Heath Flora

Heath Flora (born July 19, 1983) is an American politician in the California State Assembly. He represents the northern San Joaquin Valley, including the city of Manteca.

Heath Flora
Member of the California State Assembly
Assumed office
December 5, 2016
Preceded byKristin Olsen
Constituency12th district (2016–2022)
9th district (2022–present)
Personal details
Born
Heath Hubert Flora[1]

(1983-07-19) July 19, 1983
Stanislaus County, California, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMelodie Flora
Children2
Residence(s)Ripon, California, U.S.
OccupationPolitician, firefighter, farmer, business owner
Websitehttps://ad12.asmrc.org

Early life

On July 19, 1983, Flora was born in Stanislaus County, California.[2]

Career

Flora served for over 15 years as a volunteer fire fighter.[3] From 2005 to 2007, Flora was a firefighter with the California Department Forestry and Fire Protection.[4] Flora is a businessman and owner of Golden Valley Equipment.[4]

In, 2016, Flora's political career began when he ran for the California State Assembly to succeed fellow Republican Kristen Olsen, who ran successfully for the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. In a surprise, he won the election and became a Republican member of California State Assembly for District 12, encompassing part of the San Joaquin Valley. Flora defeated Ken Vogel, a former San Joaquin County Supervisor, with 52.2% of the votes in an upset.[4][5][6]

On November 6, 2018, as an incumbent, Flora won the election and continued serving District 12. Flora defeated Robert D. Chase with 60% of the votes.[7][8]

In Flora's first term as a member of the Assembly, Flora authored seven bills that were ultimately signed into law,[9] including bills to develop a firefighter pre-apprenticeship program[10] and to reduce the impact of property taxes on new construction.[11]

In 2020, Flora was reelected with 67% over Lathrop City Councilman Paul Akinjo.

In November 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Heath Flora travelled to Hawaii to attend a conference with 120 other people.[12]

Electoral history

2016 California State Assembly
See also: California State Assembly election, 2016
California's 12th State Assembly district election, 2016
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ken Vogel 23,678 25.6
Republican Heath Flora 21,484 23.2
Democratic Virginia Madueno 19,764 21.4
Democratic Harinder Grewal 17,245 18.6
Republican Cindy Marks 10,397 11.2
Total votes 92,568 100.0
General election
Republican Heath Flora 81,680 52.3
Republican Ken Vogel 74,433 47.7
Total votes 156,113 100.0
Republican hold

2018 California State Assembly

See 2018 California State Assembly election

California's 12th State Assembly district election, 2018
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Heath Flora (incumbent) 56,212 63.9
Democratic Robert D. Chase 31,811 36.1
Total votes 88,023 100.0
General election
Republican Heath Flora (incumbent) 94,404 60.0
Democratic Robert D. Chase 62,811 40.0
Total votes 157,215 100.0
Republican hold

2020 California State Assembly

See 2020 California State Assembly election

2020 California's 12th State Assembly district election
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Heath Flora (incumbent) 36,371 66.9%
Democratic Paul Akinjo 17,958 33.1%
Total votes

Personal life

Flora has two children. In 2015, Flora and his family moved from Modesto to Ripon, California, where he still lives.[4][5][13] Flora’s wife, Melodie, filed for divorce in April 2022 in San Joaquin County Superior Court.[14]

In July 2022, a woman named Emily Hughes claimed that Flora had multiple extra-marital affairs, one of which was with her.[15] Hughes' affair with Flora took place while Hughes worked as a lobbyist for the California Medical Association and Flora was serving on the Assembly Health Committee which deals with issues of interest to the California Medical Association. In August 2022, Flora promised to issue a formal statement about the affair, but has yet to issue a statement as of a week after the promise.[14]

References
  1. "JoinCalifornia - Heath Flora".
  2. "Heath Flora". joincalifornia.com. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  3. "Heath Flora". heathflora.com. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  4. "Heath Flora". votesmart.org. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  5. Henterly, Emma Franklin (November 8, 2016). "Galgiani, Eggman and Flora win seats". recordnet.com. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  6. "November 8, 2016 General Election". joincalifornia.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  7. "November 6, 2018 General Election". joincalifornia.com. November 6, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  8. Martin, Angelina (December 24, 2018). "Flora's second term to focus on community funding". turlockjournal.com. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  9. "Bills Introduced by Asm. Flora". ca.gov.
  10. "AB 579, 2017". ca.gov.
  11. "AB 652, 2017". ca.gov.
  12. "California lawmakers' Maui getaway: Here's who is there". November 23, 2020.
  13. Stapley, Garth (October 15, 2016). "Assembly campaign choice: Tried and true, or fresh and new". modbee.com. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  14. Carlson, Ken (August 12, 2022). "California lawmaker faces scandal after lobbyist tweets about alleged affair". Sacramento Bee.
  15. Stone, Reid (July 12, 2022). "Sacramento lobbyist alleges Valley lawmaker engaged in multiple extramarital affairs". San Joaquin Valley Sun.
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