Karen Ruth Bass (born October 3, 1953) is an American Democratic politician. She represents California's 37th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives; she was first elected in 2010. In redistricting following the 2010 census, the district was renumbered from 33rd to 37th. Bass represented the 47th district in the California State Assembly 2004–2010, and was Speaker of the California State Assembly 2008–2010 (second woman, third African American speaker).Bass was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Wilhelmina (née Duckett) and DeWitt Talmadge Bass. Her father was a letter carrier. She was raised in the Venice/Fairfax neighborhood and went to Hamilton High School. She studied philosophy at San Diego State University (1971–1973), then earned a B.S. in health sciences from California State University, Dominguez Hills (1990). Wikipedia