Michael Maxsenti launches bid for Congress
CA District 47
Execerpt from article written by Kaitlyn Schallhorn for the Orange County Register:
August 29, 2025
Maxsenti, a Republican, is running for California’s 47th Congressional District. He has a goal, he said, of advancing the “MAHA” agenda, an acronym that stands for “Make America Healthy Again” and is promoted by Kennedy, who leads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
That goal includes “cleaning up” public health agencies and “tackling chronic disease at its root — eliminating toxic additives, pesticide residues and environmental hazards,” Maxsenti’s campaign website said. In an interview, Maxsenti said that agenda also includes preventing the pesticide industry from being able to create liability shields.
“America’s health crisis is at a tipping point. With over 40% of our population struggling with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, we must shift from a disease-care system to true health care,” Maxsenti said. “This is our moonshot moment.”
Maxsenti, an Irvine resident, said he was a lifelong Republican before he became disillusioned with the leadership of both major parties in 2010 and became an independent. But he said he’s “proud” to be back in what he called “this new Republican leadership that is emerging” and centered on big-tent populism.
“This is the time for me to serve and give back,” Maxsenti said. “I feel uniquely qualified, and I feel the timing is right.”
Maxsenti said he wants people to give the Trump administration time to implement its agenda and show results.
“Right now, we have this unique opportunity,” Maxsenti said. “We must give the policy changes under President Trump, Secretary Kennedy, and others time; they must have the time to show results.”
“If we (Republicans) don’t hold Congress, and hopefully expand it, Congress will just grind everything to a halt, and all the changes underway right now will not have the chance to show results,” he added.
Maxsenti, who raised his family in Laguna Beach and is a San Diego State alumnus, said affordability is also a focus of his campaign.
“Between the costs of housing, health care, energy, and education, people are just stressed out,” he said. “It’s undermining families; it’s stopping people from wanting to have children.”
Maxsenti said an important part of his story is his decision to leave the corporate world and focus on raising his son, who was born later in Maxsenti’s life after he and his wife lost two other children.