Veronica Escobar Biography
Veronica Escobar is an American politician born on 15th September 1969 in El Paso, Texas, United States. She is serving as the member of U.S. Representative for Texas’s 16th congressional district, based in El Paso.
She is a member of the Democratic Party. There before she served as a County Commissioner and County Judge for El Paso County from 2010 to 2017.
Veronica Escobar Age
Veronica Escobar was born on September 15, 1969 (she is 49 years old as of 2018)
Veronica Escobar Salary
Veronica Escobar earns a salary of $85,000.
Veronica Escobar Net worth
Veronica Escobar has an estimated net worth of $7 million.
Veronica Escobar Family
Veronica Escobar grew up in her family’s dairy farm with her parents and four brothers.
Veronica Escobar Husband
Veronica Escobar is married to Michael Pleters who is an immigration judge. The couples were blessed with two children.
Veronica Escobar Education
Veronica Escobar attended Loretto Academy and Burges High School. H e went on and joined the University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP) where she got her bachelor degree and master’s degree from New York University.
Veronica Escobar Political Career
Veronica Escobar worked as a nonprofit executive and as Raymond Caballero’s communications director when he was mayor of El Paso. When Caballero failed to get reelected, Escobar—along with Susie Byrd, attorney Steve Ortega, and businessman Beto O’Rourke—considered entering public service, and started to discuss grassroots strategies with the goals of improving urban planning, creating a more diversified economy with more highly skilled jobs, and ending systemic corruption among city leadership. She was elected as a county commissioner for El Paso County in 2006 and as El Paso County Judge in 2010. O’Rourke, Byrd, and Ortega also all ran for office and won; they came to be collectively referred to as “The Progressives.”
Veronica Escobar House of Representatives
Veronica Escobar resigned in August 2017 to run full-time in the 2018 election to succeed Beto O’Rourke in the United States House of Representatives for Texas’s 16th congressional district. As the district is a solidly Democratic, majority-Hispanic district, whoever won the Democratic primary would be heavily favored in November. She won the six-way Democratic primary with 61 percent of the vote. In June 2018, Escobar (along with O’Rourke) led protests in Tornillo, Texas, of the Trump administration family separation policy that involved the separation of children of immigrant families. The city is just miles from the Rio Grande, the river that forms the border of the United States and Mexico in the state of Texas. The Trump administration had created a “tent-city” in Tornillo, where separated children were being held without their parents. O’Rourke called this practice “un-American” and the responsibility of all Americans. She won the general elections on November 6, becoming the first woman to represent the 16th. With her victory, Escobar and Sylvia Garcia became the first Latina congresswomen from Texas. She is only second Hispanic ever to represent it, the first being O’Rourke’s predecessor, Silvestre Reyes.
Veronica Escobar Committees
- Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee on Military Personnel
- Subcommittee on Readiness
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Subcommittee on the Constitution
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties - Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship
Veronica Escobar Caucus
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus
- Congressional Progressive Caucus
- New Democrat Coalition
Veronica Escobar Internship
In Washington, DC office, internships run throughout the fall, spring or summer semesters for college students. Although all internships in all offices are unpaid, students gain invaluable work experience. The hours are flexible to accommodate students’ hectic course schedules, but generally run 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. when Congress is in session, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. when not in session.
In Washington, DC, interns’ responsibilities will vary. They will be asked to answer phones, run errands, research legislation for the Member and legislative staff, attend hearings and briefings, and answer constituent letters on various issues before the House. As a result, interns learn about the legislative process and the many other functions of a congressional office.
Veronica Escobar Congress
While we have worked hard in El Paso to grow jobs and expand access to healthcare, transportation, and quality of life, we are seeing real and disturbing threats to this progress coming straight from Washington, D.C. The words and policies promoted by President Trump and his allies are nothing short of dangerous. Threatening to advance the collapse of healthcare markets, fueling anti-immigrant sentiment, eroding the programs that work for our middle class, and showing a blatant disregard for our environment, are just a part of this destructive agenda. El Paso has been no stranger to these kind of threats or—more importantly—this kind of injustice. In fact, we have a history of standing up to it.
And once again, injustice is at our doorstep. It’s clear that more than ever, El Pasoans need a strong voice who will stand up to promote the interests of our families and businesses—a tireless and proven advocate who won’t back down and will zealously represent the values our community exemplifies. I am ready to take the energy and passion we have for our community and fight for those values in D.C. I would be honored to be El Paso’s Congresswoman, your public servant in Washington, D.C., and the first Latina to represent and serve Texas in the House of Representatives.
Veronica Escobar House
Veronica Escobar Twitter
Veronica Escobar You tube Interview
Veronica Escobar Interview
What prompted you to run?
Veronica Escobar: I actually was going to leave politics. I had served three terms on the commissioners court, so had I finished out my final term, that would have been a dozen years in local government. I really completed what I had set out to do, which was to clean up county government, expand access to health care and create a professional administrator position within the organization. So I felt as though my work was done.
I was thinking about opening up a small business when my friend Beto O’Rourke decided to run for the Senate. I felt like we needed a very strong border voice to replace him, and I just felt the call. I felt very inspired by my fears of what the Trump administration was bringing, alongside my deep love for my community and the border.
