Maria Elena Durazo on the Ballot for California State Senate

Longtime labor activist and leader Maria Elena Durazo is a familiar and beloved name to hundreds of thousands of union members and working people. She is vice president for UNITE HERE International Union, which represents more than 270,000 hospitality workers in the U.S. and Canada. And for almost a decade, 2006-2015, she was the first woman elected secretary-treasurer of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, representing the interests of more than 300 local unions. Her late husband, Miguel Contreras, had earlier served in that position. Currently she serves as co-chair of the National AFL-CIO’s Immigration Committee and she is a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Durazo had a hardscrabble upbringing as one of ten children born to Mexican immigrant workers who traveled from farm to farm in California and Oregon to work in the fields.

Now she is running for the California State Senate in District 24, comprising a huge swath of L.A. in the areas west, north and east of downtown. The district stretches from Gower St. on the west to El Sereno and City Terrace on the east, from Eagle Rock on the north to Boyle Heights and south of the 10 freeway to the south.

Read the full article.