Abel Maldonado

About Abel Maldonado

Abel Maldonado (born August 21, 1967 in Santa Maria, California) is a Republican U.S. politician who is currently a California State Senator. He ran unsuccessfully for California State Controller in 2006. Maldonado was the first Republican in the State Senate to vote for the budget during the budget deadlock in 2007. He represents a swing district and is considered a moderate. Prior to serving in the State Senate, Maldonado was a member of the California State Assembly and Mayor of Santa Maria. He achieved financial success as a strawberry farmer.

Maldonado is the eldest son of immigrant farm workers. His family eventually acquired a small family farm, where they raised strawberries. After Maldonado graduated from Santa Maria High School, his family used their earnings from the farm to send him to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he majored in Crop Science. Maldonado brought his college experience back to his family's farm and helped his family grow the half-acre strawberry farm into a 6,000-acre (24 km²) farm, employing 250 people, with produce shipped around the world.

After months of attempting to obtain a building permit from the City of Santa Maria to construct a cooling facility on the farm, Maldonado grew disillusioned with the city bureaucracy and decided to run for the Santa Maria City Council in 1994 at the age of 26. In 1996, at the age of 28, Councilman Maldonado successfully ran for mayor, defeating the incumbent's re-election bid. 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 reelected in 2000 with 65% of the vote and in 2002 with 63% of the vote.