Tony Thurmond

Background

Tony Thurmond was born in Monterey. His mother, an immigrant from Panama, died when he was six, and he and his younger brother were raised by cousins in Philadelphia, where the family relied on public assistance. He was student body president at Temple University and earned master's degrees from Bryn Mawr College in law and social policy and in social work. In the East Bay he led nonprofits serving young people and served on the West Contra Costa school board and the Richmond City Council. He represented much of the East Bay in the Assembly from 2014 to 2018. He won the 2018 race for superintendent over Marshall Tuck, took office on January 7, 2019, and lives in Richmond.

In office

Thurmond won re-election on November 8, 2022, with 63.7 percent over Lance Christensen. In July 2023 Chino police escorted him from a Chino Valley Unified board meeting after he urged the board to reject a policy requiring staff to tell parents when a student identifies with a different gender; the board approved it 4 to 1. His deputy superintendent, Steve Zimmer, said afterward of the district's LGBTQ students that “Superintendent Thurmond stands behind them and will continue to fight for them” (CalMatters, July 30, 2023). On July 30, 2024, he announced an effort to help districts build staff housing on district land, a model already used by the Jefferson Union High School District in San Mateo County.

In April 2025 CalMatters reported that he had held paid part-time jobs with four Bay Area nonprofits while in office, most recently as director of the Berkeley Food Pantry from November 2023 to June 2024, for about $25,000. He said there was no conflict and that he did most of the work on evenings and weekends. On March 12, 2026, he wrote to White House officials urging the return of a 6-year-old student of the California School for the Deaf in Fremont who had been deported with his family.

AB 181, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed on July 10, 2026, moves the Department of Education's executive and administrative duties from the superintendent to an education commissioner appointed by the governor, starting January 15, 2027, and gives the superintendent a seat on the State Board of Education. When Newsom proposed the change in January 2026, department spokesperson Liz Sanders said it was not clear what problem it would solve, and Brooks Allen, the state board's executive director and an education adviser to the governor, said it was "not a referendum on the current superintendent." Statewide test results released in October 2026 showed 49.3 percent of students meeting English standards and 38.5 percent meeting math standards.

On the ballot

Thurmond is termed out, and his term ends in January 2027. He announced a run for governor on September 26, 2023. In March 2026 he stayed in the race after state Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks urged candidates without a viable path to withdraw, saying the request in effect told candidates of color to drop out. In the June 2 primary he received 63,762 votes, 0.7 percent, and did not advance. On November 3, Richard Barrera and Sonja Shaw meet for superintendent; under AB 181 the winner will not run the Department of Education.