California Assembly Republicans have removed Heath Flora from their leadership post and elevated Alexandra Macedo, abruptly reshaping the party’s Capitol power structure. The shake-up comes as the Ripon lawmaker faces fresh scrutiny over alleged extramarital relationships, campaign spending and two active ethics investigations.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Flora was ousted as the Assembly GOP leader and replaced by Macedo, a first-term Tulare Republican. Flora allegedly conducted overlapping affairs while married, and the report also examined campaign expenditures at Sacramento bars, restaurants and other venues.
Macedo Takes Over A Caucus Already Under Pressure
Flora had been unanimously selected to lead Assembly Republicans in September 2025 after James Gallagher stepped down, according to an announcement from the Assembly Republican caucus. Macedo was initially named deputy leader and later served as the caucus’s chief whip, giving her a familiar perch inside the leadership team before taking the top job.
The change also places a relatively new Central Valley lawmaker at the center of a caucus representing California’s minority party. Macedo has presented herself as a conservative voice for the Valley and said she was honored by her colleagues’ trust, while Assembly Republicans now face the less glamorous task of keeping a leadership transition from becoming a full-blown internal food fight.
Campaign Tabs And Affairs Claims Collide
A separate investigation by the Sacramento Bee previously found that Flora’s campaign reported hundreds of sizable credit-card charges for meals and drinks, many labeled as district meetings. The review noted that numerous charges occurred on weekends or during legislative recess and at establishments outside Flora’s district, including Chargin’s Bar & Grill in East Sacramento.
The Post reported that Kimberly Pebbles described a two-year affair with Flora that overlapped with his relationship with former lobbyist Emily Hughes. Pebbles also alleged that Flora paid for bars, restaurants and hotels during their relationship, although the report said it could not independently confirm that campaign money paid for hotel stays; Flora did not respond to questions about the allegations and campaign expenditures.
What California Campaign-Finance Rules Say
California law permits campaign spending only when it is reasonably related to a political, legislative or governmental purpose, and generally bars expenditures that provide a personal benefit without that connection, according to the California Legislature. The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission likewise says campaign expenditures must be tied to a political, legislative or governmental purpose.
Those rules do not, by themselves, establish that any particular Flora expenditure violated the law. They do explain why the reported tabs, including more than $16,000 spent at Chargin’s since the start of 2025 and a $2,476 Bighorn Golf Club charge categorized as campaign meetings, have become politically combustible as Macedo inherits the caucus.
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