Jimmy Gomez

Jimmy Gomez represents California's 34th Congressional District covering downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, Koreatown, and East L.A. The son of Mexican immigrants who struggled to make ends meet, Gomez worked fast-food and retail jobs before becoming a labor organizer. He served in the California State Assembly (2012-2017) as Chair of the Appropriations Committee, where he authored the nation's most progressive Paid Family Leave expansion (AB 908), praised by President Obama and AG Kamala Harris. Elected to Congress in a 2017 special election, he serves on the Ways and Means Committee and founded both the Congressional Dads Caucus and Congressional Renters Caucus.

Son of Mexican immigrants Joseph Carmen Gomez (from Zacatecas) and mother from Aguascalientes. Father came to U.S. as a bracero (farmworker) and later worked as a cook and handyman. Mother worked as a domestic worker and nursing home laundry attendant. Youngest of six children - four siblings also immigrated from Mexico in the early 1970s. Grew up without health insurance; family nearly went bankrupt when he got pneumonia as a child. Father later died from pancreatic cancer, inspiring Gomez's healthcare advocacy.