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# She Lost. She Came Back. Then Suzette Valladares Made California History.
- URL: https://ivn.us/she-lost-she-came-back-then-suzette-valladares-made-california-history/
- Published: 2026-08-21T15:05:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-21T15:05:11.000Z
- Description: Suzette Valladares became the first Latina Republican to serve in both houses of the California Legislature by refusing to treat setbacks as dead ends. In 2025, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones appointed her caucus whip.
- Author: Cara Brown McCormick
- Tags: California, Campaigns, Latino Voters, Legislative Spotlight, #Top-Story-2

*She took ten years to finish college and lost more than one race on the way to Sacramento. Now she's the first Latina Republican to ever serve in both houses of the Legislature.*

*This is part of an IVN series profiling the 25 Latinas serving in the California Legislature.*

It took [Suzette Valladares](https://sr23.senate.ca.gov/?ref=ivn.us) about ten years to finish her bachelor's degree. She adjusted, tried a different route, and kept going until she was done. That pattern, repeated throughout her education, her career, and her campaigns, is the through-line of her rise to Senate Republican whip and arguably the trait that best explains why she got there.

Valladares, 45, is the first Latina Republican to serve in both houses of the California Legislature. She now represents the 23rd State Senate District, and in 2025 she was chosen by Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones to help hold her caucus together on the votes that matter most.

## **Roots in the Valley**

Born Suzette Martinez on December 21, 1980, in Sylmar, she is a third-generation Californian whose family story, like so many others, runs through the state's agricultural fields. Her grandfather was a farmworker who worked in the vineyards near Bakersfield. Her father, a mechanic, opened his own small business in the San Fernando Valley. Her mother ran a preschool. Her first job was at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

## **A Degree Finished the Long Way**

Valladares started college at a University of California campus but could not afford to stay. Rather than giving up on a degree, she adjusted course: she enrolled at College of the Canyons and earned an associate degree in 2001\. The bachelor's degree in political science from Cal State University, Northridge came about a decade later. The full arc, from her first year of college to her final one, spanned roughly ten years.

That climb through community college and a commuter campus is the kind of experience that maps closely onto the lives of many of the voters she now represents. It also set the pattern for how she seems to handle obstacles and setbacks in politics, treating them not as dead ends, but as detours.

## **Building a Résumé Before a Ballot Line**

After college, Valladares got the political bug. She worked as a district representative for then-Republican US Rep. Buck McKeon. In 2012, she became Executive Director of Southern California [Autism Speaks](https://www.autismspeaks.org/?ref=ivn.us) and was recognized in the Santa Clarita Business Journal's "40 Under 40." In 2014 and 2015, she served as the California Director of Hispanic Initiatives for the Republican National Committee. This role put her at the center of the party's efforts to reach Latino voters in a state where the GOP had been losing ground for years.

## **The First Loss**

Her first attempt at elected office came in 2014, when she ran for the 36th Assembly District. She took 9 percent of the vote in the primary and did not advance.

Five years later, she tried again. In 2019, Valladares was initially exploring a bid against Democratic Rep. Katie Hill for a congressional seat. Instead, she pivoted to the 38th Assembly District after then-Assemblyman Dante Acosta stepped down—another adjustment, a different office, a better opening. 

Running under California's top-two primary system, she defeated fellow Republican Lucie Volotzky in the November 2020 general election, winning the seat with more than 128,000 votes.

## **A Record Built Across the Aisle**

In the Assembly, Valladares built a record that reached across party lines. She was a founding member of the bipartisan [Problem Solvers Caucus](https://ivn.us/someone-in-sacramento-is-actually-trying-to-solve-problems/) and served as vice chair of the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committee. Early in the pandemic, she helped bring vaccine clinics to her community. She also co-authored legislation expanding access to transitional kindergarten and preschool starting at age four, an issue rooted in her own family's work in early childhood education.

## **Another Setback**

In 2022, running in the newly redrawn 40th Assembly District, Valladares narrowly lost her reelection bid to Democrat Pilar Schiavo, 50.2% to 49.8%, a margin of a few hundred votes.

The loss did not end her political career. In 2024, she ran for California's 23rd State Senate District, the seat left open by termed-out Republican Scott Wilk, and won. The victory returned her to Sacramento and made her the first Latina Republican to serve in both chambers of the state Legislature.

Through those years, Valladares carried a personal loss alongside the political ones. Her mother died in 2018 after a battle with cancer. Valladares has continued to run the family preschool, Little Steps of Faith, in Sylmar, serving as CEO and keeping the business her mother built.

> [](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYLRbIDj2jn/?ref=ivn.us)

## **Whip**

In 2025, Jones named Valladares [Senate Republican Caucus whip](https://sr23.senate.ca.gov/content/leader-jones-announces-senator-suzette-martinez-valladares-senate-republican-caucus-whip?ref=ivn.us), the member responsible for rallying Republican senators on key votes and ensuring caucus unity.

