Helping win high-stakes policy fights since 2012.

Jimmy Fremgen has more than a decade of public affairs, legislative, and political experience at the federal, California, and multi-state levels, combining senior committee staff work with multi-state advocacy leadership and independent consulting.

Jimmy leads Fremgen Strategies, a Sacramento-based public affairs and government relations consulting practice that advises trade associations, management consultants, advocacy organizations, and companies on California legislative strategy, multi-state government affairs operations, and political relationship development.

Prior to launching Fremgen Strategies, Jimmy served as Director of State Policy at Food Solutions Action, where he directed multi-state legislative strategy, including California’s AB 1264 (Gabriel, 2025), negotiating amendments that preserved alternative protein eligibility for school meal procurement statewide — protecting industry access to California’s $4.6 billion school food market and a $300 million training fund. He led Colorado coalition work countering a proposed cultivated-meat ban, including direct legislator engagement and facilitating meetings between Governor’s office staff and industry leaders. He launched the California Select Committee on Alternative Protein Innovation, helped draft and advance a “food freedom” resolution through American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) working groups to subcommittee passage, and managed a multi-state government affairs operation spanning more than twenty states, directing contract lobbyists, contractors, and an outside lobby firm. He represented the organization before legislative committees, at industry conferences including the UC Davis Food Policy Summit and UCLA Future Foods Summit, and in national press including Agri-Pulse.

At Disability Belongs (formerly RespectAbility), Jimmy helped launch California’s Legislative Disability Caucus through coalition organizing and direct legislator engagement, securing an inaugural chair and recruiting seven founding members. He delivered on-the-record testimony before California legislative committees on education, judiciary, and elections policy.

Inside the California State Capitol, Jimmy served as Senior Committee Consultant for the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions, where he directed oversight of twelve state boards and bureaus and led the Assembly’s cannabis policy work following Proposition 64. He drafted, analyzed, and negotiated more than sixty pieces of legislation through hearings and Assembly floor, including major regulatory legislation such as SB 94 (MAUCRSA), and led the legislative process that sunsetted the State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind.

In Washington, Jimmy spent four years as Senior Policy Advisor on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform under Representative Elijah Cummings. He managed a diverse legislative portfolio and led national investigations including a landmark examination of unlawful federal financial aid practices at 111 colleges and universities, which generated coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Higher Ed Dive and resulted in institutional reform. He led House Democrat preparation and floor strategy for the Iran Nuclear Agreement and managed the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act through Congress as the first bipartisan gun safety bill of the 113th Congress.

Jimmy began his career as a social science and substitute teacher working for the Sonoma and San Luis Obispo County Offices of Education, where he developed his skills in stakeholder communication, classroom leadership, and translating complex material for diverse audiences. He ran for U.S. Congress in California’s Sixth District in 2022, raising more funds than any Democratic challenger in the district since at least 2000.

Jimmy currently chairs the Board of Directors of Relay Resources Enterprises, a Pacific Northwest nonprofit advancing competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities. He previously chaired United CORE Alliance, helping build the criminal justice reform organization from formation through delivery of expungement services to formerly incarcerated Californians. He has been published in USA Today and the Press Democrat, spoken at SXSW 2024 on policy, equity, and disability, and contributed expert testimony before California legislative committees.

Jimmy is known among legislators, advocacy leaders, and lobbying colleagues for his ability to translate complex policy challenges into concrete legislative outcomes, his cross-aisle relationship building, and his commitment to substance over performance. He works at his best when the stakes are real, the politics are complicated, and the work requires both strategic vision and operational execution.