As American politics progresses to the point where Asian-American politicians are becoming increasingly prolific, it is essential to understand and appreciate the brave and courageous Asian Americans who ran for and served in political positions well before the current generation, when the AAPI community was smaller and many times faced racism and discrimination. 

David Valderrama is an example of one of those politicians. Starting in 1991, he served three terms in the Maryland General Assembly representing Prince George’s County. Valderrama was the first Asian-American elected to the Maryland General Assembly and the first Filipino-American elected to any state legislature in the mainland United States.

Born in Manila in 1933, Valderrama had a humble yet accomplished childhood. At 16, he started selling items, ranging from cigarettes to cars, as a side business. An aspiring violinist, Valderrama also started an orchestra in high school and contributed to the school paper. 

Valderrama attended Far Eastern University, receiving his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1956. Later, he completed his Masters of Comparative Law at George Washington University in 1988. 

In 1972, after Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, Valderrama, who at the time was president of the Philippine Heritage Foundation, acted as one of Marcos’s fiercest critics. Later, in 1982, he blasted Marcos’ visit to Washington D.C., estimating the trip’s costs to be around $10 million.

However, Valderrama’s concerns extended beyond the issues of his birth country. In December 1984, Valderrama, along with Representative Katie Hall and D.C. Council member Nadine Winter, participated in an anti-apartheid demonstration in front of the South African embassy in Washington, D.C. Despite being arrested for a misdemeanor during the protest, Valderrama remained undeterred. In 1985, he formed the Asian Americans Against Apartheid group, advocating for the end of apartheid in South Africa and the release of Nelson Mandela.

Following an unsuccessful bid to the Maryland House of Delegates (District 25) in 1982, Valderrama was appointed by Maryland Governor Harry Hughes to serve on the Orphans’ Court. He ran again for the Maryland House of Delegates in 1990, this time in District 26 as a Democrat, and was elected, along with Christine Miller Jones and Rosa Lee Blumenthal. He served for three four-year terms, securing reelection in both 1994 and 1998. 

During his tenure, Valderrama contributed to many essential committees targeting issues like environmental matters and gambling regulation. He also held leadership roles, serving as the Deputy Majority Whip from 1995 to 2001 and as the Deputy Majority Leader from 2001 to 2003. 

However, Valderrama’s religion, Roman Catholicism, and his liberal viewpoints did not always mesh together well. In 1990, when he was still just a candidate for the House of Delegates, his pastor, Rev. Walter L. Lawrence of St. Columba Catholic Church, told him that he could no longer serve as a lector, a lay person who reads Scripture at services because he identified as a candidate who supported “reproductive choice for all women.” Valderrama, who at the time had been in the church for 18 years, resigned under protest, stating that “I find myself between heaven and hell” due to “my church applying sanctions on me because of my God-sanctioned beliefs.” 

Throughout and after his career, Valderrama was also an ardent advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana. Valderrama had unsuccessfully fought for medical marijuana as a politician in the early 2000s and was among the 150 applicants vying for the 15 marijuana cultivation licenses offered by Maryland in 2016. Valderrama, who was trying to help an assisted-living facility operator compete with established rivals, was quoted by the Washington Post: “It’s the little guys going against the big guys.”

Also in 2016, Valderrama, who was 83 years old at the time, united with around 25 other staunch anti-Marcos activists in Washington D.C. in sweltering 92-degree weather to protest Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to rebury Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani cemetery, reserved for the country’s finest heroes. 

Valderrama’s legacy doesn’t end there, His daughter, Kris Valderrama-Lobo, currently represents District 26 in the Maryland House of Delegates, the same district her father used to represent, and has been the Deputy Majority Leader since 2022. Through his children and beyond, David Valderrama’s legacy endures in his unwavering pursuit of justice and representation for Asian-American leaders, a powerful testament to all that is good in Maryland and throughout the nation.