PERSON: Abel Maldonado

Runway Vineyards

Co-Owner

Abel O. Maldonado Jr. (born August 21, 1967) is an American politician who served as the 48th lieutenant governor of California from April 27, 2010 to January 10, 2011. As of 2024, Maldonado is the last member of the Republican Party to serve as Lieutenant Governor of California.

Maldonado was born in Santa Maria, California, the eldest son of immigrant Mexican farm workers. His family eventually acquired a small family farm, where they grew strawberries. After Maldonado graduated from Santa Maria High School, his family used their earnings from the farm to send him to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he studied crop science, but dropped out before completing his degree. Maldonado then returned to his family’s farm and helped his family grow the half-acre strawberry farm into a 6,000-acre farm, employing 250 people, with produce shipped around the world.

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