A San Jose State University economics professor is running for lieutenant governor as a Republican and advocating for fewer regulations and more affordable college education.
“It’s time for an academic, an economist to be in the state government,” professor Lydia Ortega said in an interview. “And it’s time for a woman to be in this office.”
Ortega has worked as an economics professor at SJSU for 29 years, 15 of those as chair of the department, and will continue teaching classes during her campaign. Ortega filed a lawsuit against the university system after she was removed as chair in 2016, alleging that an SJSU dean unfairly demoted her after subjecting her to “severe harassment because her management style did not conform to his false and stereotypical ideas” for “females in positions of authority.” That lawsuit is ongoing, she said. A SJSU spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Ortega hopes to win momentum from the #MeToo movement, and launched her campaign with a swipe at Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who as mayor of San Francisco had an extramarital affair with a staffer while he was separated from his wife. In her campaign launch video, Ortega cited that affair and declared she would “restore dignity to the halls of the State Capitol.” Newsom’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Ortega, 60, who lives in Sunnyvale, faces a challenging race as a Republican. California hasn’t elected a GOP candidate to the lieutenant governor’s office since Michael Curb in 1978 (although Republican Abel Maldonado served as L.G. in 2010 after being appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger).
But Ortega, who voted for President Trump and was one of 137 economists who signed a letter supporting his tax cut bill, insisted she would be able to win Democratic votes.
“I’m on a university campus where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10-to-one,” she said. “I work with people who have very different opinions than I do, and we get things done.”
The daughter of a Republican mother and a Democratic father, Ortega grew up in City Terrace, the same East Los Angeles neighborhood where governor hopeful Antonio Villaraigosa was raised. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and George Mason University in Virginia.
Also in the running for lieutenant governor are Democrats Ed Hernandez, a state senator, Eleni Kounalakis, the former ambassador to Hungary, and Jeff Bleich, the former ambassador to Australia, and independent Gayle McLaughlin, the former mayor of Richmond.
One thing that sets Ortega apart: she’s a power lifter. At an SJSU competition this month, she squatted 116 pounds, bench-pressed 82 pounds and dead-lifted 193 pounds. That won her a first-place medal in her age and gender division — although she was the only one competing in that group.
“I’m a strong woman, literally,” she said. “I’m ready for this campaign.”