Anthony J. Portantino

State Senator Anthony Portantino represents California’s 25th State Senate District, which stretches along the 210 Freeway from Sunland/Tujunga to Upland. Priorities for Senator Portantino during his time in office have encompassed support for public education, awareness and treatment of mental health, and sensible gun control. His accomplishments include increasing funding for special education, banning the open carry of handguns on Main Street California and raising the purchase age of firearms to 21, and placing the suicide hotline number on student identification cards. In addition, his efforts have created a science fellowship in the State Capitol and established a unique partnership between the University of California and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is a strong supporter of the arts and poetry and supported the 2018 Gathering of Poets Laureate with a poetry reading and an interview. He was called “a poet and a great friend of poetry,” at a 2019 gathering of the California State Poetry Society. We are honored to have the support of people in decision-making bodies, like Senator Portantino, who truly understand the vital place of the literary arts in uplifting and supporting those whose voices deserve our attention and whose words we need.