Gilbert Ray Cisneros Jr. is an American philanthropist, veteran, and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the House in 2018. In 2010, he and his wife won a $266 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot.
Weeks after he was laid off, Cisneros won a Mega Millions jackpot worth $266 million. He and his wife became philanthropists, establishing endowments for scholarships to be given to Latino students at GWU and the University of Southern California. They also founded Generation First DegreePico Rivera, with the goal of ensuring every Latino household in Pico Rivera has at least one college graduate, and the Gilbert and Jacki Cisneros Foundation with an initial investment of $20 million to provide mentorship in education. After setting up the foundation, Cisneros earned a Master of Arts from Brown University in Urban Education Policy.
Cisneros was a Republican until 2008, but left the party because he felt it had become "too ideological" and switched to the Democratic Party. In 2017, he declared his candidacy against Ed Royce in the 2018 election for the United States House of Representatives to represent. He specifically cited Royce's vote to repeal the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as a reason he chose to run. In January 2018, Royce announced he would retire rather than seek reelection to a 14th term. Later, the election attracted national attention as the "weirdest race in the country" after the California Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee brokered a truce on negative campaigning between Cisneros and Andy Thorburn, who had each spent $6 million on their respective campaigns. Fears of a lockout by either party were not realized when Cisneros advanced to the November runoff election, finishing second in the June primary election to Republican former Assemblywoman Young Kim, with 19.35% of the vote. This election was rated a "Toss-up" by the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball. The Associated Press called the election for Cisneros on November 17.
Cisneros and his wife, Jacki, have two children, who are twins. They own a home in Pico Rivera, and lived in Newport Beach until they moved to Yorba Linda in late 2017, the year he began running for election. Before Cisneros won the lottery, Jacki worked for KNBC in Los Angeles.
