Villapudua Family Political Favors and Miscalculations

The younger Villapudua brother isn’t the only family member capable of generating headlines and creating controversies.

Edith Villapudua, fresh off her defeat in the Assembly seat race, was hired as an aide to newly elected District 1 Board of Supervisor Mario Gardea. 

Supervisor Gardea’s office recently made headlines when his former Chief of Staff, Augustun Telly, was arrested in January on suspicion of felony solicitation of criminal acts. (Read the article here.)

The hiring of Edith Villapudua raised eyebrows inside county offices, as Gardea is the only County Supervisor with multiple aides.

Gardea replaced former Supervisor Miguel Villapudua, who replaced his cousin and then Supervisor Carlos Villapudua. Carlos appointed Miguel as a County Planning Commissioner to help his supervisorial campaign.

It’s apparent that Edith’s hiring is a political favor for the Villapuduas. The aide job will help give her political experience, something voters saw as lacking.

However, even with Edith’s hiring, it’s a low point for the recently prominent political powerhouse Villapuduas.

After Carlos turned down a chance to run for the open 5^th State Senate District seat, he encouraged Edith to run, which she ultimately chose to do.

Miguel Villapuda, meanwhile, announced he was running for the 5^th State Senate District seat. 

(He declined to run for the State Assembly against his cousin, Carlos.)

When East Bay Insiders asked about a Villapudua running against a Villapudua [Edith], Miguel said, “As far as the family name, I don’t know what to say. Carlos has done a great job as an Assemblymember. Unfortunately, we’ve had our differences, and we don’t communicate well. That explains why Edith is running.” (read more here)

Ouch.

To avoid furthering a major family rift, Miguel’s brother, criminal law attorney Armando Villapudua, whose wife is a Superior Court judge, apparently brokered a deal for Miguel to drop out of the race for a promised state job after Carlos's re-election to the assembly.

However, things became more complicated and uncomfortable after Carlos and Edith decided in December 2023 to switch places, following polls that showed Edith significantly trailing former Tracy City Council Member Rhodesia Ransom in the state senate race.

After the Villapudua style of musical chairs, Edith was thrust into a new Assembly race, which smacked of political opportunism. Carlos, meanwhile, was pitted against the formidable former U.S. Rep Jerry McNerney for State Senate.

We’re all familiar with what happened next.

Edith finished in last place for the AD13 March Primary race to eventual winner Rhodesia Ransom and the controversial Republican Denise Aguilar Mendez. (You can read more about Mendez here and here.)

Carlos also lost his State Senate bid in the March Primary to Jim Shoemaker and Jerry McNerney.

What looked good on paper for the Villapuduas did not sit well with voters, who let their doubts speak for themselves at the ballot box.

In one fell swoop, all the Villapuduas were embarrassingly out. No Assembly District. No State Senate. No high paid position in Sacramento. No San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.

It was a classic case of miscalculations and assumptions by the Villapuduas, who thought their name and popularity were stronger than they were. 

Now, the family is left Stockton City Councilman Brando Villapudua to carry forward the family’s political name. 

But as we highlighted in our previous article, that’s not going well for the family either.