Background
Born in Los Angeles, Campbell grew up in Pico Rivera.
Born in Los Angeles, Campbell grew up in Pico Rivera.
Campbell earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Loyola Marymount University and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
In 1996, Campbell was elected to the represent eastern Orange County"s 71st District in the State Assembly with 71% of the vote. He was re-elected with 69% of the vote in a three-way race in 1998 and 67% of the vote in a four-way race in 2000. Campbell served as Assembly Republican Leader from 2000 to 2001.
Both men suffered criticism for their apparent job swap, which required changing Orange County from a general law county to a charter county to allow an election to fill the supervisoral vacancy under the county charter instead of having then-Governor Gray Davis fill the vacancy by appointment under general law.
However, this controversy seemed to have little effect on the election results, as 53% of County voters approved the creation of the charter and 3/4 of the voters supported the two men in their respective districts. Indeed, Campbell was unopposed for re-election to a full four-year term on the Board of Supervisors in 2004.
Campbell served as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors from January 4, 2005–January 9, 2007 and from January 11, 2011–January 10, 2012.
He was a California State Assemblyman from 1996–2002, Assembly Republican Leader from 2000–2001, and a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2003–2013. During his time in the Assembly, he also served as Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and was a member of the Banking and Finance Committee, the Education Committee, and the Utilities and Commerce Committee.