Josh Lowenthal

Lowenthal was born on February 15, 1970, in Long Beach, California, to Alan Lowenthal and Bonnie Lowenthal, and is Jewish.^[2] He attended Cornell University, where he became the student body president, and later attended the University of California, San Diego. Before becoming a politician like his parents, he worked as a teacher and as a businessman who owned restaurants and a conference calling company. Prior to running for State Assembly, Lowenthal did community work, considering a run for a school board.^[3]

In 2018, Lowenthal ran for the California State Assembly as the sole Democratic candidate for the 72nd district. The seat became open when the incumbent Assemblymember, Travis Allen opted to run for governor in lieu of reelection.^[4][5] Lowenthal faced Republican Tyler Diep in the general election. Diep was accused of using anti-Semitic imagery against Lowenthal during the campaign. Diep's campaign denied allegations of manipulating images to depict Lowenthal as stereotypically Jewish, but Diep later apologized about the mailers.^[2][6] Lowenthal lost to Diep by 8 points.^[7]

He ran for State Assembly again in 2022 in the newly-redrawn 69th district after incumbent Patrick O'Donnell announced his retirement.^[8] Lowenthal placed first and faced off against Long Beach councilman Al Austin, and defeated Austin in the general election.^[9][10]