Fostering the next generation of progressive Latino leaders

From Arizonans like Cesar Chavez to Gabby Giffords, progressive politics is built on the belief that each of our individual efforts is capable of increasing opportunity and improving the lives of more Americans and a more livable world.

Every movement’s fight for justice in policy and representation in every corner of our country has an impact on every other. And progressive victories are the children of organizers and elected officials alike. I’ve been both, and remain an activist at heart. 

{mosads}While being a member of Congress demands a practical outlook, I’m a true believer in progressive values and what they can do to create change in America for working families.

I’ve worked very hard to get where I am, but as the product of a Latino working family, I never would have been elected to the United States Congress without lots of help at every step. My teachers, my mom, my wife, the Marines I served with in Iraq, my friends and mentors can take credit (but no blame!) for what I achieve in my life.

Now I want to do the same for promising candidates who want to make a difference for working families in their own communities. That’s why I’ve joined with my good friend and public- and private-sector entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg, as well as Ingrid Duran, a national leader in Latino and LGBT politics, to help launch LLEGO-PAC, a group dedicated to helping elect up-and-coming progressive and Latino candidates.

LLEGO translates to “arrived” in Spanish. I believe the next few election cycles are incredibly important for the future of both progressive and Latino politics in this county. I want to do what I can to help usher in the arrival of candidates committed to the policy goals and quality of leadership that we need on the national stage.

For a generation, the fight for immigration reform has been a major plank connecting progressive and Latino political leaders, organizations and activists. This issue is incredibly important, but it’s not a singular defining issue for either progressives or Latinos.

We often hear our national leaders talk about “Latino” and “progressive” issues as if they somehow aren’t the same thing. But health care, environmental protection, LGBT equality, and education are just as important to Latino households as they are to any other community. 

Too many Democrats have come to see immigration reform as being the singular key to unlocking Latino voters. Progressive values and policy goals are the keys, not only for Latinos, but also for a growing share of the electorate. It is my hope that LLEGO-PAC candidates will help bridge these issues and constituencies.

While discussion of immigration reform has sometimes oversimplified the relationship between Latinos and progressives, it has also generated new leaders from both camps who see Latino issues as progressive issues, and are equally comfortable operating in both arenas.

We already see this connection in coalitions, campaigns, and candidacies throughout the country. The organizers fighting for immigration reform came of age as part of the fight for marriage equality and will count the Affordable Care Act as one of the defining wins of their generation.

To bring that spirit and vision to elected office, we need to start building the infrastructure that helps this new generation of candidates succeed. That’s why I’m helping launch LLEGO-PAC.

When I was growing up on the South Side of Chicago, there were a lot of kids like me who worked hard and dreamed, but never really got an opportunity to succeed. 

I was lucky enough to have teachers who invested their energy in me, government programs that helped feed and educate me, and a mother who – despite raising my sisters and me on her own – always stayed on me to do my homework and work hard.

Thanks to that support and infrastructure around me, I was able to see my own hard work in school pay off by becoming the first person in my family to go to college.

My hope for LLEGO-PAC is that we can be the kind of helping hand I had in life for a new generation of progressive leaders seeking to improve opportunities for working families through elected public service. It’s time that they arrive.

Gallego has represented Arizona’s 7th Congressional District since 2015. He sits on the Armed Services and the Natural Resources committees.