American lawyer and politician, a Democrat, who served as the 40th mayor of Los Angeles from 2001 to 2005. Prior to his term as mayor, Hahn served in several other capacities for the city of Los Angeles, including deputy city attorney (1975–1979), city controller (1981–1985) and city attorney (1985–2001). Hahn is the only individual in the city’s history to have been elected to all three citywide offices. He is currently a sitting judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Hahn is the brother of Los Angeles county supervisor and former congresswoman, Janice Hahn, the nephew of former California State assemblyman and Los Angeles city councilman Gordon Hahn; and the son of former Los Angeles city councilman and long-time Los Angeles county supervisor, Kenneth Hahn.
James Hahn attended Los Angeles city schools and graduated Magnum Cum Laude from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles where he majored in English and minored in journalism. He graduated from Pepperdine Law School with a Juris Doctor degree in 1975 and was admitted to the California Bar later that same year. Hahn joined the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office in 1975 and worked as a city prosecutor for four years.
The people of Los Angeles elected Hahn to the Office of City Controller on 2 June 1981 on his first run for public office. On 9 April 1985, he was elected L.A. City Attorney in the primary election, and was sworn in on July 1 of that year. He has since been re-elected to three additional four-year terms–in the April 1989 primary election, when he was unopposed, and the April 1993 and April 1997 primary elections. He was sworn in on 1 July 1997 to begin his fourth and final term as City Attorney which expired on 1 July 2001.
Hahn was sworn in as mayor of Los Angeles on 2 July 2001, 10:36 AM PDT. He made a mercifully short address in the summer heat on the City Halls steps, acknowledging the burgeoning Latino population by repeating his opening remarks in Spanish. His wife looked on in support. He served until 2005, at which time he was defeated in his bid for re-election.
A lifelong resident of Los Angeles, he and his wife, Monica Ann (nee Teson) were married on 19 May 1984, and have a daughter, Karina, and a son, Jackson. They reside in San Pedro.
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