© Latinas in History 2008
One
of seven children of Mexican immigrant parents Loretta Sánchez
was born in Anaheim, California. As a child she attended a Head Start
program and may hold the distinction of being the first Head Start graduate
ever elected to the Congress of the United States. She earned a degree
in economics from Chapman College, and an M.B.A. in finance from American
University in Washington, D.C. In 1990 Sánchez successfully fought
state officials to have a freeway sound barrier built in her Anaheim
neighborhood. A community activist, she raised funds for several agencies,
particularly those that brought educational opportunity to disadvantaged
Latino students. Crossing party affiliations in 1992, the now Democrat,
Sánchez ran for Anaheim City Council, in 1994, and for Congress
in 1996. Amassing strong support among women and Hispanics, Sánchez
won the Forty-sixth District of California, becoming a national figure,
and the only Democratic member of Congress from Orange County, California,
a traditional Republican stronghold. Promoting education reform, women's
and labor issues, in November 2002 Sánchez was elected for the
newly created Forty-seventh District, and her sister Linda Sánchez
was elected to represent the Thirty-ninth Congressional District. They
became the first pair of sisters to serve in the U.S. Congress. In the
109th Congress, 1st session, Sánchez is the ranking female member
on the House Armed Services Committee and the second ranking member
of the Committee on Homeland Security.
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