Meet Fil-Ams Running in California Primaries ‘24
/Filipino community leaders like Cynthia Bonta, mother of California State Attorney General Rob Bonta, and former Mayor of Cerritos California Mark Pulido are encouraging Filipino Americans to be engaged in democratic life, to vote for candidates from the community, and to hold them accountable while in office.
Juslyn C. Manalo, current Mayor of Daly City, California, notes that "2024 is a historic year for the Filipino American community” because there’s a chance to have a state representative be it “in the Senate or Assembly or both! We have seen Attorney General Rob Bonta paving the way for the next to take the torch. I am hopeful ahead. The Filipino community has the talent, leadership, and aptitude."
Vying for State Senate Seat -- Christopher Cabaldon
Christopher Cabaldon
Vying for a State Senate post is Christopher Cabaldon, former Mayor of West Sacramento for two decades, who has a lot of confidence going for a California State Senate seat representing Senate District 3.
With links to Vigan, Ilocos Sur and Legaspi, Albay Cabaldon is a lifelong educator and advocate. He served as Vice Chancellor of the 113-campus California Community Colleges, state university professor and was chief of staff in the State Capitol.
Cabaldon describes himself as a small-business entrepreneur who has served as an appointee of President Obama and five California governors from both political parties. He mobilized an unprecedented nationwide bipartisan coalition of mayors to fight for the passage of the Filipino Veterans Fairness Act. The Filipino American National Historical Society honored him for Outstanding Historical Contribution.
He's inspired to run for the State Senate as “no Filipino has ever served in the California State Senate.” His district is home to more than 75,000 Filipinos, the only Senate district where Filipinos are the third largest group after whites and Latinos.
Cabaldon says his priorities are education, housing and the environment, but he also sounds an alarm against anti-Asian hate, from street violence to political attacks on the loyalty of AAPIs and weaponized legal discrimination like property ownership bans.
“Filipino entrepreneurs and small businesses are key drivers of economic activity, but face unique challenges in access to capital, discrimination, procurement and contracts and English proficiency,” Cabaldon says. “The pandemic devastated many small businesses and revealed systemic vulnerabilities and gaps in state policy. Rising housing prices and commercial rents price out iconic community shops, restaurants, and nonprofits.”
Gunning for Same Senate Seat – Dr. Rozzana Verder-Aliga
Dr. Rozzana Verder-Aliga
Competing with Cabaldon for the District 3 Senate seat is Dr. Rozzana Verder-Aliga, the current vice mayor of Vallejo, California. She has been city councilor since 2014 representing Vallejo’s District 1.
“Rozzana has my endorsement because her values, her actions, and her accomplishments have, and I believe always will, made her true to the needs of her community,” said Senate District 3’s current State Senator Bill Dodd. “She’s the kind of person who will stand up to the powerful interests who are stopping the kinds of change Californians demand.”
Verder-Aliga, who has post-graduate degrees in Counseling and Psychology, has been a mental health professional and licensed marriage family therapist for three decades. She’s a Senior Mental Health Manager for Solano County Behavioral Health and responsible for managing the Vallejo, Fairfield and Vacaville Adult Outpatient Integrated Care Clinics.
The first Filipino American woman elected to public office in Vallejo and Solano County, Verder-Aliga was in the Vallejo School Board in 1993, in the Solano County Board of Education in 2007, and was in the Vallejo City Council in 2013. She was re-elected in 2016 and 2020.
Verder-Aliga wants to address disparities in the health care system and find solutions to the unprecedented mental health crisis. “We also need to tackle the divide between rich and poor that is wider than ever. Over 170,000 people are homeless in our state and the housing crisis has left the American dream of owning a home out of reach for many,” she says. “Women’s health care choices and LGBTQ rights are in danger and climate change is an existential threat to our state and our country. I also care deeply about the next generation and will advocate for full funding for public education.”
Verder-Aliga is married to, a US Marine Corps Veteran and retired US Army Colonel Nestor Aliga, who is now a Veterans Advocate. They raised three sons. A native of Manila, she immigrated to California in 1981.
