Early activism Foster first ran for office in 1986, securing the Republican nomination for the
California Assembly's 48th district. In the general election, she faced incumbent assemblywoman Maxine Waters; a third candidate, Libertarian José "Joe" Castañeda, was also in the race. In 1994, while teaching at
Bell High School in
Bell, California, Foster was a public advocate of
Proposition 187, a California ballot initiative to deny government programs of
social services,
health care, and
public education to illegal immigrants. Her position was extremely unpopular at the school where she taught, which was 90 percent
Hispanic.
2000 election Pat Buchanan, noting Foster's conservative media credentials and public speaking ability, asked her to be his running mate after
Jim Traficant of
Ohio,
Teamsters Union president
James P. Hoffa, and others declined his request. His critics claimed Foster, who had never held political office, was chosen because she was African American; they likened it to
affirmative action, a diversity-increasing policy that Buchanan had always opposed.
Congressional run Foster ran for Congress in the June 5, 2001, special election in California's
32nd district to replace deceased representative
Julian Dixon as the
Reform Party candidate and garnered 1.5% of the vote. == Personal life ==