Gus Mattammal
Gus Mattammal (Republican Party) ran for election to the California State Assembly to represent District 23. He lost in the primary on March 5, 2024.
Biography
Gus Mattammal was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Mattammal earned a bachelor's degree from Pomona College in 1994 and a graduate degree from Yale University School of Management in 2000. His career experience includes working as the director of a national private tutoring group and in TV advertising sales, consulting, and operational finance.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2024
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 23
Incumbent Marc Berman defeated Lydia Kou in the general election for California State Assembly District 23 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Marc Berman (D)  | 59.8 | 115,833 |
 | Lydia Kou (D) | 40.2 | 77,949 | |
| Total votes: 193,782 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 23
Incumbent Marc Berman and Lydia Kou defeated Gus Mattammal and Allan Marson in the primary for California State Assembly District 23 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Marc Berman (D) | 57.4 | 67,177 |
| ✔ | | Lydia Kou (D) | 20.3 | 23,723 |
 | Gus Mattammal (R) | 11.4 | 13,290 | |
 | Allan Marson (R) | 11.0 | 12,900 | |
| Total votes: 117,090 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Mattammal received the following endorsements.
2022
See also: California's 15th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 15
Kevin Mullin defeated David Canepa in the general election for U.S. House California District 15 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kevin Mullin (D) | 55.5 | 108,077 |
 | David Canepa (D) | 44.5 | 86,797 | |
| Total votes: 194,874 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 15
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 15 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kevin Mullin (D) | 41.1 | 58,806 |
| ✔ | | David Canepa (D) | 24.1 | 34,488 |
| Gus Mattammal (R) | 16.5 | 23,625 | |
 | Emily Beach (D) | 14.6 | 20,816 | |
 | Jim Garrity (Independent) | 2.2 | 3,081 | |
 | Andrew Watters (D) | 1.1 | 1,551 | |
 | Ferenc Pataki (Independent) | 0.5 | 671 | |
| Total votes: 143,038 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jackie Cota (R)
- David Brandt (Independent)
Endorsements
To view Mattammal's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Gus Mattammal did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released March 8, 2022 |
Gus Mattammal completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mattammal's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Republicans and conservatives: I want to bring the focus of our party back to problem-solving. All too often, our energy as a party is directed at criticizing what the Democrats do rather than offering our own solutions. Conservative policies centered on personal choice, free markets, and careful scrutiny of spending will appeal to voters across the political spectrum and would be a clear path to electoral success in red, blue, and purple states. In addition, by emphasizing a more constructive vision, our party will lead the way in making politics less emotionally fraught and in reminding everyone that though we may be conservatives, or liberals, or independents, we are, above all, Americans.
- Democrats/liberals/independents: this election offers an opportunity to help me refocus my party on constructive problem-solving. A world in which the Republican party is focused on problem-solving is a world that’s better for all Americans, including you. If we come to the table with our own good-faith plans for healthcare, education, climate change, and economic opportunity, then we have a basis for negotiation and compromise. Policies developed through negotiation and compromise are more lasting and stable; policies developed and passed by one side alone (e.g., “Obamacare”), are far more likely to be torn down when the government changes hands. Winning this election will help me show my party the appeal of a constructive vision.
- I chose “Faith in People, Faith in America” as my campaign slogan because, over the last 25 years, I’ve watched people increasingly lose their faith in capitalism and markets, in democracy and elections, and, most tragically, in each other as Americans. I’m running for Congress because I want to restore people’s faith in each other and in this great country of ours. That won’t happen overnight—it will take a lot of hard work. But it can be done. Our district is perfect to lead this effort. We can show America what healthy politics look like, and, in doing so, restore people’s faith in this country and in each other. Vote Gus on June 7th and November 8th. Send me to Washington, and let me show you what we can accomplish— together.
Healthcare: I will develop a healthcare plan that achieves universal coverage through health savings accounts that follow you. You make the decisions, and you don’t have to worry about what happens if you lose your job.
Education: I will develop a comprehensive education reform proposal that creates education savings accounts that follow the student, so that students have greater freedom to choose their education and aren’t forced to stay in failing schools.
Entrepreneurship: My path from inner-city St. Louis to a middle-class life on the coast involved entrepreneurship, and I want to work with Republicans and Democrats, economic development organizations and business leaders, to identify ways to make it easier for people to start businesses, especially in immigrant and lower-income communities.
Climate change: I will design a plan that combines the power of the private sector with targeted federal investments to develop new technologies to address climate change. I’ll work with environmental groups, established industries, and local communities to ensure that we address the challenges of a changing climate in a way that strengthens our economy and our ability to lead on the world stage.
George Washington: I’m inspired by his ability to motivate people to follow him to a better future, his capacity to wield power for the good of all Americans, and the wisdom and strength he demonstrated in handing power over to someone else when the time came.
