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K.H. Achadjian

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K.H. Achadjian
Republican Party
Prior offices:
California State Assembly District 35
Years in office: 2010 - 2016
Supervisor San Luis Obispo County
Years in office: 1998 - 2010
Elections and appointments
Last election
June 7, 2016
Personal
Profession
Business owner
Contact
Personal website

K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian was a Republican member of the California State Assembly, representing District 35 from 2010 to 2016. Achadjian passed away on March 5, 2020.[1]

Achadjian did not seek re-election to the California State Assembly in 2016. Instead, Achadjian sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 24th Congressional District of California in 2016. He was defeated in the primary election.[2]

Biography

Achadjian earned his degrees from Cuesta Community College and from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. His professional experience includes working as a business owner since 1978, supervisor for San Luis Obispo County from 1998 to 2010 and chair of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in 2001 and 2006.

Committee assignments

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Achadjian served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Achadjian served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Achadjian served on these committees:

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2016

See also: California's 24th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as a race to watch. Incumbent Lois Capps (D) did not seek re-election in 2016. Salud Carbajal (D) defeated Justin Fareed (R) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Carbajal and Fareed defeated Benjamin Lucas (D), William Ostrander (D), Helene Schneider (D), Katcho Achadjian (R), Matt Kokkonen (R), Steve Isakson (independent), and John Uebersax (independent) in the top-two primary on June 7, 2016.[3][4][5]

U.S. House, California District 24 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngSalud Carbajal 53.4% 166,034
     Republican Justin Fareed 46.6% 144,780
Total Votes 310,814
Source: California Secretary of State


U.S. House, California District 24 General Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngSalud Carbajal 31.9% 66,402
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngJustin Fareed 20.5% 42,521
     Republican Katcho Achadjian 18.1% 37,716
     Democratic Helene Schneider 14.9% 31,046
     Democratic William Ostrander 6.1% 12,657
     Republican Matt Kokkonen 5.6% 11,636
     Independent John Uebersax 1.1% 2,188
     Independent Steve Isakson 1% 2,172
     Democratic Bernjamin Lucas 0.8% 1,568
Total Votes 207,906
Source: California Secretary of State

Achadjian was a member of the NRCC's Young Guns Program in 2016. The Young Guns program "supports and mentors challenger and open-seat candidates in races across the country."[6]

2014

See also: California State Assembly elections, 2014

Elections for the California State Assembly took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 7, 2014. Incumbent Katcho Achadjian (R) and Heidi Harmon (D) were unopposed in the blanket primary. Achadjian defeated Harmon in the general election.[7][8][9]

California State Assembly, District 35, General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngKatcho Achadjian Incumbent 62.7% 77,452
     Democratic Heidi Harmon 37.3% 46,126
Total Votes 123,578

2012

See also: California State Assembly elections, 2012

Achadjian won re-election in the 2012 election for California State Assembly District 35. Due to redistricting following the 2010 census, he was displaced from District 33. He and Gerald Manata (D) advanced past the blanket primary on June 5, 2012, unopposed. He was subsequently elected in the general election on November 6, 2012.[10][11]

California State Assembly, District 35, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngK.H. "Katcho" Achadjian Incumbent 61.3% 103,762
     Democratic Gerald "Gerry" Manata 38.7% 65,500
Total Votes 169,262

2010

See also: California State Assembly elections, 2010

Achadjian defeated Matt Kokkonen, Fred Strong and Etta Waterfield in the June 8 primary. He then defeated Democrat Hilda Zacarias and Libertarian Paul K. Polson in the November 2 general election.[12][13]

California State Assembly, District 33 General Election (2010)
Candidates Votes
Green check mark transparent.png K.H. Achadjian (R) 84,629
Hilda Zacarias (D) 54,817
Paul K. Polson (L) 7,051
California House of Representatives, District 33 Republican Primary (2010)
Candidates Votes
Green check mark transparent.png K.H. Achadjian (R) 18,697
Etta Waterfield (R) 16,623
Matt Kokkonen (R) 14,072
Fred Strong (R) 1,637

Campaign themes

2016

The following issues were listed on Achadjian's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“
  • Agriculture: We need to protect our farmers, ranchers, and workers to ensure they can continue to function in state. By reducing restrictions, taxes, and government hindrance we will keep our farmers in California instead of losing them to neighbors or foreign markets.
  • Economic Growth: I will advance my fight to the federal level by continuing to scale back and repeal harmful regulations, taxes, and fees on the businesses that give America its Dream.
  • Healthcare: As it currently stands, Obamacare will continue to increase the burdensome regulations and taxes that are imposed on small businesses, a sector which employs more than 50% of our country’s workforce.
  • Immigration: . It is important that immigrants wishing to come to America are given the opportunity to do so through legal channels. I openly support guest-worker programs that provide an opportunity for noncitizens to come to America and work.
  • Jobs: The start and end of my solution to unemployment in this country is one and the same: small business. Reduce burdensome and unnecessary regulations on the federal and state levels and watch unemployment and underemployment drop across the country as we unleash the job creation potential of these businesses.

[14]

”
—Katcho Achadjian's campaign website, http://katcho2016.com/

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.

K.H. Achadjian campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2014California State Assembly, District 35Won $404,678 N/A**
2012California State Assembly, District 35Won $404,201 N/A**
2010California State Assembly, District 33Won $471,428 N/A**
Grand total$1,280,307 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards, State legislative scorecards in California

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2015.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2014.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2013.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2012.

In 2011, the California State Legislature was either not in session or no scorecards were found. Please contact us if you would like to suggest a scorecard.

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Achadjian passed away on March 5, 2020.[1] He and his wife, Araxie, had two children.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term K.H. + Achadjian + California + Legislature

K.H. Achadjian News Feed

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Paso Robles Daily News, "Katcho Achadjian, former local state assemblyman, dies at 68," March 6, 2020
  2. ↑ Roll Call, "Republican Launches Bid to Succeed Lois Capps in California," April 16, 2015
  3. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates for Voter-Nominated Offices June 7, 2016, Presidential Primary Election," accessed April 4, 2016
  4. ↑ The New York Times, "California Primary Results," June 7, 2016
  5. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote," June 7, 2016
  6. ↑ NRCC, "32 Congressional Candidates Announced “On the Radar” as Part of NRCC’s Young Guns Program," November 19, 2015
  7. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official 2014 Primary election candidate list," accessed March 27, 2014
  8. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed July 15, 2014
  9. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official general election results," accessed December 14, 2014
  10. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official primary candidate list," accessed March 13, 2014
  11. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official 2012 Primary election results," accessed March 13, 2014
  12. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official 2010 Primary election results," accessed March 13, 2014
  13. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official 2010 General election results," accessed March 13, 2014
  14. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
Political offices
Preceded by
Das Williams (D) 		California Assembly District 35
2012-2016 		Succeeded by
Jordan Cunningham (R)
Preceded by
Sam Blakeslee (R) 		California State Assembly District 33
2010-2012 		Succeeded by
Tim Donnelly (R)


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