Ted Gaines represented the people of the 1st Senate District, which includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties. In 2018, he served as the vice chair of the Senate Insurance and Environmental Quality Committees. He was also a member of the Transportation and Housing and the Governmental Organization Committees.
Ted has been a tireless advocate for California’s taxpayers, ratepayers, businesses and families since entering politics. He has also fought to protect citizen privacy and has led major efforts to bring thousands of new jobs to the state, as well as supporting critical legislation to strengthen and expand California’s infrastructure.
Prior to his election to the Senate, Ted served the 4th State Assembly District from 2006 to 2011. As a member of the Assembly, Ted authored legislation to cap the state's spending and set aside money into a rainy-day reserve fund and has repeatedly introduced legislation to reduce the number of burdensome regulations on the state's books and provide tax-relief for hard-working California families.
Known as one of the most accessible Senators, Ted routinely visited his expansive first Senate District by annually holding town halls, community meetings and various district outreach events.
Ted received an "A" grade from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer's Association for nine consecutive years and also annually received top scores on the California Taxpayers Association’s Voting Record. In addition, he obtained a perfect "Job Creator" rating from the California Chamber of Commerce and consistently appeared on the California Small Business Association's honor roll, demonstrating his strong advocacy for taxpayer-friendly measures.
Prior to his election to the Legislature, Ted began his public service in local government on the City of Roseville's Planning Commission from 1997 to 1999. He was then elected to the Placer County Board of Supervisors in 2000 and re-elected in 2004.
Upon graduating with a degree in Business Administration from Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, Ted returned home to follow his dreams of being a small business owner. Today, Ted is running his own successful family business, serving as the owner of Gaines Insurance.
In addition to his service in government, Ted has been involved in professional and community service activities. He is a longtime member of Bayside Covenant Church and served on the Honorary Committee for the Peace for Families Capitol Campaign. Ted also previously served as President of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Sacramento.
As a life-long, avid snow skier and athlete, Ted worked for years on the effort to bring the Winter Olympic Games back to Northern California and to keep the Sacramento Kings in California. Ted has served as an Honorary Chair of the California Winter Games Committee and as the co-Chairman of the Here We Stay committee to keep the Sacramento Kings in California.
Ted has been married to his beautiful wife Beth since 1985. They reside in El Dorado Hills and are blessed with six children.