November 8, 2019
State Senator Patricia Bates added her name to the growing list of notable elected officials endorsing Suzette Martinez Valladares for the 38th Assembly District open seat.
Senator Bates served as the Republican Senate Leader from April 12, 2017, to March 1, 2019, becoming only the second woman to lead a party caucus in the Senate’s history. Being a proud native of Southern California, Senator Bates championed taxpayers by defending California Proposition 13.
Senator Bates joins Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove, State Senator Scott Wilk, Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron, former Congressmen Buck McKeon and Steve Knight, and former LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich in support of Suzette Valladares in her bid for the 38th Assembly District seat.
Background: An unlikely Republican story, Suzette Valladares grew up in the San Fernando Valley, the granddaughter of a farmworker who worked alongside Cesar Chavez in the vineyards near Bakersfield. She was blessed with loving parents who valued education, family and community responsibility. In 2012, Suzette became Executive Director of Southern California Autism Speaks. Her career is based on serving others, with a passion for early childhood education and advocacy.
After her mother’s passing in 2018, Suzette was asked to assume her mother’s role as CEO of Little Steps of Faith, a faith-based non-profit preschool that provides quality childcare to underserved families in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita Valley.
Suzette and her husband Shane were blessed with their first child, daughter Charlotte, in April 2017.
(California\’s 38th Assembly District includes the Santa Clarita and Simi Valleys as well as a portion of the San Fernando Valley.)