Andrew Grant is a business leader and former intelligence officer, who served in combat as a Marine, a senior official in the U.S. State Department, and for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  As CEO of the Northern California World Trade Center, he helped regional businesses expand their international trade opportunities, creating more good-paying jobs for Californians.  His experience and understanding of the challenges facing us at home and abroad makes him the right person to fight for us in Congress.

Intelligence Officer, Marine Combat Veteran

Born and raised in California’s East Bay, Andrew finished high school and accepted an appointment at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.  Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Marine, serving in a variety of roles, as an intelligence officer and reconnaissance commander - directing Marines, SEALs, and Scout Snipers – as a Navy Diver, and leading counterdrug operations with Marine and law enforcement units in Southern California.  Andrew has worked with our South Korean allies against North Korea and with Aussies controlling violence in Indonesia.  Following tours in the Pacific, Andrew was reassigned to the Pentagon to serve on the staff of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  From there, Andrew led national intelligence teams in multiple combat operations in the Middle East and across Europe.  He served in combat protecting Albanian citizens in Kosovo and while fighting alongside Special Forces units against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.  Andrew finished his uniformed service with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s North Korea analysis group. 

As CEO of the Northern California World Trade Center (WTC), Andrew helped regional businesses open up trading opportunities to export California goods around the world, growing our economy and creating more jobs.  He knows what it it’s like to take risks and build a business – he and his wife bought and successfully operated a small business, and Andrew worked on the executive team at the regional food retailer, Raley’s.  As a crisis management expert, he played a leadership role in dealing with cyber security events, earthquakes, and labor strikes.  

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Andrew earned graduate degrees at the American Military University and the National Defense Intelligence College.  He earned his MBA from Sacramento State University and completed Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. Andrew is active in the community as a member of the Sacramento County Parks and Recreation Commission, the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District Measure G Citizen’s Oversight Committee, an Adjunct Professor at Los Rios Community College, and an elected member of the Sacramento County Republican Party Central Committee. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, live in Folsom with their three children.

Government is costly necessity to protect rights and freedom for the benefit of all (and only with limited powers), not the source of freedom and prosperity.  That is not to say that government should not be available as a safety net; providing for those that cannot help themselves or that need an extra hand to move toward a more independent and sustainable way of life.  That is consistent with my interpretation of what the Founding Fathers had in mind and what the Constitution limits.  The result, with limited govenment and strong individual freedom, is the release of powerful nature of the human spirit to create, be entrepreneurial, and fully embrace the role as American citizen.

What is happening, unfortunately, is best described as a slow, bending, arc of a powershift to government and away from the individual – it often operates in the shadows (administrative law, revised regulation, multi-year appointments).  The shift thrives when business, considering the cost of fighting a regulation or comprising, chooses to compromise.  It’s the day after a win in court only to find an appeals process that provides government, which has endless legal resources, another chance at litigation.  Generational in nature – like anything that’s subtle but persistent, and before you know it – freedom is lost.  Changing this trajectory is not work completed today or tomorrow, but with the same persistence and politics and persuasion to take steps towards a society that sees inalienable rights and responsibility first with citizens, the family, and local community.