Newman was elected to the State Senate by a very narrow margin in November 2016, providing Democrats with a ⅔ supermajority of 27 seats. In June 2018, he was successfully recalled by the voters of the 29th Senate District, and replaced by his 2016 opponent, former RepublicanAssemblywomanLing Ling Chang. In November 2020, Newman once again defeated Chang to return to the State Senate. In 2024, Newman was defeated for reelection by former Assemblyman Steven Choi in an upset.
Prior to being elected to the State Senate, Newman was a veterans' advocate and executive director of a nonprofit for veterans.
In Newman's first election, he defeated former Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang in the primary, then narrowly defeated Republican state AssemblywomanLing Ling Chang to succeed term-limited Republican Bob Huff in the general election.[1]
2018 recall
In June 2018, Newman was recalled from office,[2][3] ostensibly for his affirmative vote on Senate Bill 1, which increased gas and diesel taxes and raised DMV registration fees in California.[4][5] The recall effort was heavily pushed by influential radio personalities John and Ken. He was replaced by Republican Ling Ling Chang, whom he had defeated in the 2016 election.[6]
2020 election
On March 4, 2019, Newman announced that he would be a candidate to return to the California State Senate in the 2020 elections.[7]
He came in second in the primary election, defeating Democratic challenger Joseph Cho. In the general election, he won office with 51.3% of the vote to retake the seat from Chang.[3]
2024 election
Following redistricting, Newman announced that he would run for the 37th Senate district, going up against fellow Democrat Dave Min.[8] Later, Senator Min announced that he would not seek re-election to the State Senate and would instead run for California's 47th congressional district. In the general election, Min would win the congressional seat, but Newman would end up narrowly losing the Senate seat to Republican former Assemblyman Steven Choi.
Personal life
Newman is Jewish.[9] He is married and has one child.[10]
