Victor Manuel Pérez (born June 18, 1973) is an American politician who sat in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. On May 9, 2017, California Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

appointed him to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, replacing the late John Benoit.

Biography

"Manny" Perez was born in

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...

, and raised in

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

and

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

counties by his parents, who met working in the area's agricultural fields. He attended public schools, including

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

, then returned home to teach before earning a master's degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Pérez is one of ten co-founders of an organization called La Union Estudiantil de la Raza (U.E.R.), established on October 6, 1992. UER is located at the University of California Riverside. As a member of the Coachella Valley School Board, Perez secured $250 million to build new facilities. As a healthcare director, he worked towards expanding health coverage for everyone in the district, with an emphasis on providing services for children, expecting mothers and seniors in need of medicine.

2008 California State Assembly run

In June 2008, Pérez won his party's nomination as the Democratic candidate in

California's 80th State Assembly district California's 80th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently vacant after Democrat Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego resigned on January 5, 2022, to become leader of the California Labor Federation. ...

, which includes the eastern portion of Riverside County and all of Imperial County He was elected to the assembly in November 2008 and took office in December. Pérez said that his priorities as an assembly member will be economic growth, stronger schools, expanded healthcare and environmental protection.

References

*Marcel Honoré, "Jeandron, Perez Draw Contrasts in Debate", ''The Desert Sun'', September 19, 2008.

External links

VoteSmart biography page for Manuel PerezV. Manuel Perez
at ''Join California'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, V. Manuel 1973 births Harvard University alumni Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California Living people County supervisors in California Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly People from Coachella, California People from Indio, California School board members in California University of California, Riverside alumni 21st-century American politicians