Abel Maldonado

Date	Party	Office	Votes	Result
11-03-1998	Republican	AD-33	76062	Win
11-07-2000	Republican	AD-33	95644	Win
11-05-2002	Republican	AD-33	76590	Win
11-02-2004	Republican	SD-15	194674	Win
11-04-2008	Republican	SD-15	222617	Win
02-11-2010	Republican	Lieutenant Governor	0	Loss
04-27-2010	Republican	Lieutenant Governor	0	Win
11-02-2010	Republican	Lieutenant Governor	3820977	Loss
11-06-2012	Republican	CD-24	127746	Loss

Candidate Biography:

Abel Maldonado, Jr.
Born: August 21, 1967 in Santa Maria, CA
Married: Laurie.
Children: Erika, Nicolas, Marcus, and Galdino
University: CalPoly San Luis Obispo (BS; Crop Science, [Did not graduate])

1994-1996: Member, Santa Maria City Council
1996-1998: Mayor, City of Santa Maria
2006: Primary Candidate for Controller (Lost; 37%)
2008: Write-in [Democratic] Primary Candidate for SD-15 (Lost; 20.2%)
2009: Proponent, Proposition 1F [Elected Officials' Salaries] (Passed; 74.0%)
2010: Proponent, Proposition 14 [Top Two Primaries Act] (Passed; 54.2%)
2010: Resigned from the State Senate on April 27.
2014: Early Primary Candidate for Governor (Withdrew)
2017: Was strongly considered as a nominee for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

• LEGISLATION: Author of Proposition 14 (2010) [Top Two Primaries Act]. The language for SCA 4 (2009) which became Proposition 14 came from California Independent Voter Project, a nonprofit created by Steve Peace and Jeff Marston. 
• LEGISLATION: Co-Author of AB 540 (2001) [with Marco Antonio Firebaugh], which granted in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants who had graduated from a California high schools. 
• In 2009, Ernie Konnyu attempted to organize a recall against Maldonado in retaliation for his vote in favor of tax increases in the 2009-10 State Budget which were estimated to raise $12-15 billion. The recall attempt failed to materialize and Konnyu never filed the "Notice of Intention to Recall an Official" with the Secretary of State's office. 
• Maldonado was one of three individuals to be refused confirmation by the Legislature following appointment by a Governor to fill a vacant statewide office. His appointment as Lieutenant Governor (following the resignation of John Garamendi) was approved by the Senate but rejected by the Assembly. 
• PLACENAME: The Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center is located in Santa Maria.
   
• UNACKNOWLEDGED LATINO: This elected official was excluded from the list of "Previous Latino Members of the Legislature" by the Latino Legislative Caucus [accessed 6/1/2011]. This list was later corrected by renaming it "California Latino Legislative Caucus Former Members" [as of 2/16/2014].

Source: California Blue Book (2000)