Member, Fowler City Council, 2008-present

Mayor Pro Tempore, City of Fowler, California, present

Computer Systems Analyst, Northrop Grumman’s NAS Lemoore facility, present

Candidate, United States House of Representatives, California, District 21, 2016

No caucus information on file.

Served, United States Air Force

Member, Fowler Lion’s Club, present

Commissioner, Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, present

Member, Knights of Columbus, present

Alternate Commissioner, Local Agency Formation Commission, present

League Board Member, California League of Cities

Chair, Five Cities Joint Powers Authority

Reason for Seeking Public Office:

I'm running for Congress because of the contradiction that my community faces: America wouldn't be able to eat without the food grown in my district, yet too many people in my district don't have enough to eat. The #1, #2, and #3 agricultural Counties in the United States all lie within California's 21st - yet two of the nation's five poorest cities also are in my district.

My story is not unlike the story of thousands of people in my district. I grew up in a small town called Parlier - which today has a poverty rate of nearly 50% - that's double the poverty rate of Detroit.

My mom had a third grade education, and as a child, my five sisters, my brother, and I would work in the fields with her. That's what people did in my town. It was hard work, but we helped each other get by.

The United States Air Force gave me a chance to better my life and I took it. I learned how to repair computers, and I was able to make a career out of it at Northrop Grumman. I'm one of the lucky ones.

I have dedicated my life since then to helping the less fortunate, because the great depression never ended in my district.

I was spurred to run because my opponent - a multi-millionaire farmer - doesn't get that people are hurting in our district. In one of the poorest districts in the country, he has voted again and again to slash Medicaid, Social Security, Head Start, Food Stamps, and other programs that our community relies on - instead voting to increase subsidies toward his own farms. As a Fresno Economic Opportunity Commissioner, I oversee many of the programs my opponent wants to cut, and I grew up with many of the people they help.

We need a Congressman who understands that to be our nation's greatest agricultural community, we don't have to put our people in poverty. We need a Congressman that puts services for his community ahead of his own self-interest, and ahead of subsidies for his own farm. That's why I'm running - to give this community a representative in Washington who will put the people first and make the business of agriculture pay off for all of our community, not just the wealthy few like my opponent.