Linda Sanchez

Linda Sanchez represents California's 38th Congressional District in the U.S. House, where she has served since 2003. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she grew up in Orange County as the sixth of seven children. She and her sister Loretta made history as the first sisters to serve simultaneously in Congress. A former labor attorney and IBEW member, Sanchez has been a fierce advocate for workers' rights throughout her career. She currently serves as the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee and became the first Latina elected to House Democratic leadership when she was elected Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus in 2016.

Born in Orange, California on January 28, 1969, as the sixth of seven children to Mexican immigrant parents. Her father Ignacio worked as an industrial machinist and mechanic at a plastics and rubber plant; her mother Maria started as a fruit picker before becoming an elementary school teacher, earning her teaching degree in bilingual education in her 40s despite neither parent finishing high school. Linda married Jim Sullivan in 2009 and gave birth to son Joaquin that same year, becoming the eighth woman in history to give birth while serving in Congress.