Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo (D-Chatsworth) represents California's 40th Assembly District, covering the northwest San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Valencia [1,2]. The daughter of a military veteran and small business owners, Schiavo spent over 20 years in the labor movement -- including 13 years with the California Nurses Association -- before winning election in 2022 by just 522 votes over Republican incumbent Suzette Martinez Valladares [1,3]. She was re-elected in 2024 and serves as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs [2,4]. With a 17% CFC Biblical Values Scorecard rating, Schiavo's voting record has consistently placed her at considerable distance from the California Family Council's worldview framework on the sanctity of life (Chapter 6), parental authority in education (Chapter 8), and religious liberty (Chapter 9).
Pilar Schiavo was born on January 22, 1975, in Sonora, California, and grew up in rural Tuolumne County [1,2]. Her upbringing was shaped by the values of hard work and service: her father was a Vietnam War veteran and logger who became an electrician after battling cancer caused by Agent Orange exposure, and her mother was a bookkeeper who managed the family's electrical business [2,5]. Schiavo graduated from Sonora High School in 1993, earned a bachelor's degree in American Multicultural Studies from Sonoma State University, and later completed a master's degree in Labor Relations and Research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst [1,2]. Her brother also served in the military during the Iraq War, making veterans' issues a deeply personal cause for her family [5].
Schiavo's career in the labor movement began after working for a Tribal Head Start Program for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon, where she learned that the best way to support children was to ensure the economic security of their families [3,5]. That insight led her to two decades of union organizing with organizations including the California Nurses Association, UNITE-HERE Local 11, SEIU, and the AFL-CIO [1,3]. During her nearly 13 years with the California Nurses Association, she deployed nurses to California wildfire responses, hurricane relief, and a COVID-19 vaccination site in South Los Angeles, helping expand healthcare access to over one million Californians [1,2]. She was also a small business owner, a background that gives her a practical understanding of the challenges facing working families and entrepreneurs [2,5].
On the issues central to the California Family Council's mission, Schiavo's voting record has consistently diverged from CFC's worldview framework. Her 17% CFC Biblical Values Scorecard rating reflects a pattern of voting that has supported abortion access expansion over the sanctity of life, government-directed education over parental authority, and progressive social mandates over religious liberty protections.
