Congressional and State Senate hopefuls brave warm temps to meet Lemoore voters

Valley native Amanda Renteria was in Lemoore Saturday morning to promote her candidacy for the 21st Congressional District where she is running against first-term Republican incumbent David Valadao. Joining Renteria was Luis Chavez, a Fresno Unified School Board Member who is taking on incumbent Andy Vidak, who won the Senate seat last year in a special election following the surprising resignation of former Senator Michael Rubio.

In response to a question, Renteria, joined by her two children and husband, told the audience that she was out here to listen to them, and hammered home the themes of creating more jobs in the valley and improving education. “We need to be sure we have good jobs, good schools and make sure everybody can live the American dream,” she emphasized.

“We have a lot of issues (in the Valley), and this was even before the drought. We have to have a strong foundation and improve graduation rates in our schools,” Renteria said. “We have to (inspire) our kids and let them know that there is a better future for them.”

Renteria wondered out loud why – when she served as Senator Debbie Stabenow’s Chief of Staff - she would watch as powerful congressional leaders from such states as Iowa and Montana would get greatly increased agricultural benefits over California’s Central Valley.

She was Stabenow’s chief of staff when the senator was the chair of the powerful agriculture committee and Renteria helped gain passage of the 2012 Farm Bill.

Chavez echoed the same theme saying federal poverty levels are high in the Central Valley and the recession and drought hasn’t helped matters. “We’re always the first to feel the effects and the last to recover,” he said. “I hate it when they refer to us as the Appalachia of the west,” asking why federal dollars aren’t returning to the Valley to counter poverty.

Chavez grew up on Fresno and attended Roosevelt High School. He came from a humble background where his mother worked in the fields and his father was a mechanic. He was the first of his family to attend college and has a master’s degree in public administration from Fresno State.

Renteria has a resume most politicians would die for. An exceptional student and athlete at Woodlake High School, the congressional candidate attended Stanford University and was the first Latina in history to serve as a chief of staff in the United States Senate. She earned a master’s degree from Harvard Business School and worked in the financial sector before returning to the Valley to run for Congress.