Juan Vargas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Peruvian football (soccer) player of the same name, see Juan Vargas (footballer).

For the Dominican baseball player in the Negro Leagues, see Tetelo Vargas.

Juan Vargas (born March 7, 1961) is a Democrat and former member of the California State Assembly.

Juan Vargas was born in National City, California, where he grew up. He is the third of ten children of Tomas and Celina Vargas, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the late 1940s and raised their children on a chicken ranch.

Vargas graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA from University of San Diego and earned an MA in Humanities from Fordham University in New York. After college, Vargas joined the Jesuit Novitiate (introduction) in Santa Barbara. Later, he went back to school graduated with a JD from Harvard Law School.

Vargas served on the San Diego City Council from 1993–2000. While on the Council, he created "Operation Restore" to employ homeless individuals to remove graffiti and to rehabilitate homes.

He was elected to represent the 79th District in the California State Assembly in November 2000.

He and his wife Adrienne live in the Golden Hill area of San Diego and have two daughters.

Vargas has a bitter rivalry with Democratic congressman Bob Filner and has run against Filner in the Democratic primary three times. On June 6, 2006, Vargas received 43% of the vote, probably the best result for any challenger in a California congressional primary, but despite the presence of two other Democratic challengers, Danny Ramirez and Jesse Bresnihan, Filner still won the primary. Filner and Vargas have accused each other of corruption, and Ramirez accused Vargas of trying to get him to drop out of the race.