Seastrand, Andrea, 1941-

<p>A former state assemblywoman and GOP party member, Andrea Seastrand won election to Congress by riding the momentum of the Republican “Contract with America” in 1994. During her brief tenure, Representative Seastrand participated in the enactment of that agenda before losing re-election in a campaign that became a referendum on the Republican-controlled Congress.</p>

<p>Andrea Seastrand was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 5, 1941. She graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1963. After college she moved to Salinas, California, and became an elementary school teacher. In 1965, she married Eric Seastrand, a stockbroker, and they raised two children: Kurt and Heidi. She left her teaching career to raise the children at home. Her husband, meanwhile, entered Republican politics and lost a 1978 bid for a U.S. House seat that encompassed portions of Los Angeles County and the cities of Burbank and Pasadena. In 1982 he was elected to the California assembly. During her husband’s political career, Andrea Seastrand joined the California Federation of Republican Women and eventually served as its president. She also worked on the presidential campaigns of Barry Morris Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. When Eric Seastrand died after a prolonged bout with cancer, Andrea Seastrand won election to the California assembly with 65 percent of the vote. As a member of the state legislature from 1990 to 1994, she served on the education committee and pushed for the creation of a commercial space port authority in California. Seastrand also served as one of three assistant Republican leaders, holding an organizational and managerial position with oversight of policy development.</p>

<p>In 1994, when California Republican Michael Huffington decided to forgo re-election to the House in order to run against incumbent U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Seastrand entered the Republican primary to f ill the vacant seat. The district, newly apportioned in the early 1990s, encompassed the cities of Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo north of Los Angeles. In the GOP primary, Seastrand defeated Santa Barbara Supervisor Mike Stoker, 59 to 36 percent, running on the GOP “Contract with America.” During the campaign, Seastrand declared, “I oppose higher taxes, period. Our national budget problems do not exist because we taxpayers send too little money to Washington, D.C. The problem is that politicians and special interest groups never run out of ways to spend our money.” As an advocate for smaller government and welfare reform, she maintained, “I believe our problems are generated in the federal government; it’s a full-grown monster and we keep feeding it.” In the general election, Seastrand faced Walter Holden Capps, a theology professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara and a political newcomer. Seastrand ran on a platform that opposed abortion, gun control, the provision of government aid and services to undocumented immigrants, and extending certain rights and benefits, enjoyed by married couples, to gay men and women and domestic partners. In contrast, Capps supported these initiatives and opposed the state’s controversial Proposition 187 initiative, which would have banned education and welfare benefits to California’s large undocumented-immigrant community. Seastrand carried the evenly divided district to defeat Capps, with a narrow 1,563-vote margin, 49.2 percent to 48.5 percent.</p>

<p>Andrea Heidi Seastrand (née Ciszek; born August 5, 1941) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives.</p>

<p>Seastrand was born Andrea Heidi Ciszek in Chicago. She graduated from DePaul University in 1963 with a B.A. in education, and then moved to Salinas, California to find work as an elementary school teacher. In 1965, she married Eric Seastrand, a stockbroker, and the couple had two children named Kurt and Heidi.</p>

<p>From 1982 to 1990, when her husband served in the California State Assembly as a Republican, Seastrand joined the California Federation of Republican Women, later becoming its president.</p>

<p>In 1990, Eric Seastrand died of cancer, and Andrea won a special election to succeed him, receiving 65 per cent of the vote. She remained a member of assembly for the next four years, serving on the education committee and as assistant minority leader.</p>