You and Sylvia Garcia will likely be the first two Latinas Texas has ever elected to Congress. Why has it taken so long?
Veronica Escobar: It’s very hard for women to run for a congressional office, but it’s even harder for women of color. You have to raise the money necessary to get on TV, to get in the mailboxes, to have a great field campaign. When you don’t have access to a large number of people with deep pockets, it makes fundraising a lot harder.
I was very, very fortunate in that I had a lot of generosity from my community. Thousands and thousands of people gave what they could, and it really bolstered my campaign. Something that’s a little bit different now than before: We had organizations like Latino Victory, Emily’s List and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ Bold PAC that stepped up right away and said, “We want to support, we want to help.” And they really gave me a tremendous boost. When I think about women who came before me who didn’t have that kind of support and help, it’s no wonder that it was so difficult for them.
Given the stark polarization on immigration in Congress, is the pathway to comprehensive reform broken?
It’s very broken. Even when the Democrats controlled the House, it was a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow. I think part of it is, even among the most compassionate voters, who also happen to be Democrats, I have heard them say, “We’ve gotta fix our country first” and “At what point does it stop?” Those are absolutely valid, legitimate questions, and it’s an important national conversation that we have to have. We’ve got to have it with facts and realize, what is the benefit to us? There is a benefit to us that immigrants bring, at all levels of the workforce and all skill levels. So when we have that conversation, let’s have it with truth. It’s too easy for even good folks to demonize refugees and migrants when they are struggling or when they’ve lost jobs or when salaries are depressed, and I understand that completely. I’m very sympathetic, but we have to reform the system.
Calls to enhance border security, build a wall and crack down on illegal immigration are not new. Why do you think Trump and Governor Abbott’s words and actions on this front are so pernicious?
Veronica Escobar: Republicans — and some Democrats — use the border and immigration as the boogeyman. They’re going to swoop in, and they’re going to be tough on crime and tough on the border, and we have Republicans in this state and country willing to write blank checks. These are fiscal conservatives, and they’re willing to write blank checks to their leadership and the government as long as it’s pursuing xenophobic goals.
I’m very curious about whether Texas Republicans will tell Governor Abbott, “Hey, now that Trump is sending the National Guard to the border, I guess that we don’t need to continue paying for your border surge, right?” But I bet we continue to pay for that border surge, and so there’s plenty of money for these exercises in vanity so that these guys can look like cowboys. But there’s not enough money for education, there’s not enough money for health care. It’s perplexing to me how their constituents let them get away with it, and they’re not even accountable.
Do you think the Democratic Party needs to move leftward and more aggressively advocate for bold policies like single-payer health care and a $15 minimum wage?
Veronica Escobar: I do, but because I’m a progressive I also believe that a big tent is important. I really do, because I think issues vary from district to district. So I’ll give you an example. On trade, I’m not a lefty. I’m pro-trade. A quarter of the jobs in my district are linked to trade. But when I tell people that, I tell them the story of El Paso, that when NAFTA was passed, we were a garment industry manufacturing town and we put our eggs in that basket.
When NAFTA passed, almost overnight there was double-digit unemployment and we were spiraling into severe economic decline. But the community came together and said we need to diversify our economy, we need to pursue health care, we need to maximize our military installation and jobs that can come with it, but we also need to recognize that trade is here to stay. We became a logistics hub, and now a quarter of our jobs are linked to that. So, you know, I’m not an anti-trade progressive. So there needs to be room for me. But on everything else, I am very deeply aligned with progressive colleagues. We have to be able to have civil discourse about these issues and find areas of unity and common ground where we can without saying, you know, “You’re not really who I need you to be, so there’s the door.”
Beto O’Rourke failed to win a majority of the primary vote in more than half of the state’s 32 border counties. Does he need to do more to ensure that his message resonates with voters?
Veronica Escobar: There’s a tremendous opportunity there for Beto and those who support him, and we’re going to do everything we can to help him. We’re working on this plan to do a Beto border bus tour of key counties in South Texas and on the border to make sure that we rally the troops and make sure that folks understand just how critical this race is and the very powerful role that they can play.
I don’t see his numbers in the primary there as disastrous, as other folks have described it — I don’t think it is at all, in fact. But it does present an opportunity that we’ve got to raise his name ID there.
Each election cycle, there’s the hope that this will be the year that Hispanic voters will turn Texas blue. What’s wrong with that framing, and why do you think Latino turnout continues to be so underwhelming?
Veronica Escobar: We have a lot of working-class families, they’re working multiple jobs, trying to put their kids through college. Their kids are full-time students and working a couple jobs on the side, and people are caught up in what it takes to create a life for themselves. And politics sinks further and further down the priority list.
The other thing is that, frankly, we just believe that somehow Latinos are just going to come to the polls because we’re a growing population. Every group — whether you’re a Latino or female, it doesn’t matter — you need to be inspired, and you need a reason to head to the polls, and being frustrated by Donald Trump is not enough. We need candidates who are willing to inspire people and who will talk about the issues that are important to us.
Source: www.texasobserver.org.com
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