Senator María Elena Durazo is a Democrat representing California's 26th State Senate District, which includes Central Los Angeles, Northeast Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, and Vernon. Born on March 20, 1953, in Madera, California, she is the seventh of eleven children born to Mexican immigrant migrant farmworker parents; she spent her childhood traveling from Oregon to California, laboring in fields picking peaches, strawberries, and grapes. A longtime labor activist and widow of union leader Miguel Contreras, she has two children. Notable achievements include driving California's Health4All initiative to expand Medi-Cal to nearly 2 million undocumented residents via SB 56 and SB 29, authoring SB 731 for broad record clearance affecting over one million Californians, and helping secure a $15.37/hour minimum wage for large Los Angeles hotel workers. She serves as Democratic Assistant Majority Whip.

Education and Political Experience

• Education: Graduated from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, in 1975, where she joined the Chicano Movement; earned a law degree from People’s College of Law in 1985.
• Political Experience: Elected to the California State Senate in 2018, initially representing District 24 before District 26 . Previously, Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee and National Co-Chair of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign; first woman Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO , and Executive Vice President of UNITE-HERE International . Early career as a union organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union ; led reforms at HERE Local 11 in 1987. Appointed to commissions including Los Angeles Commission on Airports , Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Committee , and California State Coastal Commission.