Kenneth Leon Maddy (May 22, 1934 – February 19, 2000) was a Republican member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

and

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

from

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. Maddy was born in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. He attended

Fresno State College California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

and graduated in 1957 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. He served in the State Assembly for

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populo ...

from 1971 to 1978. Maddy ran unsuccessfully for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in the 1978 Republican primary, having finished in third place with 484,583 votes (19.2 percent). The

nomination Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In ...

went to state

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Evelle J. Younger, but he was defeated by the Democratic governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr., in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Maddy was then elected to the State Senate in a 1979 special election, serving there until 1998. He was the chairman for the Senate Republican Caucus from 1979 to 1983 and was the Republican leader of the Senate from 1987 to 1995.

Legacy

*Kenneth L. Maddy Institute, Department of Political Science, California State University-Fresno *Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis *Sacramento Area Youth Golf (SAY Golf), Freeport Boulevard, Sacramento *Cal State Fresno created the Maddy Institute to help and inspire college students to work in public service. *The Oak Tree Racing Association named a stakes race in his honor in 2000. Taking place at the

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious race ...

, it’s now known as the

Senator Ken Maddy Handicap The Senator Ken Maddy Stakes is a Listed American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, two years old and older over a distance of about furlongs on the Downhill turf course scheduled in early November at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Cali ...

, previously called the Autumn Days Handicap. *The

University of California at Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institution was ...

is home to an equine drug testing laboratory named after Maddy. This lab is a joint venture between the Veterinary Medical School and the

California Department of Food and Agriculture The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet-level agency in the government of California. Established in 1919 by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William Stephens (Am ...

's Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maddy, Kenneth L. 1934 births 2000 deaths Republican Party California state senators Republican Party members of the California State Assembly Politicians from Fresno, California Politicians from Santa Monica, California California State University, Fresno alumni Candidates in the 1978 United States elections 20th-century members of the California State Legislature