Political Career
As a student at the University of Texas at Austin in the late 1970s, Guerrero became interested in politics. At the age of twenty-one in 1979, she was elected president of the Young Democrats of Texas. In 1984, at the age of twenty-five, she became the second female Hispanic to be elected to the Texas House of Representatives. She defeated five male opponents in a then Anglo-but-Democratic-majority district. No Republican contested the seat despite the landslide victory that year of Ronald W. Reagan as U.S. President. Guerrero's district included parts of Central and East Austin.
In 1989, Guerrero was named among the "Top 10" legislators by Texas Monthly magazine. She was cited in Newsweek and USA Today and, having left the legislature, was awarded a speaking slot at the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City, which nominated Bill Clinton of Arkansas to oppose incumbent George Herbert Walker Bush of Texas. She was also executive director of the Texas Women's Political Caucus.
Read more about this topic: Lena Guerrero
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“Of all my prosecutors ... not one is my peer, but each and all are my political sovereigns; and had your honor submitted my case to the jury, as was clearly your duty, then I should have had just cause of protest, for not one of those men was my peer; but, native or foreign born, white or black, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, sober or drunk, each and every man of them was my political superior; hence, in no sense, my peer.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“Work-family conflicts—the trade-offs of your money or your life, your job or your child—would not be forced upon women with such sanguine disregard if men experienced the same career stalls caused by the-buck-stops-here responsibility for children.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)