Angela Romero is an American politician and the Democratic leader of the Utah House of Representatives representing the 25th District since January 1, 2023. Prior to redistricting, she represented the 26th District since January 1, 2013.

Early life and education

Romero was born and raised in Tooele, Utah. She is

Chicana Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American iden ...

and Assiniboine. She attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science and later a master's degree in public administration.

Political career

Romero was first elected in November 2012. During the 2016 legislative session, she served on the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee, the House Ethics Committee, the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, and the House Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Interim Committee, Native American Legislative Liaison Committee.

NHCSL leadership

On February 26, 2018, Romero was elected First Vice President of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL). And, in March 2022, she was elected President Elect of the NHCSL for a two-year term, expected to be followed by service as President for the 2024-25 term. As part of that NHCSL leadership role, Romero represented Utah in several meetings and events at the White House. She met with Vice President Kamala Harris, on Hispanic policy priorities in March 25, 2022. They met again on August 5, 2022 to discuss fighting for abortion rights. And, Romero participated in the signing ceremony of the Respect for Marriage Act on December 13, 2022.

House minority leader

On November 22, 2022, Romero was elected Minority Leader for the 2023-24 term, succeeding Brian King. Romero's leadership team became the first all-women leadership team (of a minority or majority party) in the Utah House of Representatives, joining the also first-ever all-women Utah Senate Democratic leadership team elected 12 days earlier. At the same time, Romero joined

Luz Escamilla Luz Robles Escamilla is the Senator for the Utah State Senate's 1st Districtmap, defeating Republican Carlton Christensen for the seat November 4, 2008 after having beaten incumbent Sen. Fred Fife for the party nomination earlier that year. Ear ...

in becoming the first Latinas to be elected Minority Leaders in the Utah Legislature.

2016 sponsored legislation

Romero passed four of the six bills she proposed, giving her a 66% passage rate. She did not floor sponsor any legislation during 2016.

Elections

*2014 Romero was unopposed in the Democratic convention. She faced Republican nominee Spencer Barclay in the general election, where she won with 2,977 votes (72.8%). *2012 When District 26 incumbent Democratic Representative

David Litvack David E. Litvack (born April 25, 1972) is a former Democratic member of the Utah State House of Representatives, who represented the state's 26th house district in central Salt Lake City and part of West Valley City, from 2000 through 2012. He w ...

left the Legislature and left the seat open, Romero was chosen by the Democratic convention over appointed incumbent

Brian Doughty Brian Doughty is a former member of the Utah House of Representatives, representing the 30th District in Salt Lake County. He was selected on July 16, 2011 by local Democratic delegates to replace state representative Jackie Biskupski, who had r ...

, who had been redistricted from District 30, and won the three-way November 6, 2012 general election with 4,926 votes (65.4%) against Republican nominee Andres Paredes and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

candidate Mark Dee Whitaker.

Personal life

Romero and her son, Cio, live in the Glendale neighborhood where she also works as the Community Programs Manager for the Sorenson Unity Center. She is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

External links

Official page
at the Utah State Legislature
Campaign site

Angela Romero
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Angela Romero
at the National Institute on Money in State Politics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native American politicians American politicians of Mexican descent American women lawyers Assiniboine people Catholics from Utah Democratic Party members of the Utah House of Representatives Hispanic and Latino American state legislators Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Living people Native American Roman Catholics Native American people from Utah Native American state legislators Native American women in politics People from Tooele, Utah Politicians from Salt Lake City University of Utah alumni Utah lawyers Women state legislators in Utah Year of birth missing (living people) {{Utah-politician-stub