Throughout his political career, Abel Maldonado has proven that he is an independent voice for his constituents and a rising star in the Republican Party.

In 1994, Maldonado’s family business applied for a building permit to erect a 35,000 square foot cooling facility. After months of wading through the city’s bureaucracy, he grew disillusioned with the lack of customer service that government had provided him. Maldonado then decided to run for and was elected to the Santa Maria City Council in 1994 at the age of 26. Two years later, he was successful in being elected Mayor by defeating a two-term incumbent. In 1998, Abel took his common-sense style of leadership to Sacramento when he was elected to the State Assembly where he served for three terms.

In 2004, Abel ran for State Senator in the 15th District and won the election by receiving 53% of the vote in a District where Democrats outnumber Republicans in registration. With the help of some of his most enthusiastic supporters, Abel was successful in California’s most competitive Senatorial District. Abel Maldonado credits much of his success to the values that he learned on the family farm.

The son of immigrant field workers, Abel Maldonado learned how important the fundamental values of family, fiscal responsibility, personal accountability, integrity, and strong work ethic are. Like many other immigrants, his father came to this country with little more than the shirt on his back. Abel believed that through hard work, his family could share in the American Dream. The Maldonado family formed a small farm where as a child, Abel worked in the fields, picking strawberries alongside his father to help support the family.

Upon graduation of high school, Abel attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo where he studied crop science. Maldonado took the business ideas he learned from college back to the small family farm. Through hard work and dedication, Abel Maldonado has seen that small farm grow from a half acre of strawberries into a company that now farms over 6,000 acres, employs over 250 people, and ships produce all over the world.

Abel Maldonado remains committed to these fundamental values he was raised on. These guiding principles have allowed him to achieve the American Dream and he continues to work hard to provide others with the same opportunity to share in that dream. Abel makes his home on the family ranch with his wife, Laura, and their four beautiful children Erika, Nicolas, Marcus, and Galdino.