Michael Maher is in the race for United States Congress, California District 21 because “It’s time to grow our Valley.” A Tulare native, this multifaceted family man, veteran, and serial entrepreneur returned to his hometown roots for a simpler life after serving in the Navy and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Now, he’s ready to make a new kind of difference here.

Born into a military family, Maher’s parents met and married in the Air Force and later settled in Tulare, where his father is a pastor. The September 11th terrorist attacks happened the same year he graduated from Tulare Union High School—just two months after the attacks, he joined the Navy, having been inspired by meeting Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations retired, a graduate of Tulare Union High School and the US Naval Academy.

Maher, too, went on to graduate from the US Naval Academy’s Preparatory School. He then attended Fresno Pacific University, Oxford University, where he rowed crew for The Queen’s College First VIII, and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he completed the Senior Executive Fellows program. The veteran is also a graduate of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia and the US Navy’s Nuclear Power School. After a diverse career in the US military, Maher was medically retired from the Navy in December of 2005.

Michael’s wife Anne is the reason he then became an FBI agent. “We were newly married, and he was working in construction management, doing great, but I could tell the job wasn’t fulfilling,” explains Anne. “We were hooked on watching Criminal Minds at night after work, and just off the cuff I said, ‘You’d make a really good FBI agent.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I probably would.’” Within a week, he’d started the application process. Maher went on to serve in the US Department of Justice as a Special Agent of the FBI working in the National Security Division.

There he received multiple awards for his investigative work with the FBI, including the ODNI Award presented by the Director of National Intelligence. For the Los Angeles Field Office, Maher was the Counterproliferation Coordinator, which included responsibility in supervision of Chemical Weapons Inspections from OPCW. He also worked temporarily with the Fresno FBI resident agency and participated in a multi-agency gang sweep through Fresno, which resulted in 36 arrests with warrants served on 23 locations in the Fresno metro area.

Despite an amazing FBI career, Maher recognized a need to reprioritize his life. During the last three years with the Bureau, he averaged a mere 52 days annual with his family. “I’m a Christian and that’s really central to who I am. As a Christian, God’s first, then your family, and then everything else, and my priorities were not aligned with my faith. Nor was it fair for my wife to basically be a single mother, and at that time we then had our second son,” and even when he was home, he couldn’t discuss his day-to-day with Anne. “I was able to serve under three directors, Mueller, Comey, and Wray, and my work was in Obama’s presidential daily briefings as well as Trump’s, and it was really nice to work at that level, but my wife is more important than that, and our kids, and getting back to the Valley.”

Maher’s leadership style won’t let politics get in the way of progress. Having made it on the ballot as a candidate for US Congress, CD22 Special Election on April 5th, he’s staying put in the same place to run in the new CD21 Election on June 7th and November 8th.

Strong Central Valley Roots
Maher’s career has taken him and his wife Anne all over the county. “Why we wanted to come back,” to the Central Valley, he explains, “is because this is where we wanted to raise our kids. Being in LA with our first son and having to deal with some of the craziness down there, we quickly realized we wanted to be back with family.” The couple has two children, Gabe (11) and Jude (5). Anne comes from a multigenerational Valley farming family. She attended San Joaquin Memorial and graduated from Immanuel High School before going on to Fresno Pacific University as a business major. Anne now works in her family’s business.

Building a Foundation in Kingsburg
The Maher’s bought a historical Mid-Century home in Kingsburg, which Michael actually remolded himself during the transition from leaving Los Angeles. With the exception of the drywall, “I built the cabinets, I ripped it to the studs, we moved walls, rewired the whole house, plumbing,” with the help of a few friends. “It was a house that was designed for my wife and my son. Since then, I left the Bureau, and we just always kind of kept the house, and so we’re still in that. It’s a great corner lot. Beautiful oak trees. Just a fun little house.”

A Lifelong Love of Aviation
Considering that Maher’s parents were both Air Force veterans, his lifelong affinity for aviation is no surprise. “When I was in the Bureau, I did a little bit of flying. That’s when I actually started getting my pilot’s license, and I ended up leaving the Bureau to take over as a CEO of an ultra-luxury aviation company.” Maher has since diversified his aviation career by forming his own company and getting involved in the private aviation space, which even involved working through an acquisition with Wheels Up—and exited shortly after the company went public, “I left and I’ve been building my company, focusing on aviation management, sustainable fuels, future flight technologies, and medical services.”

On a Personal Note
Michael and Anne are a power couple who’re always on the go with their family, but when they do take time for themselves, they “Eat Ben & Jerry’s and watch a lot of YouTube,” Michael chuckles, “and play Nintendo with the kids!” That is, when they aren’t preparing for a triathlon. “Anne and I spend a lot of time doing the Ironmans,” Michael shares. The bike component really made it a team effort since “I didn’t want to learn how to change a flat tire or do anything with the bike, and Michael full-on supported me,” by completely taking on that part of the races, admits Anne. In the last year alone, they have competed in four Ironman 70.3 races.

Michael and Anne give everything their everything. The teamwork involved in these triathlons mirrors not only their own partnership, but the partnership Michael seeks to strengthen and expand with veterans, businessmen, and law enforcement in the Central Valley. Though Maher has been asked to run for office before, the timing and circumstances were never quite right, but that changed with the maps when Devin Nunes resigned a few months ago. “If I were going to do this, I’m not going to sit and do it for a little bit,” Maher recalled of his thought process. “If I get into something, we’re going to do it 100 percent,” and with good reasons that actually work for a greater purpose. “I want to be a good steward of everything that I have and leave things better than I found them. And that’s with politics, it’s in business, in everything—I want to be here in the Valley and make changes for the benefit of our entire community, not just one party or one group of people. We’re all in this together.” To learn more about Michael Maher for Congress, visit www.michaelmaher.com.

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Location The Darling Hotel