A small business owner, former two-term Delano City Councilman and dedicated educator, Pedro Rios has lived in the new reapportioned 32nd Assembly District for twenty-five years.  He understands our agricultural way of life not only because he’s picked grapes and pruned almonds, but he’s leased farmland where he cultivated tomatoes, squash, bell peppers and green peas.

Pedro Rios was born in Mexico, but immigrated to America when he was only nine years old, and eventually, he settled in Delano, California.  He graduated from Delano High School, attended Bakersfield College as well as San Diego State University and earned his bachelor’s degree in history from California State University at Bakersfield.  In 1996, he became a U.S. citizen.

In 1990, Pedro Rios joined the California Army National Guard and he was stationed in Fort Jackson, South Carolina for his basic training.  He also trained in radio communications at Fort Gordon, Georgia and later attended California National Guard officer candidate school.  He earned the Army Achievement Medal and was honorably discharged from the Army National Guard.

Hired as a social studies teacher at Wasco High School where he taught for five years, Pedro Rios was subsequently retained as a vice principal at Earlimart Middle School.  Later, he was instrumental in founding Earlimart Community Day School where he served as a teacher and vice principal for at-risk students.  He was also hired by the San Joaquin County Office of Education to teach business, history, and government at the Business Leadership Academy.  He has received the Paramount Citrus Teacher award and he’s a participant in the Who’s Who Among American High School Teachers.

In 2000 and again in 2004, Pedro Rios was elected to the Delano City Council where he served as Mayor, Vice Mayor and a Councilman.  He has been an active member of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, an active participant in the Delano Chamber of Commerce and Great Valley Center, a past member of His Vineyard Church in Delano and a current member of Restoration and Hope in Wasco.  Additionally, he has participated in various community activities like the National Day of Prayer, Reading Day at our local schools and he’s often invited to speak to students in the Delano area.

Pedro Rios currently owns Rios Portable Toilets that maintains restroom facilities for agricultural work areas as well as Rios Bee Services that will provide bee pollination services to local Delano farmers.  He also once leased fifty-nine acres of farmland in Argentina and previously owned a state-approved driving school that still serves Delano and its surrounding communities.  He has been married to his wife, Graciela, for five years.