Tony Strickland
Official portrait, 2025
Member of theCalifornia State Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office March 11, 2025
Preceded by	Janet Nguyen
Constituency	36th district
In office December 1, 2008 – December 3, 2012
Preceded by	Tom McClintock
Succeeded by	Hannah-Beth Jackson
Constituency	19th district
66th mayor ofHuntington Beach
In office December 6, 2022 – December 6, 2023
Preceded by	Barbara Delgleize
Succeeded by	Gracey Van Der Mark
Member of theHuntington Beach City Council for the at-large district
In office December 6, 2022 – March 10, 2025
Preceded by	Kim Carr
Succeeded by	Andrew Gruel
Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the37th district
In office December 7, 1998 – November 30, 2004
Preceded by	Nao Takasugi
Succeeded by	Audra Strickland
Personal details
Born	(1970-02-17)February 17, 1970 (age 55) Fort Ord, California, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouses	Audra Strickland ​ ​ (m. 1998; div. 2015)​ Carla Dispalatro Strickland ​ ​ (m. 2019)​
Children	2
Residence(s)	Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Whittier College (BA)

Anthony A. Strickland (born February 17, 1970) is an American politician who is aCalifornia state senator representing the36th district since 2025. A member of theRepublican Party, he previously represented the19th district from 2008 to 2012.

He was a member of theHuntington BeachCity Council from 2022 to 2025 and was Mayor of Huntington Beach from 2022 to 2023. During his tenure as mayor, he was involved in conflicts with the state of California due to his opposition to new housing.

He was also astate assemblyman representing the37th district from 1998 to 2004. He owns a political and business consulting firm.^[1] He is the president and CEO of Strong America, anadvocacy group andsuper PAC.^[2]

Strickland was born atFort Ord, California, when his father was stationed there as a soldier in theUnited States Army.^[3] Don Strickland met his wife, Antonie, when he was stationed in Germany. The family moved toVentura County in 1973. Strickland earned hisBachelor of Arts in political science atWhittier College, where he earned the Leadership and Service Award and was aNixon Scholar.

From 1996 to 1997, Strickland served on the staff ofAssemblymanTom McClintock.

Strickland was first elected to the Assembly in 1998 with 49% of the vote in a three-way race.^[4]

In 1998, Strickland distributed flyers in his campaign claimingCamarillo mayor Charlotte Craven endorsed him. Strickland was not endorsed by Craven and the mayor requested that Strickland remove her name from the flyer. With Craven's name removed, only one elected official, Mike Markey, had endorsed Strickland.^[5]

In 1998, the Strickland campaign had a complaint filed against it alleging that a mailer sent out by an independent group attacking Strickland's opponent coordinated with the campaign. The complaint was made by the president of the West Valley Republican Club, Michael Chulak. He claimed that the mailer was illegal because it was sent out "at the behest" of the Strickland campaign.^[6] The mailer was sent out by a Sacramento-based gun owner's group on Strickland's behalf.^[7]

He was re-elected in 2000 with 51% of the vote, again in a three-way race.^[8] He was re-elected to a third term with 63.1% of the vote in 2002.^[9]Term limits prevented Strickland from seeking a fourth term in 2004.^[3][2]Audra Strickland, his then-wife, decided to run for the seat and won (she was re-elected in 2006 and 2008).^[3][2]

In 2006 Strickland ran forstate controller. He won 41% of the vote in a four-way primary, besting state senatorAbel Maldonado, his nearest opponent, who received 37.0% of the vote.^[10] Strickland was defeated byJohn Chiang in the general election by a 50.7%-40.2% margin.^[11]

Strickland ran in California's 19th district against the Democratic nominee, former state assemblywomanHannah-Beth Jackson. Senate District 19 includes areas ofSanta Barbara,Ventura, andLos Angeles counties. The race was highly competitive and the closest state Senate race in California that year.

The race was also contentious, with critics of Strickland upset at the alleged misrepresentations of his business background. On various campaign literature, the Strickland campaign portrayed Strickland as a vice president of Green Wave Energy Solutions, LLC—even though Strickland has worked in politics his entire adult life,^[12] and Green Wave Energy Solutions LLC has not done any business in California.^[13]

Jackson conceded just five days before Strickland was sworn into the Senate. He had won the election by 900 votes. With Strickland's 2008 election to the State Senate and his wife, Audra, simultaneously winning re-election to the State Assembly, the Stricklands became the second husband and wife to serve concurrently in theCalifornia State Legislature (after SenatorGeorge Runner and AssemblywomanSharon Runner).

In the June 2010 primary, Strickland won 60% of the vote to gain the Republican nomination for state controller, setting up a rematch of the2006 controller election between Strickland and Chiang, who was unopposed in his bid for the Democratic nomination for re-election as state controller.^[14] In the general election, Strickland lost again to Chiang, this time by a wider margin: Chiang received 55% of the vote, while Strickland received 36%.

