Candidate Michael Tolar was born on February 19th, 1993 on the United States Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk Louisiana. Michael Tolar grew up in a military household. His father Jaime Tolar is a combat veteran who served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Michael Tolar's childhood was built around family, discipline and sports. Michael Tolar is the third child out of four brothers, Jonathan (30), James (28), and Christian (20). Just a few months after Michael was born, the Tolar family moved to South Gate California, where Michael Tolar spent most of his childhood. Michael Tolar's childhood showed him first-hand what poverty looks like and the effects it has on working class families. Jaime and Rebecca Tolar together worked multiple jobs to keep the household running, and sometimes even that wasn't enough. Michael Tolar recalls eating MRE's for dinner simply because that was the financial predicament that they were in. At a very young age, these realizations taught Michael Tolar to be resilient. These realizations are also the same realizations as to why Michael Tolar decided to run for Congress. Michael Tolar believes that no family in America should go to sleep hungry, and no family in America should be left behind.
Michael Tolar graduated from Santa Fe Springs High School. After graduation, Michael Tolar entered the work force instead of going straight to college. Around this time, Michael Tolar experienced first-hand what it was like living paycheck to paycheck. Living on his own, Michael very quickly understood that living paycheck to paycheck was not an acceptable way to live. This pushed Michael Tolar to live, breathe, and sleep politics. Since then Michael Tolar has become a political activist where he spent majority of his time educating himself on the issues that we Americans face on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. Michael Tolar enrolled at Rio Hondo Community College at the age of 24 where he began his Political Science degree. Michael Tolar is set to graduate in May of 2020. Upon deciding to run for Congress, Michael Tolar had much inspiration from newly elected members of Congress who have shown that age and status are not and should not be the determiner of who can run for office. Michael Tolar believes that politics and elected members should not be measured by the amount of experience they have, their status, their race or age. But instead, Michael Tolar believes that elected members should be measured on their passion, their drive, and their want to help the people of their district live a quality life. Nonetheless, this is why Michael Tolar is committed to challenging the status quo. Michael Tolar is committed to fighting for the everyday people who have hopes, who have dreams, and the passion to get up, and do whatever it takes to make this country a better place for all families not just some.