Brenda Lopez Romero is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
politician and is the first
Latina to be elected to the
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
.
She was a member of the
Georgia House of Representatives from the 99th District, serving from 2017 to 2021. In the House, Romero served on the Education, Retirement, and State Planning and Community Affairs committees.
Lopez Romero sponsored 72 bills and is a member of the Democratic Party.
After weeks of lobbying by the
Latino Victory Fund
Latino Victory is an American progressive initiative founded in 2014 by Henry R. Muñoz III and actress Eva Longoria. The goal is to improve the representation of the Latino community in local and national elections by funding candidates, rais ...
,
Georgia House Minority Leader
Bob Trammell
Robert Thomas Trammell Jr. (born February 27, 1974) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, Trammell represented the 132nd district in the Georgia House of Representatives and served as the minority ...
and other public figures in the state, Romero launched her campaign for
Georgia's 7th congressional district
Georgia's 7th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is currently represented by Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux. The district's boundaries have been redrawn following the 2010 census, which granted an a ...
on May 1, 2019.
After a second place finish to
Carolyn Bourdeaux, Romero went on to lead the
Gwinnett County Democratic Party as its Chair. Additionally, she serves as Senior Assistant District Attorney for the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit handling special projects.
Early life, education, and career
Lopez Romero was born in the
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
city of
Cuernavaca and came to the
United States at the age of five. In 2008, after years of waiting on a backlog, Lopez Romero became a U.S. Citizen. She graduated from
Cross Keys High School
Cross Keys High School is a public high school in Georgia, United States which opened in 1958. It is located at 1626 North Druid Hills Road NE in the city of Brookhaven, near Atlanta, on the western edge of DeKalb County. It serves students from t ...
in
DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb:
* DeKalb County, Alabama
* DeKalb County, Georgia
* DeKalb County, Illinois
* DeKalb County, Indiana
* DeKalb County, Missouri
...
. After becoming the first in her family to graduate high school, Lopez Romero earned a bachelor's degree in political science and sociology from
Georgia State University in 2005. She then went on to receive her Juris Doctor, with a concentration in National Security and Counterterrorism, from
Syracuse University College of Law.
Before graduating law school in 2011, Lopez Romero served as a law clerk for the Farmworker's Division of the
Georgia Legal Services Program
Georgia Legal Services Program was founded in 1971 by members of the Young Lawyers Section of State Bar of Georgia, The Georgia State Bar Association. However the program was initially unaffiliated with the state bar. The program provides low incom ...
; she then clerked for the
ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
of Georgia's National Security and Immigrant Rights Project.
In 2011, after being admitted to the
State Bar of Georgia
The State Bar of Georgia is the governing body of the legal profession in the State of Georgia, operating under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Membership is a condition of admission to practice law in Georgia.
The State Bar w ...
, Lopez Romero managed the immigration department for the Velasquez Law Firm, LLC. In 2012, through her role as a staff attorney for
Catholic Charities
The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations.
Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spir ...
' Immigration Legal Services, Lopez Romero represented numerous low-income immigrants and families in times of crisis. In 2013, she opened her own law firm in
Norcross, Georgia primarily dealing with immigration matters.
Georgia House of Representatives
2016 and 2018 campaigns
In 2016, Lopez Romero ran to represent Georgia's 99th State House District in the General Assembly. After beating Jay Trevari in the Democratic primary, Lopez Romero won 100% of the vote in the general election and became the first Latina elected to the state's legislature. In 2018, Lopez Romero ran for re-election to the State House; she handily beat her primary opponent, Shawn Allen, winning 77% of the vote. She again ran unopposed in the general election and was subsequently re-elected with 100% of the vote.
Legislative tenure
After being sworn in 2017, Lopez Romero served on the Education, Retirement, and State Planning and community Affairs committees. She sponsored, or co-authored, 72 bills in office.
HB 481
Lopez Romero was opposed to and voted against
Georgia House Bill 481, a bill proposing a
six-week abortion ban
A six-week abortion ban or early abortion ban, called a "heartbeat bill" or "fetal heartbeat bill" by proponents, is a form of abortion restriction legislation in the United States. These bans make abortion illegal as early as six weeks gestatio ...
. She, along with several other lawmakers, brought
coathangers onto the House floor to show her opposition to the controversial bill.
HB 896
In 2020, Lopez Romero, along with several other legislators, introduced HB 896; the bill seeks to allow high school graduates in Georgia to receive in-state tuition regardless of their immigration status. If passed, Georgia would have been the 20th state to enact such a law.
2020 congressional campaign
On May 1, 2019, Lopez Romero announced that she would not seek re-election to the State House and would instead run for
Georgia's 7th congressional district
Georgia's 7th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is currently represented by Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux. The district's boundaries have been redrawn following the 2010 census, which granted an a ...
. Upon announcing she said, "We have a unique opportunity to elect someone who reflects the values and the rich diversity of our district...I know that I am the right person for the job.”
Soon after announcing, she was endorsed by Georgia House Minority Leader
Bob Trammell
Robert Thomas Trammell Jr. (born February 27, 1974) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, Trammell represented the 132nd district in the Georgia House of Representatives and served as the minority ...
, Chair of the Gwinnett House Delegation Rep.
Pedro Marin,
Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education Board Chair Jason Esteves, Georgia House Democratic Chair
James Beverly
James Theodore Beverly (born September 28, 1968) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, Beverly has represented the 143rd district in the Georgia House of Representatives since January 2013. He has ...
, and several other major figures in the state.
After the June 9, 2020 election, numerous media outlets had initially declared that the primary would be going to a
runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
between Lopez Romero and
Carolyn Bourdeaux; however, after tens of thousands of absentee ballots were counted, Bourdeaux was declared to have won the primary outright.
In her concession statement, Brenda Lopez Romero stated, "I am about to walk into legislative session and just walked out of our streets as I protested and stated that #BlackLivesMatter, this impresses upon me how vital our work is and that there is still a great deal to do for our state and country. As I finish up my last term in the state legislature (for now), I will continue to fight for the hate crimes bill and justice-for-all legislation, push back against cuts to our education budget, and reform our state’s election laws so every citizen can exercise their sacred right to vote with ease and security. Furthermore, I will concentrate on supporting efforts to flip the 16 state house seats we need in order to prevent disastrous gerrymandering in 2021....No one is voiceless. Rather, there are those whose voices are always heard and those whose voices continue to be ignored. It is my goal to magnify the voices and perspectives of those who are ignored."
Honors and awards
The Georgia Association of Educators' gave Lopez Romero the 2017 Friend of Education Award.
In 2019, she was recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential Latinos in Georgia.
She was also one of 21 women to have been selected as one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2019 Women Who Mean Business honorees. Leadership Atlanta chose Lopez Romero to be part of their Class of 2020.
Electoral history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Romero, Brenda
21st-century American legislators
21st-century American women politicians
Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
People from Norcross, Georgia
Year of birth missing (living people)
Georgia State University alumni
Syracuse University College of Law alumni
Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
Candidates in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections
21st-century Georgia (U.S. state) politicians