On Tuesday, Republican “superstar” Melissa Melendez won a special election to fill a state Senate seat in Southern California, earning 56% of the vote and defeating Democratic challenger Elizabeth Romero, a Riverside County Board of Education member.
The special election for the 28th District “was called to fill out the remainder of the term of Republican State Sen. Jeff Stone, who resigned earlier this year to become regional director of the U.S. Department of Labor,” according to Newsmax. “Melendez’s winning percentage was four percentage points above that of Stone in his last trip to the polls.”
“Initial results are in for SD28,” Melendez, a U.S. Navy veteran and mother of five, posted Wednesday to Twitter. “Thank you everyone for your support and BIG thanks to my husband for all his help and support throughout this campaign!”
Initial results are in for SD28. Thank you everyone for your support and BIG thanks to my husband for all his help and support throughout this campaign! pic.twitter.com/NnNxK8GYrB
— Senator Melissa Melendez (@senatormelendez) May 13, 2020
California State GOP Chairman Jim Brulte told Newsmax Melendez “was and is a superstar public servant,” adding, “She will serve her constituents well.”
As noted by the news site, the mother of five is a small business owner and was “elected to the Lake Elsinore City Council and eventually became mayor. Before her election to the senate Tuesday, Melendez served four terms in the state Assembly.” The Republican also “flew on covert missions in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and became fluent in Russian.”
On the same day as Melendez’s big win, Republican Mike Garcia defeated Democrat Christy Smith in a special election for California’s 25th congressional district, formerly a position served by disgraced Democratic Congresswoman Katie Hill, who resigned in November.
As noted by The Daily Wire, Garcia’s win marked “the first time that the Republican Party has flipped a U.S. House seat in California in more than two decades.”
California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said in a statement published Wednesday that the “California Republican Comeback” was in “full swing.”
“The California Republican Comeback is in full swing,” declared Millan Patterson. “A U.S. Navy veteran and businesswoman, Melendez is the perfect voice to represent the constituents of Senate District 28 – and take the fight to the Democrats and their policies that have failed Californians.”
"The California Republican Comeback is in full swing. A US Navy veteran and businesswoman, Melendez is the perfect voice to represent the constituents of Senate District 28 – and take the fight to the Democrats and their policies that have failed Californians."
— CAGOP (@CAGOP) May 13, 2020
According to The Associated Press, the Republican is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump and accompanied the president in 2018 during a White House meeting about California’s sanctuary state law concerning criminal illegal immigrants.
Melendez’s campaign site notes that she grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, “where she proudly enlisted in the United States Navy right after high school. She served her country with honor and distinction as a Russian translator for ten years during the Cold War, as well as during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.”
“After multiple tours in the Navy,” the site adds, “Melissa entered civilian life and started her own successful transcription company. She served as a city councilwoman and mayor where she successfully passed regulatory and tax relief for small-businesses.”
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