahn family of California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hahn | |
|---|---|
| Political family | |
| Country | United States |
| Current region | California |
| Place of origin | Los Angeles, California |
| Founder | John Heinrich Hahn |
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The Hahn family of California is an American political family related to Gordon Hahn, a State Assemblyman and Los Angeles City Councilmember, and his younger brother Kenneth Hahn, a Los Angeles City Councilmember and later a County Board Supervisor. Kenneth's children, James and Janice, have also held various political offices based in the Los Angeles area, with the Los Angeles Times writing that their political strength has been compared with the Daleys of Chicago.
Political history
The Hahn family began when John Heinrich Hahn and his wife, Hattie Louise Wiggins Hahn, emigrated from Saskatchewan to Los Angeles in 1919.[1] The couple had seven children, including Gordon Hahn and Kenneth Hahn. Both brothers attended Pepperdine University, with Gordon later going on to graduate from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Their older brother, John Dee Hahn, became a civil service employee in 1930 and also was a clerk in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[2] Some of the brothers, including Kenneth, worked as the Hahn Brothers' Service Station owned by another older brother, Henry.
Kenneth married Ramona Fox in 1948, with the two having two children, James in 1950 and Janice in 1952. Kenneth died on October 12, 1997, due to a heart failure, while Gordon died on March 29, 2001. Ramona would die on July 11, 2011, the day before Janice's election to the U.S. House of Representatives.[3]
In 1946, Kenneth attempted to break into politics by running for the State Assembly's 66th district, but was unable to compete due to him winning the Republican nomination but not winning the Democratic nomination as he was a Democrat.[4] Gordon would ultimately get the Republican nomination, and later go on to win a seat in the Assembly.[5] Kenneth would get a seat in the Los Angeles City Council a year later, representing the 8th district.[6]
In 1981, James became the 5th Los Angeles City Controller and later became the 15th Los Angeles City Attorney four years later. In 1987, Dale Hahn, James and Janice's cousin, became a judge of the San Mateo County Superior Court, and would retire in 2004.[7] In 2001, Both James and Janice both won political offices in Los Angeles: James became the 40th Mayor of Los Angeles after defeating California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa while Janice became a Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 15th district. James would later lose the 2005 election to Villaraigosa while Janice would later become a member of the United States House of Representatives after a special election in 2011.
In 2009, James was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in 2016, Janice became a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 4th district.