Name: Ana Apodaca

Where she is now: Newark City Council

Age: 34

Résumé: When the city of Newark proposed charging $5 a day for what was a free after-school program, Apodaca called a hearing. Others looked at the fee as modest. But as the only woman on the council, she knew it would be a hardship for working mothers—even though she doesn’t have kids. “When women are not at the table, where are the discussions about childcare, women’s health, domestic violence?’’ she asks. Apodaca grew up in Newark, graduated from Cal State Hayward, worked for former assemblywoman and state Senator Liz Figueroa for eight years (starting as an intern), and was elected to City Council in 2005.

Where we think she’ll go next: Assembly seat held by Alberto Torrico, who is termed out in 2010.

What stands in her way: “I know how much money and work it takes. I have to be really convinced that’s where I want to go.’’

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Name: Noreen Evans

Where she is now: State Assembly District 7

Age: 52

Résumé: Elected to the state assembly in 2004 and now in her second term representing the Santa Rosa area, she has become a party leader, chairing the Assembly Democratic Caucus, joining the Commission on the Status of Women, and mentoring other women candidates. Before running for the assembly, she was a Santa Rosa attorney and prominent local politician, serving as the city’s planning commissioner and councilwoman.

Where we think she’ll go next: She’ll likely make a try for state Senate once she terms out of the assembly.

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Name: Jean Fraser

Where she is now: CEO, San Francisco Health Plan

Age: 45

Résumé: After securing healthcare for all San Francisco kids, Fraser then helped the city with its trailblazing plan to insure everyone who needs health insurance. Fraser graduated from Yale undergrad and Yale Law School and was deputy city attorney in San Francisco before taking over her current agency, which caters to low- and moderate-income families

Where we think she’ll go next: It’s no secret: She’s running in 2008 for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 1 seat now held by Jake McGoldrick, who is termed out.

What stands in her way: Name recognition. If she can overcome that, says Alix Rosenthal, the sky’s the limit. “She can focus on small issues while seeing the bigger picture.”

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Name: Kamala Harris

Where she is now: District Attorney, San Francisco

Age: 43

Résumé: The first San Francisco district attorney in decades with previous experience as a prosecutor, Harris had such a successful first term that no one bothered to run against her in 2007. In her first four years, she raised conviction rates, tightened drug and gun laws, scrounged up millions of dollars from state and federal agencies, formed partnerships with business and nonprofits, and sponsored a slew of successful legislation in Sacramento and city hall. But her most innovative—and potentially most far-reaching—program was Back on Track, designed to divert young drug dealers from prison by helping them gain job skills and get their lives together. Harris hopes the program will be a “smart on crime” model that helps solve looming prison crises in the state and nation, as well as help Democrats reframe crime and punishment as core progressive issues.

Where she’s going next: Harris is generating buzz as Gavin Newsom’s possible successor, but she’s passionate about criminal justice issues and—assuming her good friend Barack Obama doesn’t lure her to Washington—may stay in her current job until 2014, when Jerry Brown will be termed out as California’s attorney general, presenting her with an opening for statewide office.

What stands in her way: If she instead decides to run for a Congressional or U.S. Senate seat, she would face lots of competition, including from golden boy Newsom.

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Name: Ludmyrna Lopez

Where she is now: Richmond City Councilwoman

Age: 38

Résumé: The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she’s a hometown woman representing the new Latino power base in Richmond, and she has distinguished herself as a strong advocate for the environment and immigrant rights. She has an impressive résumé for local government, having worked for both the cities of Oakland and San Francisco as a fiscal analyst and for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington.

Where we think she’ll go next: Reelection.

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Name: Fiona Ma

Where she is now: San Francisco Assembly District 12

Age: 41

Résumé: Less than one year into her first term, she passed a groundbreaking bill—despite heavy industry lobbying against it—to ban chemical phthalates in children’s toys. The bill is now a national model, and Ma has already been mentioned as a candidate for speaker. A certified public accountant, she started in politics as the district aid for former state Senate president John Burton and served as San Francisco Supervisor, representing the Sunset from 2002 to 2007. In Sacramento, she rose almost instantly to majority whip, second in command to the majority leader.

