Alex Padilla 101

                                              https://www.padilla.senate.gov/about/

 Biography:

Alex Padilla is from Pacoima, California in the San Fernando Valley. Padilla is a 48-year-old Catholic who lives with his wife Angela Padilla and their three children, Alejandro Miguel Padilla, Roman Flores, and Diego Padilla. He was raised by his Mexican immigrant parents, Lupe Padilla who worked as a housekeeper, and his father Santos Padilla who worked as a short-order cook. Padilla grew up as an active participant in his community via community clean-ups and service projects. His parents dreamed for him and his siblings to have a better life and his dad told him "Mi hijo, cuando crezcas, quiero que trabajes con tu mente, y no con tu espalda," which means "son, when you grow up I want you to work with your mind, and not your back"(Paz 2021). Education was important for Padilla's family which led him to pursue a college degree. 

Padilla graduated from San Fernando Highschool and proceeded to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1994. Despite his engineering degree, Alex Padilla moved home after graduation to protest California's Proposition 187, which aimed to limit health and education services available to undocumented immigrants, the bill was struck down and Padilla's entrance to the political sphere took off. Padilla is a trailblazer as he was the first Latino to be President of City Council, California Secretary of State, represent California in the U.S. Senate. Additionally, he was the first Latino Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety. 

https://www.facebook.com/471134912978464/photos/pb.100044361372858.-2207520000../4746831715408741/?type=3

Political Involvement: 

Padilla began his career in politics by working as campaign manager for Anthony Cárdenas and Richard Alarcon (McGreevy and Willon 2020). Later, he worked as Field Representative for Senator Dianne Fleckenstein. In 1999, Padilla was elected at age 26 as the youngest member of the Los Angeles City Council and eventually was elected as the President of the City Council and was the youngest to ever hold that position and the first Latino in over 100 years to hold the position. 

During the aftermath of 9/11, the mayor at the time James K. Hahn was stuck in Washington D.C. so he made Alex Padilla the acting mayor. In 2006, he was elected to California's State Senate and served for six years as the Chair of the CA Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communication. After just two terms, Padilla was known as one of California's most effective state legislators (padilla.state.gov). One large accomplishment of Padilla was banning single-use plastic bags at grocery stores in California.  As a result of his actions to improve the voting process by expanding early voting and streamlining the election process, a record number of 17.8 million Californians voted in the 2020 election. In 2014, Alex was elected as California's Secretary of State and was awarded the "Champion of Democracy" by the California Common Cause in 2017, to honor his efforts in improving the voting process. Throughout his various political offices, Padilla has always been an advocate for expanding voter rights, guaranteeing access to the American Dream, and climate action. 

Alex Padilla has also served on various boards such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and was the chair of the Los Angeles Leadership Council, American Diabetes Association (justfacts.votesmart.org). 

Role in the Senate:

In 2021, Alex Padilla was appointed to replace Vice President Kamala Harris as the Senator for California. Padilla serves on the following committees: Budget, Environment and Public Works, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Judiciary Committee, and the Rules Committee. In his nine months in the Senate, he has sponsored twenty-five bills, one of which was the Water Reuse and Resiliency Act Lead-Free Drinking Water for All, which passed the Senate. He has also sponsored thirty-one amendments and one resolution. Alex Padilla is running for re-election in 2022 and is endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Marinucci et al. 2021). Pelosi told Politico, "Alex has both the policy knowledge and steadfast commitment to be a true force for good in Washington."

 On October 20, 2021, Padilla and Senator John Cornyn of (R-TX)' s bill "State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act" passed the Senate to expand the uses of the unspent COVID relief money (padilla.senate.gov). With the Senate narrowly divided, Padilla recognizes the importance of bipartisanship especially in regards to public health concerns relating to the COVID-19 crisis. Other than the issue of COVID, it is challenging for Padilla to cross the aisle, as his efforts regarding immigration rights and voter rights are highly partisan issues.

Furthermore, Padilla was sworn in shortly after the Capitol Riot and has been vocal in various interviews about seeking accountability from government officials who may have incited violence. Alex Padilla told CalMatters that Trump supporters are "enablers and they must be held accountable" and wants them out of the Senate. Additionally, in the January 6th Senate Hearing Alex Padilla called out Sen. Ted Cruz for not supporting the bipartisan investigation and wrote on Facebook: "If Ted Cruz can admit that at the VERY LEAST January 6th was a violent riot, then at the very least he should have supported a bipartisan investigation into it rather than voting no."

                                        Watch 0:22-1:54

Interest Groups:

Alex Padilla has a 100% rating from NARAL and Planned Parenthood because of his pro-choice stance. ACLU also gives Padilla a 100% rating. Sierra Club, an environmental interest group gives Padilla a 93% rating. Alex Padilla's lowest ranking is from more conservative interest groups such as the NRA ranking a 0% and California Taxpayers' Association ranking him a 20%. The analysis of Padilla's interest group ratings demonstrates that the ones that are more closely aligned with Padilla's platform rank him favorably, while the more conservative groups do otherwise

ADA has not come out with their Congressional Voting Record for 2021, so Padilla does not have a rating by them at this time. 

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/us/politics/alex-padilla-kamala-california-senate.html 

https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/01/interview-alex-padilla-senate/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-22/meet-alex-padilla-california-first-latino-us-senator

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/04/can-alex-padilla-help-win-back-latinos-democrats/618698/

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2021/04/20/padilla-launches-2022-reelection-bid-pelosi-defends-waters-remarks-on-chauvin-trial-california-giving-up-on-climate-ambitions-gop-leaders-want-border-meeting-with-harris-492526

https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2021/07/01/who-is-californias-new-senator-alex-padilla/

https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-passes-bipartisan-padilla-bill-to-allow-unspent-covid-relief-dollars-to-be-used-for-critical-infrastructure-projects-and-disaster-relief/

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/26/alex-padilla-new-117th-congress-freshman-members-diversity-2021-484429?cid=rfb_rm

https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/01/18/five-things-to-know-about-californias-new-us-senator-alex-padilla/

https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/59742/alex-padilla