Nicole M. Parra (born February 3, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

from 2002 to 2008. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she represented the 30th Assembly district, which includes a portion of California's Central Valley.

Early life and education

Parra was born in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, and raised in

Hanford, California Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History ...

. Her father, Pete, served on the

Kern County Board of Supervisors The Kern County Board of Supervisors is the legislative and executive body that governs Kern County, California Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat ...

and her mother works for the Bakersfield Adult School. After attending Highland High School, she graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1992 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. In 1998, she earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Catholic University School of Law The Columbus School of Law, also known as Catholic Law or CUA Law, is the law school of the Catholic University of America, a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. More than 400 Juris Doctor students attend Catholic Law ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Career

Parra served as

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Cal Dooley Calvin M. Dooley (born January 11, 1954), American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2005, representing the 17th and 20th districts of California. Early life and education Born in ...

's campaign manager in 2000 and as his District Director from 1998 to 2002.

California Assembly

Parra was elected to the Assembly in 2002 by a margin of 266 votes. She served as Chair of the Agriculture Committee. She also served on the Banking & Finance, Insurance, and Water Parks and Wildlife Committees. Parra's 2004 re-election campaign was endorsed by the California Farm Bureau. In 2008 Parra was not eligible to seek a fourth term because of term limits. She chose to endorse her opponent from the 2006 campaign to replace her, Republican

Danny Gilmore Danny Gilmore (born December 23, 1973) is a Canadian actor, who is best known for his role as Vallier in John Greyson's ''Lilies'' (1996), for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best Actor at the 17th Genie Awards. He has also appear ...

, over the Democratic party nominee, Shafter Mayor

Fran Florez Frances Audrey Florez is an American politician from California and a member of the Democratic Party. Biography Florez began work at Bank of America in 1964, became the first female loan officer in the Shafter branch in 1973, and became the bra ...

. During her final months in office, Parra was kicked out of her Capitol office by then-Assembly Speaker

Karen Bass Karen Ruth Bass (; born October 3, 1953) is an American politician, social worker and former physician assistant who is serving as the 43rd mayor of Los Angeles since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Bass had previously served in the U.S. ...

after refusing to vote on a state spending bill.

Later career

In late January 2009, Parra accepted an appointment from

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

to be Director of the Governor's Regional Development Initiatives under the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. On July 16, 2009, Parra announced that she would resign from the agency. In 2010, Parra supported the candidacy of

Carly Fiorina Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina ('' née'' Sneed; born September 6, 1954) is an American businesswoman and politician, known primarily for her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP). As chief executive officer of HP from 1999 to 2005, Fiorina wa ...

, a Republican, to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. In 2014 she started serving as an adjunct professor at

Cal State Bakersfield California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Bake ...

, teaching political science. She also served as campaign manager for a local bond measure to benefit the

Kern Community College District Kern Community College District is a community college district in Kern County, California. Colleges a part of the district are: Bakersfield College, Porterville College, and Cerro Coso Community College Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain ...

. In December 2020, Parra filed to run for Congress in the 21st district against incumbent Representative

David Valadao David Goncalves Valadao ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American politician and dairy farmer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 22nd congressional district since 2023. His district comprises part of the San Joaquin Valley. A me ...

, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, in the 2022 election cycle. The 21st district was redrawn in 2021 by the state's independent redistricting commission and then renumbered as the 22nd district. On December 30, 2021, Parra ended her congressional campaign and filed to run for district 16 in the state senate. She was eliminated during the primary, finishing in 3rd place with 12% of the vote.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parra, Nicole 1970 births Living people Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly University of California, Berkeley alumni Politicians from Bakersfield, California Women state legislators in California Columbus School of Law alumni Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California Hispanic and Latino American women in politics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians