Where Latinos made history in the midterm elections
Where Latinos made history in the midterm elections
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The Latinos who made history in the midterm elections
Congressional candidate Robert Garcia speaks to his supporters at an election night celebration on Nov. 8, 2022, in Long Beach, California. Photo: Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Several Latinos made history during the across the U.S. Driving the news: Among them are Delia Ramirez (D), a Guatemalan American state legislator whose election makes her Illinois' first Latina member of Congress, as well as California's House candidate Robert Garcia (D), who will be the first out LGBTQ immigrant in Congress as a gay man from Peru.25-year-old (D), who is Afro-Latino, will be the first member of Gen Z in Congress.Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican U.S. Air Force veteran, will become Florida's first Mexican American woman in Congress.Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who was first appointed to fill Vice President Kamala Harris' former seat by California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom nearly two years ago, became the first Latino elected to represent the state in the Senate. Why it matters: Despite growing recognition of , Latinos remain underrepresented in the federal government. Hispanics make up 19% of the U.S. population but only 9% of House lawmakers and 6% of senators. The majority of those seats are held by Democrats. The big picture: This year, 50 Latino Democrats and 33 Hispanic Republicans ran for U.S. House seats, according to both parties. There were a record number of Republican campaigns by Latinas.Latino voters continue to hold a significant amount of political weight, especially in battleground states, but about a quarter of said are swaying them. Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that Robert Garcia is from Peru, not Puerto Rico.