About Jordan Cunningham
Jordan Cunningham is a former prosecutor, a dedicated husband and father, and a local businessman and attorney. Together, he and his wife Shauna run a family business and raise their four children on the Central Coast. He has proudly represented the 35th District in the State Assembly since 2016.
Born and raised on the Central Coast, Jordan attended Atascadero High School. After graduation, he earned a bachelors degree in Physics with honors from Point Loma Nazarene University. Jordan then earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). While in law school, he volunteered as a football and baseball coach at a local high school.
Jordan met his wife Shauna while attending law school. After graduating and passing the bar, they started a family and moved to Washington D.C. Jordan worked in a number of capacities, including: an attorney in private practice, a law clerk to two federal judges, and an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Desiring to serve the public and return home to raise his children, Jordan became a Deputy District Attorney for the County of San Luis Obispo. He prosecuted a wide variety of crimes – including fraud, assault, domestic violence, and environmental crimes – compiling a stellar trial record. To date, he continues practicing law as the co-founder of the Cunningham Law Group – using his expertise to represent individuals, families, and local businesses.
In 2014, Jordan was elected to serve on the Board of the Templeton Unified School District. He served there until his election to the State Assembly. As a Board Member, he recognized the importance of Career Technical Education (CTE) as a key driver of economic opportunity for many kids. As an Assemblymember, Jordan has become a leader in the effort to support “workforce-ready education” and to permanently fund the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTEIG). If properly funded, Jordan believes that Career Technical Education has the potential to strengthen California’s middle class by providing students with the training needed to compete in the new economy.
On the local level, he is working to lessen the impact of the impending closure of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. He has carried legislation to provide economic mitigation funds to the community and schools, to provide workforce retention and retraining funds for Diablo’s employees, and to repurpose the existing desalination plant to expand the area’s water supply.
As a former prosecutor, Jordan has witnessed the negative impacts of crime on Central Coast communities and throughout California. He is fighting to raise awareness on human trafficking, and has carried legislation to increase protections for victims, as well as make it easier to find traffickers on the street and prosecute them in the courtroom. Jordan has also successfully passed legislation to expand background checks for all law enforcement employees and expand the state sex offender registry to include heinous forms of sexual assault.
Before his election to the Assembly, Jordan toured 50 small businesses throughout the Central Coast in 50 days. He spoke with business owners and saw first-hand the impact that antiquated regulations are having on job creation. As a result, he passed legislation that requires all state departments to host a small business liaison that advocates for employers and holds bureaucracies accountable.
Jordan has also worked to make the region’s roads safer for families, commuters, and tourists. He has led the effort to fix the Cholame 41/46 intersection that has been infamously named “Blood Alley” for years. In his first months in office, Assemblyman Cunningham worked with CalTrans and the California Transportation Commission, calling on leadership to fix the dangerous highway. At that time, Cunningham said the situation was “unacceptable.” He advocated for funding to modernize these highways and less than one year later, nearly $134 million in funding was approved to expand the highways to four lanes and build a critical overpass at the intersection.
In the State Assembly, Jordan sits on key committees including: Ethics (Co-Chair), Judiciary (Vice-Chair), Rules (Vice-Chair), Business and Professions, and Utilities and Energy.
Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham and his wife, Shauna, live in San Luis Obispo County where they are raising their four children.