Former California State Senator and nationally recognized education reform leader Gloria Romero today announced the launch of her campaign for Lieutenant Governor of California in 2026, pledging to fight for working families, restore accountability in government, and put students and parents, not bureaucracies, first.

Romero is a trailblazer in California politics and education policy. First elected to the California State Senate in 2001, she represented East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley and became the first woman to serve as Senate Majority Leader in state history. Widely regarded as one of the Legislature’s most effective and forceful leaders, Romero built a reputation for challenging the status quo and delivering real results.

As Chair of the Senate Education Committee and the Budget Subcommittee on Education, Romero authored landmark legislation including the Parent Trigger and Open Enrollment Act, the first laws in the nation to give parents real authority over chronically failing schools. Throughout her career, she has been a leading advocate for school choice, parental empowerment, charter schools, and merit-based education reform, firmly believing that education is the central civil rights issue of our time.

Before serving in the Senate, Romero held leadership roles as Majority Whip in the State Assembly, a member of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, and on the Los Angeles Elected Charter Reform Commission. Romero is a product of all three of California’s higher education systems, giving her a unique and invaluable understanding to serve the students and educational professionals of California. Raised by her father, who worked on railroads, and a mother with a sixth-grade education, Romero earned a PhD from the University of California, Riverside, having first-hand experience in how education empowers the American Dream. She went on to serve as a professor at Cal State Los Angeles, where she was named Professor Emeritus.

In 2024, Romero left the Democratic Party, citing its abandonment of working-class families, parental rights, and common-sense governance. As a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, she is running to bring principled leadership back to Sacramento, focused on fixing California’s broken education system, reducing the cost of living, and restoring opportunity and the California Dream for future generations.

To learn more about Gloria Romero, visit www.gloriaromero4ltgov.com.