LOS ANGELES — The United Brotherhood of Carpenters, which has more than 60,000 members in California, is endorsing former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s run for California Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“Anthony Rendon demonstrated his deep commitment to California during his time as Assembly Speaker, when we collaborated on historic investments in the construction of schools, affordable housing, water infrastructure, and public works projects,” said Pete Rodriguez, the 2nd General Vice President of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. “We can think of no one better qualified than Anthony to lead our state's education system and partner with our members to ensure students have safe, secure learning environments."

The Carpenters join Teamsters California and California State Council of Laborers among the major statewide labor unions that have endorsed Rendon in the SPI race.

About Anthony Rendon

Rendon spent two decades running preschool and early childhood education programs across the state. As executive director of Plaza de la Raza Child Development Services, he oversaw programs serving more than 2,300 children across 35 child development centers located throughout Los Angeles County, providing comprehensive early education, health, and family support services to underserved communities.

Later, Rendon pivoted to politics – motivated to run for the state legislature to reverse severe budget cuts to early childhood education programs imposed during Governor Schwarzenegger’s tenure. In 2012, he won a seat representing Southeast Los Angeles County in the Assembly and in 2016 was elected by his colleagues to serve as Speaker of the Assembly.

As Speaker from 2016 to 2023, Rendon led during a historic time for California’s schools. He negotiated state budgets that increased K-12 investments by 80%, shepherded groundbreaking legislation to strengthen transparency and accountability for charter schools, increased access to early childhood education by helping to create universal pre-k, and worked to maintain California’s role as a national leader in higher education. 

Rendon lives in Southeast Los Angeles County, where his daughter attends a local public school.

Learn more about Rendon’s campaign at anthonyrendon.org. 

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