Abigail Adams: Abigail was the wife of our 2nd President, John Adams. She was an equal partner to her husband at a time when that was not the norm. Abigail was fiercely patriotic, extraordinarily eloquent, and very much the intellectual equal of her husband. The letters she and John wrote to each other show that he sought out and valued her advice and perspective.
I’m blessed to have married a similar woman; my wife Jill is also fiercely patriotic, extraordinarily eloquent, and very much the intellectual equal of her husband. Jill has spent most of her career working tirelessly in the Justice Department, the nonprofit sector, and the private sector on behalf of victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. Like John Adams, I value my wife’s insight and perspective.
Barack Obama: I’m inspired by his ability to break barriers and to speak to people’s desire to be one country, to be simply “Americans.”
Donald Trump: I’m inspired by his courage to be himself at all times and to advocate for what he believes, regardless of whether conventional politicians and pundits think it’s a good idea.
Christ: I’m inspired by his vision of leadership as being fundamentally about service and about what you as a leader are willing to sacrifice for those who follow you.
Other important characteristics include humility, particularly with respect to recognizing when other people know more about something than you do. I’ve been an educator for 18 years, so I understand clearly when I’m the expert and when I’m not. Knowing the difference between the two is a key part of how you effectively harness the skills, talents, and expertise of others in service of common goals.
Therefore, in terms of legacy I’d like to leave Congress knowing that I’d helped my colleagues come together and pass legislation in a bipartisan way addressing the many challenges we face as a people. I’d like to know that I’d helped Americans on opposite sides of the political divide recognize that what’s most important is that we’re all Americans on a journey together. Above all, I’d like to know that I left America in a much better place than it was when I first entered office.
One day he meets his Uncle Tooth, who once also dreamed big dreams, and even sailed the seas on many adventures, about which he tells Corduroy over the course of the book. But along the way, he suffered hardships, and he eventually stopped sailing the seas and came back to Corduroy’s town, where he now spends his days quietly fishing, far away from the other alligators, stewing in sadness and loneliness.
But by the end of the book, the act of recounting for Corduroy all his adventures and hardships rekindles Tooth’s optimism and passion for adventure. Uncle Tooth and Corduroy fix up Tooth’s old boat and sail away to find the place where the sun meets the sea.
I’ve always identified strongly with Corduroy; I’ve never exactly fit in anywhere I’ve ever been. Politically, I’ve been a member of the Peace and Freedom Party, I’ve been a member of the Democratic Party, I’ve been an Independent, and I’m now a Republican. But you’ll find that labels don’t really fit me. I’m interested in only one thing: improving the lives of all Americans. I’m not interested in fighting ideological wars.
I think America is a lot like Uncle Tooth: we were once optimistic and full of adventure. Along the way, however, we lost a lot of that optimism and that sense of adventure, and we settled into a gloomy funk.
Domestic:
- Growing and sustaining America’s economy.
- Ensuring that all areas of America share in that growth.
- Reforming our education system so that no child is forced to attend a failing school.
- Reforming our healthcare system to involve more market forces and personal choice, while achieving universal coverage.
- Ensuring that our own democracy is healthy by making voting easy to do, but hard to cheat.
International:
- Securing our borders in a way that is consistent with America’s brand as a welcoming beacon of hope for those who are willing to work hard and play by the rules.
- Keeping America safe at home by effectively dealing with hostile actors abroad.
- Managing our relationships with countries that are not our natural allies (China, Russia, Iran, etc.) while _strategically_ promoting the spread of democracy in the world.
- Increasing our trade with foreign nations in a way that promotes broad prosperity here in America.
For example, I recently met a Black man who did not identify as a conservative, but who attended church every week and had a concealed carry permit. When I asked him what he would like me to work on when I got to Congress, he said that gun violence in his community was a problem. However, he felt the solution was not to take away people’s guns, but rather to aggressively prosecute anyone who shot someone. He wanted to feel that if a young Black boy from a place like East Palo Alto was killed by gun violence, that the same level of time and effort would be expended finding the perpetrator as would be expended if a young white boy from a place like Atherton were killed. Make it so that no one gets away with gun violence, he said, and the gun violence problem will subside.
Is compromise desirable much of the time? Yes.
If elected to Congress, I will be willing to work with any of my colleagues, regardless of party affiliation, on developing solutions to the challenges Americans face. I believe that working together across party lines builds more stability in policy, which is good for all Americans.
As a practical matter, when one party passes legislation without any buy-in from the other party (examples: Democrats passing the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare”; Republicans passing certain tax cuts), then that legislation almost always gets undone, or at least significantly weakened, when the government changes hands. It’s not good for businesses, nonprofits, or individual citizens for policy to be whipsawing back and forth every few years.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate California State Assembly District 23 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 8, 2022