Where we think she’ll go next: State Senate District 8, a seat now held by her assembly predecessor Leland Yee.

What stands in her way: She will term out before Yee does, and she would be out of office for two years before she could run for his seat.

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Name: Madison Nguyen

Where she is now: San Jose City Councilwoman

Age: 32

Résumé: California’s first Vietnamese woman elected to public office (a local school board, in 2002), Nguyen has been the topic of mayoral buzz since her City Council victory in a 2005 special election. She’s not afraid to jump off the political bandwagon, as when she urged caution and voted not to ask former Mayor Ron Gonzales to resign when he was under indictment. (All charges against Gonzales were dropped.) She has a master’s from the University of Chicago, and when she became a U.S. citizen, she changed her first name from Phuong to Madison in honor of America's fourth president.

Where we think she’ll go next: Hard to say. She told an interviewer in 2003 that she was focused only on her school board seat, but by 2005, she was a councilwoman.

What stands in her way: Maybe nothing: South Bay Assemblyman Jim Beall has called her a “real up-and-comer.’’

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Name: Alix Rosenthal

Where she is now: Deputy City Attorney, Oakland

Age: 35

Résumé: A San Francisco activist who says the Castro and environs are getting too gentrified and unaffordable, Rosenthal lost her run for the District 8 supervisor seat to Bevan Dufty in 2006. But she’s running the local chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus, she lobbied Mayor Gavin Newsom to appoint a woman to the mostly male board to replace Ed Jew (he did), and she fought City Hall to save the Castro Halloween Party, which was canceled for fear of violence this year. She has worked for former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt and for Barbara Boxer.

Where we think she’ll go next: District 8 again—the seat is open in three years.

What stands in her way: It’s tagged as a gay seat. “Can a pro-gay straight person represent a gay district?’’ she wonders.

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Name: Lateefah Simon

Where she is now: Director of Reentry Programs, Office of the District Attorney

Age: 30

Résumé: While head of the Center for Young Women’s Development, Simon won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003 for her work advocating on behalf of incarcerated and at-risk girls. She is now in charge of one of District Attorney Kamala Harris’s most innovative programs. Back on Track offers young first-time offenders a deferred sentence, as long as they follow a carefully tailored “personal responsibility plan”—entailing anything from GED and English classes to job training to catching up on child support payments—for one year.

Where we think she’ll go next: Harris and Simon are ready to expand Back on Track, possibly to the state level, and are looking for a foundation to fund a major study by a respected research institution. But Simon says she ultimately plans on running for office: “I would love nothing more than to serve the populace within neighborhoods that I care so much about,” she says. “Public office is not for everyone, but I'd love the challenge.”

What stands in her way: She might have a difficult time saying no to the flood of offers from leading philanthropic, business, and other institutions that’s sure to come her way.

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Name: Pamela Torliatt

Where she is now: Mayor of Petaluma

Age: 40

Résumé: She wowed supporters when she turned around from losing a 2006 assembly primary (to Jared Huffman) to run for Petaluma mayor—and win. She can boast a strong record on the environment and controlling growth, and even political opponents said she ran a smart campaign against Huffman. “She’s not deterred,’’ says one. A fourth-generation Petaluman, she has spent the last 14 years in city politics, serving on both the planning commission and council.

Where we think she’ll go next: Second try at state assembly.

What stands in her way: Possibly running against the incumbent.

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Name: Betty Yee

Where she is now: Chairwoman, State Board of Equalization

Age: 50

Résumé: The Board of Equalization is normally somewhere politicos bide time while waiting to run for bigger office. But Yee, a San Francisco native and daughter of Chinese immigrants, has taken an activist approach by simplifying tax services, especially for ethnic communities that need information about complying with tax law. Yee served as senior staff to several policy and fiscal committees in both the state Senate and assembly, and was state Senator Carole Migden’s deputy when Migden served on the Board of Equalization.

Where we think she’ll go next: Reelection.