“Filipino community leaders are encouraging Filipino Americans to be engaged in democratic life, to vote for candidates from the community, and to hold them accountable while in office.”
Aiming for State Assembly District 52 – Jessica Caloza
Jessica Caloza
Aiming for the State Assembly District 52 seat is Jessica Caloza, a lifelong public servant and longtime community organizer. She has served in various positions in federal, state, and local government and most recently served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Previously, she made history as the first Filipina woman to serve as a Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner and oversaw 5,000 employees that delivered city services to four million people. She also worked as an Education Policy Advisor in the Obama Administration and fought for programs that helped students and families.
Caloza kicked-off her campaign with high-powered endorsements from California's Attorney General Rob Bonta, seven State Assemblymembers, and the 700,000 working women and men who make up SEIU (Service Employees International Union) California State Council.
“My immigrant family had the opportunity to work hard, get good paying jobs, and build a better life. I want all families to have the same opportunity my family did. It’s not about one of us, it's about all of us. That’s what my campaign for Assembly is about.” Caloza adds, "I want to bring the community’s voice to Sacramento. The challenges facing hardworking families and neighborhoods across our district are many, but I’m ready to fight for change.
Caloza says people throughout the 52nd District need and deserve a representative in the State Assembly who will bring compassion, proven leadership, inclusiveness, and a forward thinking to get things done.
“We have many issues to tackle – a worsening homeless and housing crisis, lack of good paying middle class jobs, an underfunded public education system, a climate emergency, rampant gun violence, and more,” Caloza articulated. “My life’s work has been about bringing diverse communities together to find common ground and make positive change — that’s how I plan to lead in the Assembly. I want to fight for the people of the 52nd District like I would fight for my family.”
Running for State Assembly District 41 – Jed Leaño
Jed Leaño
Meanwhile, Claremont, California City Councilor Jed Leaño is running for a seat in California’s 41st Assembly district, which includes communities from the foothills of Los Angeles County to the high desert of San Bernardino. Leaño was elected to Claremont’s city council in 2018 and was reelected in 2022.
An immigration lawyer, he started a statewide network of pro bono immigration law clinics in 2009 to help thousands of people apply for naturalization. He and his wife, Liz, and have a nine-year old son, Welles.
Claremont is the eastern-most city in Los Angeles County with around 36,000 residents, known for the City of Claremont Colleges, and often referred to as the City of Trees and PhDs. Assembly District 41 includes Altadena, Bradbury, Claremont, Duarte, Hesperia, La Cañada Flintridge, La Verne, Lytle Creek, Monrovia, Oak Hills, Pasadena, Phelan, Piñon Hills, Rancho Cucamonga, San Antonio Heights, San Dimas, San Pasqual, Sierra Madre, Upland, and Wrightwood.
Leaño is a son of immigrants from the Philippines. His dad grew up in Tondo, Manila, came the US as a navy serviceman, and got his college education through the GI bill. His mom immigrated as a nurse and worked nights for 35 years to put Leaño and his two sisters through school. He says that his immigrant parents’ sacrifice to give their kids a chance in America drove him to become an immigration lawyer who would be able to help other families have the same opportunities he had.
“The most vivid and most important moment of my childhood was in 1989. I was nine years old, and my parents brought me back to the Philippines for the first time. And I have heard so much about and we’ve talked so much about it, but traveling in a car seeing the abject poverty of the Philippines was the most impactful moment of my childhood.” It finally made him understand why his mom worked nights and why his engineer father worked out of the country for long periods of time.
“I decided to run for office the first time in 2018 because of one reason: homelessness. I saw our region needed a champion for the cause. By my second year in office, I reduced homelessness in Claremont by 41%. Affordable housing developments are funded and approved because of my leadership in the face of immense adversity,” he says.
As a State Assemblymember, he also intends to champion small business, safe streets, sustainability and climate change and mental health care.
Jun Nucum is a reporter for Inquirer.net.