Abel Maldonado

In 1998, at the age of 31, Mayor Maldonado was elected to the California State Assembly with 60% of the vote in the 33rd District, representing San Luis Obispo County and western Santa Barbara County. Maldonado was re-elected in 2000 with 65% of the vote and in 2002 with 63% of the vote.

During his Assembly tenure, Abel was named "Hero of the Taxpayer" by the Americans for tax reform. He led issues such as seat belts in school buses and California Workers Compensation Reform.[4]

He was on the Business and Professions committee.[5]

In 2004, Maldonado was elected to the California State Senate by a margin of 53% to 43% over his Democratic opponent, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Peg Pinard, in a district evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The 15th District included San Luis Obispo County, most of Monterey County, eastern Santa Cruz County, portions of northwestern Santa Barbara County, and portions of southwestern Santa Clara County.

In March 2005, a San Luis Obispo weekly newspaper revealed that Maldonado had received $30,987 in gifts from an organization representing California's power industry.[6] Those gifts included multiple trips to Australia, Africa and Europe. The story suggested that the gifts might have motivated Maldonado to object to a seismic safety bill that could potentially have threatened Diablo Canyon Power Plant's license to operate. According to the story, Maldonado snapped at the reporter, "“I have never, ever, ever connected monetary resources with a bill or a special company in my area. For somebody to even suggest that is disappointing."[6]

Maldonado signed a "No New Taxes" pledge before his election which he later claimed to regret as he cast a vote for higher taxes.[7]

In February 2009, Maldonado was initially among the Republican senators rejecting a series of bills designed to close the $41 billion state budget deficit, but he later joined the Democrats in supporting the measures.[8]

A committee indicated that it might pursue a recall campaign against Maldonado because of his vote on the budget. The same threat was made against other Republicans in the "Sacramento Six", but none of the recall campaigns came to anything. (Most of the recall energy was directed against Anthony Adams.)[9]

In response to his critics, including Steve Poizner, Maldonado said, "Since the budget was passed, you have gone around the state criticizing it and the role six Republicans played in its passage. Your recent statements condemning Propositions 1A-1F are very frustrating. During the budget debate, which lasted over 100 days, I heard from thousands of Californians who took the time to give me their input on the state budget. But I never heard from you."[10]

In December 2006, he was named Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

• Budget and Fiscal Review
• Education
• Health
• Veterans Affairs
• Food and Agriculture (Vice Chair)
• Human Services (Vice Chair)[11]

Lt. Governor Maldonado giving a speech, 2010

On November 3, 2009, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi resigned to take a seat in Congress. On the November 23, 2009, episode of The Jay Leno Show, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he was nominating Maldonado as lieutenant governor. Schwarzenegger cited Maldonado's "bipartisanship and postpartisanship...He makes decisions based on what's best for the people rather than what's best for the party. He has helped us, many times, pass a budget, which was very important. And he comes from an immigrant family..."

Maldonado needed to be confirmed by a majority vote of the State Senate and a majority vote of the State Assembly within 90 days of the nomination in order to take office as lieutenant governor. In a statement released by the Governor's office, Schwarzenegger called Maldonado a "true partner" and cited his willingness "to reach across the partisan divide" and "commitment to creating a transparent, accountable government" in California.[14]

On February 11, 2010, Maldonado was confirmed as lieutenant governor by the state Senate by a 26-7 vote. However, his nomination was not approved by the State Assembly. Needing 41 votes (in the 80-seat Assembly) for confirmation in the lower chamber, he received 37 votes in favor, with 35 votes against.[15]

Based upon the vote in the Legislature, Governor Schwarzenegger considered having Maldonado sworn into office, which may have set up a legal battle with Democrats. Instead, Schwarzenegger resubmitted the nomination of Maldonado on February 17. Maldonado received confirmation from the Assembly on April 22, 2010 by a 53-21 vote and from the Senate on April 26, 2010 by a 25-7 vote. He was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor on April 27, 2010.

Maldonado ran for the Republican nomination for the office in June and won with 43.4% of the vote. Maldonado was defeated on November 2, 2010 by Democratic San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.[16]

In 2011, Maldonado announced his intention to challenge U.S. Representative Lois Capps, a Democrat, for her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2012 elections.[17][18][19][20]

Maldonado was defeated by Capps in the election by a 55.2% to 44.8% margin.

On May 20, 2013, Maldonado announced he would seek the Republican nomination for the 2014 California gubernatorial election.[21]

On June 28, 2013, Maldonado came out in support of the Supreme Court's ruling that cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California, and said that same-sex couples should be afforded the same rights and protections as heterosexual couples. Although Maldonado had supported Proposition 8 in 2008, he reversed his position in 2011 when a cousin revealed that he was gay. He also said his four children helped change his position.[22]

Maldonado withdrew from the race on January 16, 2014. His campaign was beset by problems: he accused Governor Brown of things that occurred years before he was elected, he struggled to raise money, his campaign's senior staff left in September 2013, and his campaign failed to gain traction after the entry of fellow Republicans Tim Donnelly and Neel Kashkari into the race.[23] In announcing his withdrawal, Maldonado said: "Now is not my time... I know it's cliché to say I am not running so I can spend more time with my family. Everybody says that. But the truth is, that is, a major factor in my decision today. I have missed some birthdays, family holidays and even anniversaries. From this day forward [my wife] now controls my schedule."[23]