Hilda Solis

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Hilda Solis

United States Representative from California's 32nd district
In office 2001 - present
Preceded by	Diane Watson
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	October 20, 1957 Los Angeles, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Single
Religion	Roman Catholic

Hilda L. Solis (born October 20, 1957), an American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing the 32nd District of California (map). The 32nd Congressional District includes parts of Los Angeles, unincorporated East Los Angeles, and the cities of Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, Monterey Park, Rosemead, South El Monte, and West Covina.

Solis won election to the office when she defeated incumbent Democratic Congressman Matthew G. Martinez. Martinez, who had been a Congressman for 18 years, lost by a 69% to 31% margin. Martinez was deemed too conservative by many of his constituents, as he supported NAFTA, opposed gun control, and supported a ban on gay marriage. Solis was able to obtain the support of Miguel Contreras and labor unions, which mobilized a significant amount of volunteers to help Solis win. Without a Republican in the race, Solis beat challengers from the Libertarian, Green, and Peace and Freedom parties to win with 79% of the popular vote in the general election. Solis was not without her own controversy, though, as her plan to lower the carpool restrictions on the El Monte Busway resulted in an uproar from bus riders and carpoolers that used the busway. The changes, which were implemented in January 2000, had not manifested themselves completely by the March 2000 election. Solis later voted in July to repeal portions of her own bill, effectively declaring it a failure.

Rep. Solis was born in Los Angeles, California, was educated at Cal Poly Pomona and the USC, and served in the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, as an analyst with the Office of Management and Budget, and as a member of the California State Assembly and the California State Senate before entering the House.

1 Issues and Policies
2 Religion
3 Leadership
4 External links

[edit] Issues and Policies

Rep. Solis supported legislation to reduce the number of teen pregnancies within the Latino and African-American community. The legislation takes a three-part approach to address teen pregnancy in communities of color, utilizing community-based intervention programs, schools, and multimedia education campaigns to promote and strengthen communications regarding teen pregnancy. This bill also supports the establishment of a national clearinghouse to provide information and assistance to develop content and messages for teen pregnancy prevention targeting communities of color. [1]

[edit] Religion

Though Congresswoman Solis is a Roman Catholic, she is pro-choice. Hilda Solis, along with 47 other Catholic Congressmen, sent a letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington D.C. in order to dissuade him from refusing Catholic Congressmen the sacraments, due to their pro-choice legislative voting. [2] The Congresswoman also signed a "Statement of Principles," released to the public on February 28, 2006, which affirmed Catholic Democrats commitment to their faith, but said that they disagreed with the Church on some issues. They stated that on those issues, such as abortion rights, they decided to follow their conscience instead of the Church teachings. [3]

[edit] Leadership

Solis considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice chairman for the 110th congress; however, she deferred to incumbent John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair which is the position Larson had been running for. ^[1].

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Matthew G. Martinez	United States Representative for the 31st Congressional District of California 2001–2003	Succeeded by: Xavier Becerra
Preceded by: Diane E. Watson	United States Representative for the 32nd Congressional District of California 2003–present	Succeeded by: incumbent