SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA – Today, Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) announced that he had received the endorsement of Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino and Santa Maria City Council Members Etta Watterfield, Mike Cordero, and Michael Moats.
“Jordan is the independent leader the Central Coast deserves. Rather than tell us what our priorities are, Jordan asks us what our priorities are and works closely with us to accomplish our goals,” said Mayor Patino. “Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Jordan has worked extremely hard to get Santa Maria residents and small businesses the support they need from federal and state agencies. I am grateful for his leadership and willingness to work across the aisle to the benefit of our residents during these difficult times.”
Since COVID-19 hit the Central Coast and shut the economy down in March, Cunningham has worked daily to get Central Coast hospitals, local governments, small businesses, and families the resources they need.
Early in the crisis, after the state gave Central Coast healthcare providers tens of thousands of medical-grade N-95 masks with faulty elastic bands that rendered them useless, Cunningham was able to connect providers in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties with an elastic provider. These difficult-to-find materials allowed providers to retrofit the faulty state-provided PPE and make them usable. Cunningham was also able to procure ventilators for San Luis Obispo County after a number of early providers fell through.
Since March, Cunningham and his office have helped, or are in the process of helping, more than 3,000 Central Coast residents get their unemployment insurance benefits. He has also led a petition drive in favor of overhauling EDD, the broken state department in charge of providing residents with benefits.
After graduating from Atascadero High School, Cunningham graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a degree in physics. He then obtained his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Prior to serving in the Assembly, Cunningham served as a deputy district attorney in SLO County, and on the Templeton Unified School Board. He owns a small business with his wife Shauna, and enjoys coaching youth sports and raising their four kids.
To learn more about Jordan, visit www.JordanCunningham.org.