Chingonas in Charge: An Analysis of Latina Political Representation

• In Event: Women as Politicians

Abstract

Women and racial minority groups are descriptively underrepresented in local, state, and national government in the United States. This claim holds true especially for Latinas. According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP 2024), Latinas make up 9.3 percent of the US population but only 3.6 percent of the US Congress. However, Latinas have been gaining ground in certain state governments. In California, Latinas make up 19.7 percent of the state’s population but 27.5 percent of State Senators and 16.3 percent of the State Assemblymembers (VoteRunLead 2024). This presents an excellent site to investigate how Latinas have managed to gain proportionate political representation and examine the perceptions of their impact on the California policy agenda. Based on qualitative interviews with ten Latina elected officials in California, we show how Latinas navigate their gender, racial, and party identity to expand the political agenda to address unique Latina issues, navigate their intersectional identity within the differing identity-based governing caucuses, and foster a specific Latina pipeline to elected office in California. Our findings illustrate the value of an intersectional research approach when evaluating how gender and racial identity shape elite behavior, the impact of descriptive representation for marginalized populations, and the importance of diversity for strengthening the quality of democracy.

Author

• Sara Angevine, Whittier College