Kris Valderrama’s father, David Valderrama, became the first Filipino-American elected to a state legislature on the mainland United States when he was elected representative of Prince George’s County to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1990 and served for three terms.
Seventeen years later, his daughter was elected to the same post.
“I got into politics because of my father’s influence, and I want to see more of us taking the risk in running for public office because this will advance the cause of our political empowerment,” Valderrama shared to the audience attending a gala event in Washington, DC last year.
Kris is a life-long resident of the 26th Legislative District and Prince George’s County and a proud product of the Prince George’s County public school system, where she graduated from Oxon Hill Senior High School. After high school, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Respiratory Therapy from Salisbury State University, in Salisbury, Maryland.
Following her career in the health care field, Kris pursued another interest—communications. She worked with the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO in their Public Affairs Department—Strategic Communications Unit, working on such issues as child care, home care and health care organizing.
Kris is married to Abraham Lobo of Seattle, Washington and is the mother of two daughters, Jordan, age 4, and Evan, age 2.
There are more than 34,000 people of Filipino heritage in the Washington area, scattered around Northern Virginia and Maryland, especially in Prince George’s County and Fort Washington. At St. Columba Catholic Church in Oxon Hill, mass is offered in Tagalog and English.
Kris has been active in the labor movement for over a decade campaigning and rallying in support of working family issues. She can be seen weekly on Valderrama’s America on Comcast channel 80 in Maryland and Comcast channel 77 in Washington, DC, co-hosting, reporting and interviewing politicians and community leaders on issues of interest to Prince George’s County.
Outside of work, Kris has always been involved in the community and is no stranger to the political arena. She has devoted her time to the campaigns and electoral process of the 26th Legislative District for over two decades—everything from GOTV efforts, to voter registration drives to precinct polling work.
Today, Kris remains fully engaged in the issues and concerns of people in her district and driven to make her childhood home of Prince George’s County an even better place to live, work and visit. (www.asianjournal.com)
(Published October 24, 2008 p.A3 NYNJ)
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