Melissa Melendez
Republican
| Date | Party | Office | Votes | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11-06-2012 | Republican | AD-67 | 67232 | Win |
| 11-04-2014 | Republican | AD-67 | 54018 | Win |
| 11-08-2016 | Republican | AD-67 | 107654 | Win |
| 11-06-2018 | Republican | AD-67 | 93519 | Win |
| 05-12-2020 | Republican | SD-28 | 105940 | Win |
Candidate Biography:
Melissa Ann Melendez
Born: February 17, 1969 in Youngstown, Ohio
Married: Nico Melendez
Children: Angelo, Paolo, Sofia, Rocco, and Carlo
Military Service: USN (Persian Gulf War)
2008-2012: Member, Lake Elsinore City Council
2020: Resigned from the State Assembly on May 18.
2022: Primary Candidate for CD-41 (Withdrew)
- LEGISLATION: Author of AB 403 (Chapt. 2, Stats of 2018), the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, which makes it a crime for a legislator or legislative employee who interferes with or retaliates against a legislative employee’s exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure (a good faith allegation that a legislator or legislative employee has violated a law or a legislative code of conduct) to a Rules Committee, law enforcement or other specified entity.
- LAWSUIT: Melendez and Bill Essayli were plaintiffs (and their counsels include Harmeet Dhillon and Mark Meuser) in the "Melendez v. Newsom" lawsuit to overturn of SB 27 (Chapt. 121, Stats of 2019) by Mike McGuire and Scott Wiener, which requires candidates for President and Governor to file their income tax returns for the 5 most recent taxable years with the Secretary of State in order to appear on a primary election ballot. On November 21, 2019, the California Supreme Court found that the law violated the State Constitution.
- REMOTE VOTING: One of ten legislators (all Republican Senators) who have attended a floor session remotely using teleconferencing equiptment (August 28-31, 2020).
- QUOTABLE: "Lawmakers, don't change your bill to get it through committee then tell people you're going to remove [the] changes afterwards. It's not a sound strategy." [Melendez on Twitter, April 11, 2016] (This quote was translated from Twitter abbreviated to standard English)
- Biography Note: "Melissa then became one of the first women approved by the U.S. Navy to fly aboard EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft overseas, conducting intelligence-gathering operations in partnership with our allies."
- Nico Melendez was the Pacific Region Public Affairs Manager for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2003-2017).
Source: Biography on campaign website [melendezforassembly.com] (accessed 6/8/2012)
Source: California Assembly Handbook (2015)