Jacqui Irwin

Irwin was born in Woodland Hills, California, and graduated from Taft High School there before earning a bachelor of science in systems engineering from the University of California, San Diego, in 1985.[2] Her campaign biography adds that she was an All-American swimmer at UC San Diego.[5] She worked as an engineer at Teledyne Systems and at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab.[2][5]

Irwin was appointed to the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission in 2003 and was elected to the Thousand Oaks City Council in 2004.[5][3][6] She later served two terms as mayor of Thousand Oaks.[2][5] In 2014 she was elected to the California State Assembly from the 44th District, defeating Republican Rob McCoy 52.3% to 47.7%.[2] She was re-elected in 2016, 2018 and 2020, and in 2022 won election in the redrawn 42nd District.[2]

In the Assembly, Irwin chairs the Climate Change Policies Committee, and her campaign says she also chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Cybersecurity.[2][5] She announced her candidacy for the 26th Congressional District on January 8, 2026, hours after Rep. Julia Brownley said she would not seek another term, and she advanced from the June 2 primary with 41.3% of the vote.[7][3] She won the November 3, 2026 general election with 62% of the vote to Sam Gallucci's 38%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[1] According to Wikipedia, she married Jon Irwin in 1986 and has three children; her campaign biography says she and Jon have lived in Thousand Oaks for nearly 20 years and describes her as the mother of three young adults.[5][6]