Alex Padilla

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Alejandro Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is an American politician, Democratic Party activist, engineer, and civil servant.

He has served as the Secretary of State of California since winning the general election on November 5, 2014, defeating Republican Pete Peterson, with approximately 54% of the vote. He served in the California State Senate, representing the 20th District after his election to the position in November 2006.

Prior to serving in the Senate he served 7½ years on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 7th District.

First elected in 1999, he was elected council president in July 2001 and remained president through December 31, 2005.

Early life and education

Padilla is one of three children of Santos and Lupe Padilla, both of whom immigrated from Mexico, specifically Jalisco and Chihuahua, before meeting and marrying in Los Angeles, where he was born. He grew up in Pacoima, Los Angeles, and graduated from San Fernando High School in the northeast San Fernando Valley. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1994. He graduated from the Coro Fellows Southern California Program in 1995.

Personal life

Padilla married Angela Monzon in 2012. They have three sons and live in the San Fernando Valley's Porter Ranch neighborhood. In late 2015 and early 2016, the Aliso Canyon gas leak temporarily displaced the Padillas from their home.

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Career

After graduation, he returned to Pacoima and briefly worked as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft, where he wrote satellite apps.

Padilla is a former member of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), which has a membership of more than 6,000 Latino U.S. representatives. He serves as chair of the Los Angeles Leadership Council for the American Diabetes Association, which was elected in July 2005.

Padilla began serving as a member of the Democratic Party in 1995, excluding illegal immigrants from all non-emergency public facilities, including public education, but he felt inspired by a broader anti-immigration movement that demonized legal and illegal immigrants alike. Senator Dianne Feinstein's first professional role was as a personal assistant. All Democrats, Richard Alarcon, 1996, and Assemblyman Tony Cardenas in 1996, Assemblywoman Gil Cedillo in 1997. All of them have gained their respective elections.

Padilla was sworn in as a member of the Los Angeles City Council on July 1, 1999, at the age of 26, and proud of it. His colleagues elected him president of the council two years ago. Padilla was the first Latino and youngest individual elected president of Los Angeles City Council, defeating incumbent Ruth Galanter. Padilla became the acting mayor of Los Angeles for a few days after Hurricane James K. Hahn travelled out of the city on September 13, 2001, two days after the 9/11 attacks. Padilla's ascension to the mayor's office, according to the Los Angeles Times, raised his "political profile."

Padilla was also elected president of the California League of Cities during his tenure as City Council president, becoming the first Latino to serve in that role.

Padilla was elected to the State Senate in 2006 after retiring as president of the Los Angeles City Council, defeating Libertarian Pamela Brown. He was reelected in 2010 with nearly 70% of the vote over Republican Kathleen Evans. Padilla served as a member of the Appropriations Committee, Business and Professions Committee, Governmental Organization Committee, Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, and chaired the Select Committee on Science, Innovation, and Public Policy. He resigned from office on November 30, 2014, after two terms.

Padilla was included in a list of 20 Latino political rising stars compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle in August 2012, citing his membership in the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Padilla introduced Pro Pro 67, a plastic bag ban that would later be called Pro 67. Padilla's plan was approved in a referendum on November 8, 2016, and a option in favour of a ban on the plastic bags received 53% of the vote. Padilla authored legislation that went into operation in 2008 that mandates certain restaurants to disclose calorie information on menus.

Padilla declared on April 11, 2013 that he intends to run for California secretary of state in 2014, to replace the term-limited Debra Bowen. Yee had been supposed to face fellow Democrat Leland Yee, but Yee was forced to drop the race due to Yee's arrest for felony racketeering. Padilla gained the popular vote on November 4, 2014, defeating Republican Pete Peterson.

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which President Donald Trump established on May 11, requested voter records from every state, dating back to 2006. California would not have the information, according to Padilla.

Padilla was reelected with 66.5 percent of the vote on November 6, 2018, defeating Republican Mark P. Meuser.

Padilla was embroiled in a contest involving the state and the California Republican Party on October 16, 2020, when the party began unofficial ballot boxes for voters to deliver their ballots at a number of locations, including churches and gun shops in competitive California markets. Padilla issued a cease-and-desist order, alleging that the ballot boxes were unlawful and that no attempt was made to guarantee voter protection. Local Republican leaders refused to follow the order and said the boxes were a method of legal ballot harvesting that had been permitted by recent Democratic legislation (which did not include a chain of custody requirements), and was a way to raise voter turnout. The state Republican Party later agreed to a series of collection policies, with a volunteer's mistake of affixing a sticker denoting the ballot box as "official" during the 2018 United States elections; Padilla's office said it would continue to investigate whether ballots were handled correctly and that "incompetence or unlawfulness of a political strategist or campaign volunteer" could have "serious legal consequences."

Padilla's office revealed a $35 million no-bid contract for a statewide voter education campaign with SKDK (then unknown as "SKDKnickerbocker") in early 2020, but state Controller Betty Yee denied the funding because Padilla's office did not have the authority to use federal funds that had been donated to county governments; the campaign proceeded anyway. Despite the company's connections with the Democratic Party and campaigns for Democratic lawmakers running for office in California, the group had advertised itself as being on "Team Biden" and the no-bid contract under ostensible "emergency power" was given. Governor Newsom signed legislation in February 2021 that guaranteed state funding to reimburse SKDK, despite continuing litigation by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who alleges that the deal broke fair competition laws and misappropriated federal election funds for local elections operations, which was therefore unlawful.

Newsom named Assemblywoman Shirley Weber to replace Padilla after Padilla's appointment to the United States Senate.

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