Former California State Senator Gloria Romero is a nationally recognized leader on education reform and school choice. First elected to the State Senate in 2001, she represented East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley and rose quickly through the ranks, becoming the first woman to serve as Senate Majority Leader in California history. She was widely regarded as one of the Legislature’s most effective and forceful Democratic leaders.
Prior to the Senate, Romero served as Majority Whip in the California State Assembly, on the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, and on the Los Angeles Elected Charter Reform Commission. As Chair of the Senate Education Committee, she became one of the most influential voices shaping California education policy.
Romero authored landmark legislation such as the Parent Trigger and Open Enrollment Act, the first laws in the nation to give parents real authority over chronically failing schools. She has been a consistent advocate for charter schools, parental empowerment, and merit-based education reform, believing education to be the central civil rights issue of our time.
In 2024, citing the Democratic Party’s abandonment of working-class families and parental rights, she left the party and became a registered Republican.
Now, Romero is running for Lt. Governor of California, alongside gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, to continue her legacy of fighting for quality education reform, as well as to reduce our state’s cost of living so that we can restore opportunity, affordability, and the California Dream.