Tom Harman

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American politician (born 1941)

title: "Tom Harman" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1941-births", "living-people", "american-protestants", "california-city-council-members", "california-lawyers", "republican-party-california-state-senators", "kansas-state-university-alumni", "loyola-law-school-alumni", "republican-party-members-of-the-california-state-assembly", "politicians-from-huntington-beach,-california", "politicians-from-pasadena,-california", "united-states-army-officers", "military-personnel-from-pasadena,-california", "21st-century-members-of-the-california-state-legislature"] description: "American politician (born 1941)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Harman" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (born 1941) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Tom Harman
image	Tom Harman, 2008.jpg
caption	Harman in 2008
office	California State Senate Republican Caucus Chair
term_start	January 5, 2012
term_end	November 30, 2012
predecessor	Bob Huff
successor	Ted Gaines
state_senate2	California
district2	35th
term_start2	June 12, 2006
term_end2	November 30, 2012
predecessor2	John Campbell
successor2	Roderick Wright
state_assembly3	California
district3	67th
term_start3	December 4, 2000
term_end3	June 12, 2006
predecessor3	Scott Baugh
successor3	Jim Silva
order4	Huntington Beach City Councilman
term_start4	December 5, 1994
term_end4	December 4, 2000
birth_name	Thomas George Harman
birth_date
birth_place	Pasadena, California
spouse	Dianne Harman
children	Michael
Michelle
occupation	Attorney
residence	Huntington Beach, California
alma_mater	Loyola Law School
Kansas State University
party	Republican
allegiance	United States
branch	United States Army
serviceyears	1963–1965
rank	First Lieutenant [[Image:US-O2 insignia.svg
unit	4th Infantry Division [[Image:4th Infantry Division SSI.svg
::

Education and military service

Harman earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Kansas State University in 1963. Upon graduating, Harman joined the United States Army and became a lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Division. After completing his tour of duty, he entered Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, finishing near the top of his class and earning his J.D. in 1968.

Legal career

Upon graduating from Loyola, Harman joined the Long Beach law firm of Lucas & Deukmejian, whose partners were future California Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas and future Governor George Deukmejian.

Harman and his wife, Dianne, moved to Huntington Beach in the 1970s to start a family. After the birth of his children, Michael and Michelle, Harman wanted to spend more time with his family, so he left Lucas & Deukmejian and started his own law firm, which he remained with for 27 years.

Political career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Tom_Harman,_2012.jpg" caption="Harman speaking in the [[California State Senate]], 2012."] ::

In 1995, Harman was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Huntington Beach City Council. City residents elected Harman to a full term in 1996. At the conclusion of his term, Harman was elected to the State Assembly with 62% of the vote in 2000 to represent the 67th District. He was re-elected with 69% of the vote in 2002 and 64% of the vote in 2004. He was ineligible to seek a fourth term, due to term limits.

Senate special election

Harman won a hotly contested primary election for the 35th district Senate seat in a special election held in April, 2006 to replace Senator John Campbell who had recently been elected to Congress, thereby creating a vacancy for that Senate seat. Harman's conservative opponent, Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey, spent $1.2 million of her own money in an attempt to defeat him. Harman won the election by a margin of only 256 votes, thereby earning the nickname "Landslide Harman."

In June 2006, Harman won 67.8% of the general election vote to be elected to the State Senate to fill the 35th District seat, vacated when John Campbell became a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Senate tenure

Harman was re-elected to the 35th Senate district in November 2008. He held the position of whip, the third highest position in the Republican Caucus. In this capacity he was chiefly responsible for ensuring the enforcement of proper procedures and rules on the floor of the Senate. In addition to his leadership position, he served as vice chair of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Governmental Organization Committee.

A Sacramento Bee article concluded that Tom Harman had missed or abstained from the highest number of votes of any Senator during the 2010 legislative year who wasn't ill.

Bid for Attorney General

Harman announced his candidacy for California Attorney General in June 2009. On June 8, 2010, Harman lost the Republican primary to Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who narrowly lost to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for the general election.

References

[http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/Special/sd35/elections_sd35_genresults.htm California Secretary of State – Special Election] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-03-11)

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