Latina Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D – Cal.) accepted Barack Obama’s nomination to the post of Secretary of Labor, commenting on her immigrant background, in both English and Spanish. Born to immigrant parents from Nicaragua and Mexico in eastern Los Angeles, she a fourth-term congresswoman from the 32nd District of California. She began her political career in the Carter administration in 1980, in his Department of Hispanic Affairs, editing the department’s newsletter.
After holding various posts in Los Angeles, she ran and was elected to the California Congress in 1992, where she was instrumental in passing a bill to allow illegal immigrants to attend California colleges as long as they were state residents, and was later elected to the California Senate in 1994, in which capacity she fought to raise the California minimum wage and pushed environmental issues forward. Term-limited from re-running for the state Senate in 2000, she decided to run against long-time Democratic incumbent Matthew Martinez and defeated him 62% to 29% in the Democratic primary, going on to win 71% of the vote in the general election.
In congress, she is favored strongly by pro-labor groups and environmental activists for her work in those areas. She has also been active in immigration reform, sponsoring a bill that lowered the right to citizenship for US servicemen from three years to one. She works on a number of House sub-committees related to the environment, as well as the Committee on Natural Resources and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. She was also the first Latina to be appointed to the California Senate and the first Latina to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. She has so far declined to comment on any future policymaking as Secretary of Labor.
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