Cohen was born in San Francisco on December 16, 1977. The eldest of five girls, she grew up in the Richmond District in San Francisco and graduated from Lowell High School.[2] Her mother was a social worker and her father a telecommunication worker.
In the 2010 election for District 10 of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, she was third in receiving first place votes out of a field of 22, but eventually won the election based on ranked choice voting.[4][3]
In October 2013, Cohen introduced legislation that expanded an existing San Francisco law making it illegal to sell firearms with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The gun-control legislation passed unanimously.[5]
In 2013, Cohen and Jane Kim authored the Fair Chance ordinance, a "ban the box" legislation barring employers and landlords from asking applicants to state their criminal history on applications, which passed the Board of Supervisors unanimously.[6]
In 2014, Cohen was re-elected for a second term to represent District 10 after being challenged by Marlene Tran and Tony Kelly.[7]
Cohen succeeded London Breed as president of the Board of Supervisors on June 26, 2018, following Breed's election as mayor of San Francisco.[8] Later that year, she was elected to represent District 2 on the California State Board of Equalization.
Controller of California
Cohen ran in the 2022 election for California State Controller against Republican Lanhee Chen winning the race with 55% of the vote, the lowest margin of victory for any statewide candidate that election cycle.[9][10][11] In September 2024, Cohen announced new recommendations aimed at preventing and detecting charter school fraud. [12]
After the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein in September 2023, Cohen was discussed as one of several possible people to serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term.[13][14]
Personal life
She married workers' compensation attorney Warren Pulley in May 2016.[15]