In January 2012, Strickland announced his candidacy in the newly redrawnCalifornia's 26th congressional district, based inVentura County.^[15] Strickland was defeated by DemocratJulia Brownley on November 6, 2012.^[16]

CongressmanHoward "Buck" McKeon, who representedCalifornia's 25th congressional district since 1993, retired and endorsed Strickland.^[17][18] He was also endorsed by former Republican candidate for president,Mitt Romney,^[19] and vice presidential candidatePaul Ryan.^[20] He ran against then California state senatorSteve Knight on November 4, 2014, and was defeated.California's 25th congressional district covers northern parts ofLos Angeles County and parts ofVentura County. It includes the cities ofSanta Clarita,Simi Valley,Palmdale, andLancaster, and the northern part of theSan Fernando Valley.

In December 1999, theCalifornia secretary of state sued Strickland for failing to report $116,140 in late contributions, in violation of the California Political Reform Act of 1974. He was fined $6,000.^[3]

In April 2010, theCalifornia Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) decided that Strickland and Strickland for State Senate, a member of the California State Senate, and his candidate-controlled committee sent out a mass mailing without the name of the committee on the outside of the mailing. The commission levied a $3,000 fine.^[21]

In May 2016, Strickland agreed to pay a $40,000 fine to settle a FPPC investigation that determined that he laundered campaign donations during his 2010 run for state controller. The commission found that Strickland had routed campaign contributions through the Ventura County Republican Party and Stanislaus County Republican Central Committee, in an effort to evade state limits on campaign contributions. The Commission said that Strickland did not cooperate with the investigation. Strickland accepted responsibility for eight violations, but said that he did not personally solicit the donations to the party organizations.^[22][23]

During the2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Strickland supportedDonald Trump,^[24] and he was a Trump delegate at the2016 Republican National Convention.^[25] In May 2016, Strickland was also named the California chairman of the "Committee for American Sovereignty," a pro-Trumpsuper PAC.^[26]

Strickland was elected to the Huntington Beach city council in November 2022.^[27] Strickland and three other conservative candidates (Grace Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon and Pat Burns) campaigned as aslate, and all four won election to the council, forming a new conservative majority.^[27][28]

Strickland spent a one-year term as mayor of Huntington Beach. He was sworn in on December 7, 2022.^[29] In its December 2022 vote, the new conservative-majority council chose Strickland as mayor on a 4–3 vote, with Van Der Mark being elected mayorpro tempore on a 4–3 vote.^[29] On December 6, 2023, on a 4–3 vote, Strickland was succeeded by Van Der Mark, and thepro tem position went to Burns.^[30][31] In both 2022 and 2023, the council voted 4–3 to set aside previous council resolutions under which thepro tem post was granted to the longest-serving councilmember who had not served as mayor in the past four years.^[29][31] During the 2023 vote, Strickland made the motion to set aside this previous custom of selecting thepro tem based on seniority.^[31]

Strickland remains a member of the city council.^[30]

As a city councilmember and as mayor, Strickland staunchly opposed increasing housing supply.^[32] During his tenure, the city stopped accepting applications foraccessory dwelling units, which promptedCalifornia attorney generalRob Bonta to sue the city, alleging that the city was violating theCalifornia HOME Act (SB 9), a state law requiring municipalities to allow greater housing supply.^[32][33] The city also sued the state of California, alleging that the state'sRegional Housing Needs Assessment infringed on the city's authority; a federal judge denied the city's request for a temporary restraining order blocking the application of state housing law.^[32] Bonta said that Huntington Beach's suit was a "baseless and obstructionist attempt by the city to defy state housing laws."^[32]

Strickland says that he supports affordable housing but Huntington Beach is "95% built out" and he will not support "anything that guts our suburban coastal community."^[1][32] In 2023, he claimed that "high rise high density urbanization" was being "forced" on the city.^[32]

In 2024, Strickland supported a ballot initiative to allow California cities to imposerent control on new apartments. Strickland said he did not support rent control as a policy, but would support the initiative because it would enable local governments to impose steep requirements on new housing which would block new housing construction.^[34]

In October 2015, Strickland announced the formation of Strong America, asuper PAC of which he is president and CEO.^[2]

Strickland has one daughter and one son with his first wife,Audra Strickland, whom he married in 1998. The couple divorced in 2015.^[35] He married his second wife, Carla Dispalatro Strickland, on February 17, 2019.

Strickland and his wife live in a four-bedroom 1,800 square-feet condominium on the west side of Huntington Beach that she purchased for $319,000 in 2000.^[1][32] The unit is publicly listed as a state mandated affordable housing unit.^[32] Given that Strickland lives in affordable housing, his staunch opposition to affordable housing mandates prompted accusations of hypocrisy.^[1]

Strickland also owns a home inMoorpark in Ventura County.^[1]

• Tony Strickland atBallotpedia
• Official campaign website
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Profile atVote Smart
• Join California Tony Strickland

• 1970 births
• Living people
• American people of German descent
• American business executives in the energy industry
• Mayors of Huntington Beach, California
• Republican Party California state senators
• Republican Party members of the California State Assembly
• People from Moorpark, California
• Whittier College alumni
• 21st-century members of the California State Legislature

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