Wendy Maria Carrillo Dono is an American politician serving 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 ...

. 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 ...

, she represents the 51st State Assembly district, encompassing parts of northeastern Los Angeles and

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

. She was sworn into office by Assembly Speaker

Anthony Rendon Anthony Michael Rendon (, ; born June 6, 1990) is an American baseball third baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played for the Washington Nationals and was a member of the Nationals' 2019 World S ...

on December 16, 2017. Prior to becoming a member of the

, she was a multimedia journalist and

labor activist A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

Early life and education

Wendy Carrillo was born in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

on August 10, 1980, the oldest of five daughters. Her mother immigrated to the United States when Carrillo was a child, as she felt it was unsafe to remain in El Salvador due to

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Carrillo's mother worked as a babysitter. From this, she was able to save enough money to bring Carrillo, along with Carrillo's grandmother and aunt, to the United States. She moved to Los Angeles at age 5, and grew up in

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

and

City Terrace City Terrace is an unincorporated area of East LA, in Los Angeles County, California, east of Downtown Los Angeles. It contains City Terrace Elementary School, Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School, Esteban Torres High School, Harrison Elementar ...

. She received residency at age 13 after her father petitioned for her. At age 21, she applied to become a naturalized citizen and was granted citizenship. Carrillo attended Harrison Elementary, El Sereno Middle School and Roosevelt High. She is a graduate of both

East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...

and

Cal State Los Angeles Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

. Carrillo earned a master's degree, with an emphasis in

demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

and politics, from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Earlier career

For ten years, she was the host and executive producer of a community based program called "Knowledge is Power" on KPWR 106 FM. The talk show covered topics such as

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

, access to higher education and politics. Carillo also worked as a writer and producer for Nuvo TV. She was also a regular contributor to Pivot's Take Part Live, Huff Post Live,

The Young Turks ''The Young Turks'' (TYT) is an American progressive news commentary show on YouTube that additionally appears on selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web se ...

’ The Point and

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazeera' ...

. In 2014, she was the co-founder of now defunct Reported.ly, which was a social media startup that aimed at covering issues of conflict, human rights and

political movement A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

s. She was also a communications manager for labor union called Local 271, the Los Angeles affiliate of

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of member ...

. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, Carrillo announced her intention to run to replace then Congressman

Xavier Becerra Xavier Becerra ( ; ; born January 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 25th United States secretary of health and human services since March 2021. Becerra previously served as the attorney general of California from Jan ...

following his appointment to

Attorney General of California The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

. Carrillo ultimately received 5% and lost to then State Assemblyman

Jimmy Gomez Jimmy Gomez (born November 25, 1974) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2017. His district includes the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Eagle Rock, Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, and other commu ...

and attorney Robert Lee Ahn. Gomez defeated Lee Ahn, receiving 60.1% of the vote and was formally sworn in on July 11, 2017.

California State Assembly

Following Gomez's resignation to be formally seated in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, Carrillo announced that she would run to replace Gomez in the

. On October 3, 2017, Carrillo received 22.2% of the vote and secured a spot in the general election. Carrillo faced Planned Parenthood – Los Angeles board member Luis Lopez. On December 5, 2017, Carrillo defeated Lopez, receiving 53.5% of the vote. In 2018, Carrillo faced libertarian adjunct professor Christopher Stare. Carrillo easily defeated Stare, receiving 86.6% of the vote. In 2020, Carrillo ran unopposed in both the primary and general election.

Electoral history

2017 special election

2018

2020

References

External links

*
Campaign website

Join California Wendy Carrillo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrillo, Wendy Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Living people 21st-century American politicians Women state legislators in California American politicians of Salvadoran descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Women trade unionists Service Employees International Union people American trade unionists 1980 births 21st-century American women politicians Salvadoran emigrants to the United States