JoCasta Zamarripa

JoCasta Zamarripa (born March 8, 1976) is an educator, politician and legislator from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Zamarripa graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2005. She was elected to the 8th Wisconsin State Assembly district in 2010. Previously, she had worked as an educator and community outreach coordinator at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. In the heavily-Democratic 8th district, Zamarripa has never faced a significant challenge outside the Democratic primary election. In 2010, 2012 and 2014, she has faced repeated unsuccessful challenges in that primary from Laura Manriquez. Otherwise, her only ballot opposition was a 2010 effort by independent Ramona Rivas (although Manriquez mounted a write-in campaign). In each election, Zamarripa won 83% or more of the general election vote.

In a July 2012 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she announced that she is bisexual.^[1] She is one of four openly LGBT members of the Wisconsin Legislature, alongside Sen. Tim Carpenter (D–Milwaukee) and Reps. Mark Spreitzer (D–Beloit) and Todd D. Novak (R–Dodgeville). In 2014 she was included as part of the annual "40 under 40" list in The Advocate.^[2]

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