TUSD’s Allyson Muñiz Damikolas Launches Campaign for Congress

Damikolas, an engineer, mom of kids with complex medical needs, and school board member, announces campaign to take on MAGA-allied Republican Young Kim in California’s 40th Congressional District

Damikolas: “We need leadership in Congress that is focused on limiting the high cost of healthcare and the influence of special interests, not on limiting abortion access.”

Tustin, CA — Allyson Muñiz Damikolas, an engineer, mom of kids with complex medical needs, and school board member, has announced her campaign for Congress in California’s 40th Congressional District (CA-40).

CA-40 is considered one of the most competitive districts in the country. It is one of just 18 congressional districts that were won by President Biden in 2020, and are currently held by a Republican.

“I’m an engineer, not a career politician. But when my daughters were diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, I put my engineering career on hold to fight for my kids. “I took on the insurance companies that tried to deny my daughters the critical care they needed, and now I’m ready to take on the special interests in Washington,” said Allyson Muñiz Damikolas. “We need political leaders who will stand up to special interests and who will fight as hard as any mom would fight for their daughters to ensure that every Californian can access affordable, high-quality healthcare, to lower the cost of housing, education, and prescription drugs, and to
invest in our education system and keep our kids safe from gun violence.

“But Young Kim isn’t fighting for our families. She’s taken over half a million dollars from drug and insurance interests, and voted against efforts to lower costs. She’s supported efforts to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions – people like my daughters. And she’s funded by and allied with MAGA extremists who want to strip abortion rights and even ban abortion in
cases of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life is at risk, including here in California.

“That’s why I’m announcing that I’m running for Congress in California’s 40th Congressional district: because we need leadership in Congress that is focused on limiting the high cost of healthcare and the influence of special interests, not on limiting abortion access.”

About Allyson Muñiz Damikolas
Allyson Muñiz Damikolas is an engineer, mom, and school board member. Allyson is proud to be raising her three children – Julian, Victoria and Audrey, with her husband Marc, right where she grew up, here in Southern California.

Allyson is a proud Latina. Her father comes from a long line of Mexican Americans, who have lived in California for generations. Her maternal grandfather is Puerto Rican and her maternal grandmother is Mexican American. Her father was a former Marine and her grandfathers served in the Army in World War II. Growing up, Allyson’s family faced difficulties which taught her at a
very young age to take care of herself. Allyson, as the eldest child in the family, often was the caretaker for her three younger brothers, and at times, the family struggled with food insecurity.

In school, Allyson excelled in math and science, studied hard and earned a degree in chemical engineering. After graduation, Allyson went to work for an environmental consulting firm.

When her two girls – Victoria and Audrey – were each diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, Allyson put her engineering career on hold to care for her daughters. When doctors gave her daughters a difficult diagnosis, Allyson sat by their side in hospital rooms. She even crossed state lines to get her daughters the critical care they needed, and fought with insurers that wanted to deny them care. She made sure her girls eventually made it back into classrooms that both addressed their needs and challenged them to reach their full potential. Today, Allyson’s daughters are both excelling in school and her oldest is exploring college.

Allyson has always been a problem solver and will bring this same fighting spirit to Washington for the people of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.

Once Victoria and Audrey were back in school Allyson became more involved in their schools and served as PTO president to make sure every kid had an advocate in their corner.

In 2020, Allyson was elected Trustee to the Tustin Unified School Board when she defeated a 24-year incumbent. Allyson knew that the roadblocks to achieving academic success often start outside the classroom. That’s why she led her school board to designate every one of their Title 1 schools as “Community Schools”, where families and students are supported with food, clothing, and resources.

Allyson knows firsthand how gun violence disrupts lives and schools. Her cousin, an LAPD officer, was shot and killed in the line of duty. As a school board member, she’s seen hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to help our kids excel in school – like buying textbooks – instead be diverted to keep our schools safe with additional cameras and locking equipment. Allyson will always fight for commonsense gun safety laws that protect our children and let them focus on being kids.

For many women, including her two daughters, access to abortion care could one day mean the difference between life and death. Young Kim voted against our right to contraception and our right to abortion. She’s even supported by extremists who seek to ban abortion nationwide. That means overruling the protections we have here in California and taking away our rights – to
make our own personal decisions. Allyson is running because Young Kim can’t be trusted to put the health of California women before politics.

Allyson is running for Congress because Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties need a leader they can trust to fight for their kids. Whether it is for their right to health care coverage, good schools, freedom from gun violence, or reproductive health care – Allyson will always put our families first, just as she has for her family.