Travis Allen

Travis Ethan Allen (born September 14, 1973) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the California State Assembly.

Travis Allen is a Certified Financial Planner and has managed client investment accounts since 1996.

He has owned a financial advisory and wealth management practice, the Wealth Strategies Group, since 2001.

Allen was first elected in November 2012 to represent California's 72nd State Assembly district, which includes the cities of Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Westminster, most of Garden Grove, portions of Huntington Beach and of Santa Ana, and the unincorporated communities of Midway and Rossmoor.

Travis Allen was born in San Diego, California, and was raised in Chula Vista, California.

He is an avid short board surfer, and he participated with 65 other people in a world-record setting ride for the most number of riders on a single surf board.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from California State University, Long Beach.

In 2012, Allen began his political career by running for California State Assembly's 72nd district.

The seat was open due to term limits.

He finished second in the June primary with 19.9% of the vote, trailing establishment Republican frontrunner Los Alamitos City Councilman Troy Edgar, who won 28% of the vote.

In the general election Allen surpassed Edgar by an 11.4% margin.

Under recently passed Proposition 14 this was the first California election to take place under a nonpartisan blanket primary, in which the top two candidates advanced to the general election, regardless of party preference.

Allen is considered by many to be a controversial politician and candidate for California governor due to his far-right populist politics, for being an outspoken proponent of Donald Trump, for a sexual harassment allegation made against Allen by a former coworker (in which he was given a verbal warning but not disciplined for) in 2013, and for making many disputed public statements.

He has stated that he was running on a platform of spurring job creation and business growth by cutting California's high tax rate; using existing tax revenues to fix the state's deteriorating freeway and road infrastructure, opposing California's gas tax, and preventing future water shortages by increasing water storage capacity and completing the landmark California Water Project.

He proposed redacting recently implemented laws (AB 109, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57).

He states they are responsible for an uptick in violent crime rates in California.

However, there has not been an uptick in violent crime, and in fact it has been decreasing.

The nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found crime to be at a historic low.

Allen used his efforts to repeal the SB 1 gas tax increase and his opposition to illegal immigration as key stances in his campaign.

He also supports more "tough-on-crime" policing measures and additional water support for Central California Valley farmers.

Allen ran on a campaign based on populist, conservative, anti-establishment themes, much like President Donald Trump used in his 2016 Presidential campaign, and he is considered to be "California's Trump."

He has used the slogans "Take Back California" and "Make California Great Again" for his campaign.

He announced his candidacy in June 2017.

Incumbent Jerry Brown was unable to run at the end of his term due to term limits.

Allen came in fourth place in California's open primary where the top two candidates get on the ballot in the November election.

He had 440,409 votes, or 9.2% of the overall vote, trailing the leading candidate Democrat Gavin Newsom by over one million votes and trailing Republican rival John Cox by 800,000 votes.

Midway through his campaign for California Governor, in 2017 Allen raised $447,236 for his campaign and had expenditures of $654,602 during that time according to an official campaign filing.

Allen unsuccessfully ran for Governor of California in the 2018 election.

On May 1, 2018, Allen spoke at a California Republican primary forum in Atascadero, California.

Allen delivered his opening speech, stating that he wants to undo recent voter-enacted soft on crime laws and promised to "get rid of the state-mandated Common Core [educational curriculum]."

During his campaigning for California governor and subsequently, Allen has repeatedly made many disputed statements to the public and media.

He has been criticized by pundits and fact-checking sites for these claims.

He has made claims on the Oroville Dam regarding water capturing measures he wants to implement if elected, about high crime rates in California, and about the so-called "sanctuary laws" in California.

In 2018, Allen made the claim that a new bill in California would "literally" "ban the sale of the Bible", a claim he has repeated despite having been fact-checked by several media outlets.

He has also made the claim multiple times that California legalized child prostitution.

While campaigning he made the promise that if he gets elected governor that "every Californian will have a green lawn and take long showers."

Allen was criticized for missing several days of work at the California State Assembly while he was out campaigning.

After losing in the primary elections, Allen didn't immediately endorse his Republican rival John Cox, but eventually decided to do so in July 2018.

He also said that he wants his supporters to "stand up and fight" to "take back California".

He started the Take Back California Political Action Committee.