"Suzette is a proven leader who brings passion and a deep understanding of the struggles California families face," Jones said, adding that "as a Latina and a small business owner, she knows firsthand the burdens placed on hardworking Californians by excessive government overreach."

Valladares called the appointment "an honor," and credited Jones with having "done an incredible job bringing the party together, expanding the Republican presence in the Senate and holding the Governor and Democratic Majority accountable." She said she looked forward "to working with our caucus and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to prioritize policies that tackle our affordability crisis, expand opportunities for all Californians, and restore public safety in our communities."

As Senator, her stated legislative priorities include lowering taxes and the cost of living, [supporting law enforcement and public safety](https://suzettevalladares.com/public-safety-plan/?ref=ivn.us), addressing homelessness and the fentanyl crisis, and parents' rights. She argues that much of [California's cost-of-living crisis is self-imposed](https://suzettevalladares.com/tax-cut-plan/?ref=ivn.us) and that the state can protect its environment without pricing out working families.

## **Patience as a Qualification**

The whip's job is to count votes and keep a caucus united, work that rewards patience and persistence over speed, not unlike the slower, harder path she took to a degree and to office. California's biggest problems, the ones lawmakers spend entire careers chipping away at, rarely yield to quick fixes. They take years of incremental effort and the willingness to try again after coming up short. Valladares arrived in Senate leadership having already learned the lesson of adjusting rather than giving up.

The same instinct shows up in how she responds when a door closes. When the California Latino Legislative Caucus declined to admit Republicans, [she did not simply accept the exclusion](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-18/republicans-barred-from-joining-the-democrat-led-latino-caucus-form-their-own?ref=ivn.us). She was among those who helped start a separate California Hispanic Legislative Caucus.

"For too long, Latino families in California have been priced out of the California dream," Valladares said. "This election cycle, the Latino community sent a very clear mandate to Sacramento saying they want us to focus on issues of affordability, safe communities and success in school, which is why after a historic election of 9 Republican Latino Legislators, we decided to launch our own caucus."

Last week, one of her bills met the fate that awaits much minority-party legislation. Her [MAST Act](https://www.avpress.com/news/valladares-human-trafficking-bill-is-defeated/article%5F26101859-20da-41a2-b97f-c5a0de09592d.html?ref=ivn.us), which would have created California's first statewide task force to coordinate the response to human trafficking across government agencies and nonprofits, passed the full Senate without a single no vote and cleared Assembly Public Safety before dying in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The measure carried an estimated cost of just $289,000 a year.

Valladares called it a painful setback and [said she would keep pushing](https://sr23.senate.ca.gov/content/sacramento-kills-valladares-bill-protect-human-trafficking-victims?ref=ivn.us), noting that the major sporting events coming to California can draw a spike in trafficking. It is the same response she has given every other setback: find a new path and try again.

She is currently a co-chair of the [Problem Solvers Caucus](https://ivn.us/someone-in-sacramento-is-actually-trying-to-solve-problems/), whose members agree not to work against one another's bills. One of her Democratic co-chairs, Assemblymember [Anamarie Ávila Farías](https://avilafarias.asmdc.org/?ref=ivn.us) of Martinez, has praised Valladares' "practical, solutions-focused leadership, her strong work ethic, and the way she approaches challenges in a collaborative way." Ávila Farías also called her "a big supporter of women" who has "consistently elevated the women around her." When the two work together, Ávila Farías said, "there are no barriers and no identity affiliations or party obstacles. We're about the issues and the problems."

Valladares is married to Shane Valladares, and the couple has a daughter, Charlotte.

She plays basketball, and her favorite movies are A League of Their Own and Meet Me in St. Louis.

## **The District**

Senate District 23 was drawn by nesting Assembly Districts 39 and 40\. It covers the cities of Adelanto, Hesperia, Lancaster, Palmdale, Santa Clarita, and Victorville, plus the surrounding Antelope Valley and Victor Valley, a suburban and commuter region built largely around the aerospace and clean energy industries. About 72 percent of the district lies in Los Angeles County and 28 percent in San Bernardino County.

It is one of the more heavily Latino districts in the state. Of its 1,026,515 residents, 49.3 percent are Latino, 30.1 percent are white, 10.4 percent are Black, and 5.8 percent are Asian. Median household income is $86,836, and 13.5 percent of residents live below the poverty line.

Among citizens of voting age, Latinos in her district now account for 38 percent, up from 27 percent when the district's predecessor lines were drawn.

Her current term ends December 4, 2028\. Her campaign committee is registered as "[Suzette Martinez Valladares for Senate 2028](https://suzettevalladares.com/?ref=ivn.us).” The seat is highly competitive. As of the May 2026 registration report, Democrats made up 38 percent of the district's 614,933 registered voters and Republicans 31 percent, a Democratic edge of 7.41 points. Another 22 percent of voters have declined to state a party preference, a bloc larger than the margin between the two parties.