November 9, 2020 The Honorable Gavin Newsom 1303 10th Street, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Gavin Newsom:

We share your resounding enthusiasm in celebrating the historic victory of President-elect Joe Biden and in particular, a daughter of California, Vice President-elect Kamala Devi Harris. In the midst of our nation’s intersecting crises, over 75 million Americans have affirmed their desire to rebuild and reconcile our fragile nation. And at this juncture, you now have the opportunity to appoint the next U.S. Senator from California and we urge you to make history by appointing a Latina/o to fill Vice President-elect Harris’ seat.

This electoral outcome was made possible because a coalition of non-white voters, who while overcoming underinvestment, misinformation, voter suppression, and a global pandemic, cast a ballot to reclaim the soul of this nation. Most notably, the Latino electorate was decisive in flipping Arizona from red to blue, for the first time in a quarter century, and flipping two U.S. Senate seats in Arizona and Colorado alone. Across other battleground states, Latino voters provided the critical razor thin margins that gave President-elect Biden victories in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Nebraska’s Congressional District-2. Now, your decision on California’s Senate vacancy can accelerate and energize a Latino electorate that will remain decisive in electoral outcomes for generations to come.

Prior to this election, only nine Latinos have served in the U.S. Senate since it first convened in 1789. Nationally, Latinos represent over 60 million Americans; with more Latinos living in the state of California than in any other state in the country. However, our great state of California has yet to elect a Latina/o to the U.S. Senate or to serve in the Governor’s Office, and no Latina has ever won statewide office. With the recent election of Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico will now be responsible for sending four Latinos to the Senate, after having also elected three Latino Governors in a row and two consecutive Latinas. Unlike other states, neither major political party in California has even endorsed a Latina/o for U.S. Senate or the Governor’s mansion since the 19th century. The time is ripe to ensure that California's voice in the U.S. Senate provides descriptive and substantive representation to the state’s plurality population.

The inevitability of Latino population growth makes the country’s long-term recovery inseparable from the recovery of Latino households, workers, and businesses. Following the devastation of COVID-19 and four years of ill-advised leadership, our resiliency and success as a nation and as a state are inextricably tied to Latino ingenuity and economic output. The contributions of the nation’s growing and youthful Latino population is estimated at $2.6 trillion

GDP, making it the eighth largest GDP in the world. For the past two decades, Latinos have held the highest labor force participation rate, fueling the nation with the necessary workforce to stay competitive in the world. And, as the housing market has played a critical role in the economic recovery of every major U.S. economic downturn of the last five decades, Latinos have accounted for over 50% of homeownership growth over the past decade. As the future of this nation, Latinos will not only decide the efficacy of recovery, but also who occupies the White House and which party retains control of the U.S. Congress. Yet, Latinos remain both invisible and disposable across our most fundamental institutions.

We urge you to be a catalyst for Latino representation and American recovery, by appointing one of the following Latina/o leaders with Southern California roots to be our next U.S. Senator. Our most preferred Latino leaders are:

● California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has filed over 100 lawsuits against the ​ Trump administration on behalf of California’s environmental, consumer, healthcare, immigration, and civil rights interests. Born to Mexican immigrants parents, Becerra represented downtown Los Angeles in Congress from 1993 to 2017. Becerra is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School, and has devoted his career to championing women’s rights, just immigration, and the social safety net.

● California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has led the fight against the Trump ​ administration’s voter suppression and election meddling. The son of Mexican immigrants, Padilla was raised in the working-class community of Pacoima, and went on to earn a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Padilla was the youngest President of the Los Angeles City Council and served in the California Senate for almost a decade, advancing legislation on health initiatives, education, climate change, and infrastructure.

We are also supportive of the need for gender representation, and if you are going to appoint a woman, urge you to appoint one of these Latina leaders from Southern California:

● California State Senator Maria Elena Durazo has advanced legislation to protect ​ workers, support immigrants, expand housing access, and led a bipartisan delegation to Mexico. As the daughter of Mexican farmworkers, Durazo worked the fields as a child, an experience that has led her to a lifelong commitment to supporting working families. Durazo rose to become a national labor leader, having started as an organizer for ILGWU, as Vice President of UNITE-HERE, and later as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federal of Labor, AFL-CIO.

● California Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez has advanced groundbreaking, first in ​ the nation legislation to expand paid sick leave, subsidies for diapers, and automatic voter registration; she is the first Latina in California history to chair the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Gonzalez, a daughter of an immigrant farmworker and a nurse, graduated from Stanford University, Georgetown University, and UCLA School of

2 Law, and was the first woman and first person of color to serve as Secretary-Treasurer for the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

● Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis is a champion for environmental justice, ​ good-paying jobs, and health care access. The daughter of Central American immigrant parents who met in citizenship class, Solis, the eldest of seven, is a graduate of California Polytechnic University, Pomona and USC. Solis made history as the first Latina cabinet-level appointee to a U.S. President, serving as Secretary of Labor from 2009-2013, after four terms representing the San Gabriel Valley in Congress. Solis was also the first Latina elected to the California State Senate, where she dedicated a cumulative 9 years to both chambers of the California Legislature.

Your leadership on advancing an inclusive, and reflective democracy is paramount for the future of the world’s fifth largest economy. The appointments that you will make in the coming weeks are not only important for the U.S., but for the world as we confront a myriad of global challenges, both familiar and unknown. Latinos have cemented their outsized role in safeguarding our democracy and fueling our economy; this community must be elevated to our nation’s most important governing roles.

Sincerely,

Gary Acosta, CEO & Co-Founder, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals Co-CEO of L’ATTITUDE

Sonja Diaz, Founding Director, UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative

Ana Valdez, Executive Director, Latino Donor Collaborative

Robert Apodaca, Executive Director, United Latinos Vote

Carmela Castellano-Garcia

3 Hector J. Cuellar, President, Gassó Capital Markets

Cástulo de la Rocha, President & CEO, AltaMed Health Services

John Echeveste, CEO, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, CEO, Latino Community Foundation

Sergio Garcia, Board Chair, Centro Legal de la Raza

Dr. Fernando Guerra, Director, Center for the Study of Los Angeles & Professor, Loyola Marymount University

Dr. Raul Hinojosa, Vice President, Chicano Latino Caucus of the California Democratic Party

Chris Iglesias, CEO, Unity Council*

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Noerena Limón, SVP of Public Policy and Industry Relations, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals

Mark L. Madrid, CEO, Latino Business Action Network & Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative

Arnulfo Manriquez, President & CEO, MAAC

Randall D. Martinez, Executive Vice President & COO, Cordoba Corporation

George L. Pla, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cordoba Corporation

Dr. Jeffrey Reynoso, Executive Director, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California

Darrel Sauceda, Chair, Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce

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Michele Siqueiros, President, Campaign for College Opportunity*

Helen Iris Torres, CEO, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality

Gilbert R. Vasquez, Immediate Past Chair, Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce

*For identification purposes only. cc: Speaker of the California State Assembly Anthony Rendon Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins

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