Veronica Escobar

Veronica Escobar
Veronica Escobar
Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 3, 2023 Serving with Dean Phillips (2023), Lori Trahan, and Lauren Underwood
Leader	Hakeem Jeffries
Preceded by	Debbie Dingell; Matt Cartwright; Ted Lieu
Succeeded by	Maxwell Frost (designate)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Texas's 16th district
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Beto O'Rourke
County Judge of El Paso County
	In office; January 1, 2011 – October 10, 2017
Preceded by	Anthony Cobos
Succeeded by	Ruben Vogt
Personal details
Born	September 15, 1969 (age 55); El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Michael Pleters
Children	2
Education	University of Texas at El Paso (BA); New York University (MA)
Website	House website
	Escobar's voice Escobar speaks in support of the America COMPETES Act of 2022; Recorded February 4, 2022

Veronica Escobar (born September 15, 1969) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 16th congressional district, based in El Paso, since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as an El Paso County commissioner from 2007 to 2011 and the El Paso county judge from 2011 until 2017.

Early life and education

Escobar is a native of El Paso, where she was born in 1969.^[1] She grew up near her family's dairy farm with her parents and four brothers.^[2] Escobar attended Loretto Academy and Burges High School, before getting her bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and her master's degree from New York University.^[3]

Early political career

Escobar worked as a nonprofit executive and as Raymond Caballero's communications director when he was mayor of El Paso.^[4] When Caballero failed to get reelected, Escobar—along with Susie Byrd, attorney Steve Ortega and businessman Beto O'Rourke—considered entering public service; they started to discuss grassroots strategies with the goals of improving urban planning, creating a more diversified economy with more highly skilled jobs, as well as ending systemic corruption among city leadership.^[5]

Escobar was elected as El Paso County Commissioner in 2006 and as El Paso County Judge in 2010.^[4] O’Rourke, Byrd and Ortega also all ran for office and won; they came to be collectively referred to as "The Progressives."^[5] She also taught English and Chicano literature at UTEP and El Paso Community College.^[4]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

Escobar resigned from office 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.^[6] As the district is a solidly Democratic, majority-Hispanic district, whoever won the Democratic primary was heavily favored in November.^[2] Escobar won the six-way Democratic primary with 61% of the vote.^[7]

In June 2018, Escobar and O'Rourke led protests in Tornillo, Texas, against the Trump administration family separation policy that involved separating immigrant children from their families. Tornillo is just miles from the Rio Grande, the river that forms the border between the U.S. and Mexico in Texas.^[8] 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.^[9]

Escobar won the general election on November 6, defeating Republican Rick Seeberger. She became the first woman to represent the 16th. Escobar and Sylvia Garcia of Houston became the first Latina congresswomen from Texas.^[4]^[10]^[11] Although the 16th has been a majority-Hispanic district since at least the 1970s, Escobar is only the second Hispanic ever to represent it, the first being Silvestre Reyes, O'Rourke's predecessor.

2020

Escobar ran for reelection. She was unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced the Republican nominee, realtor Irene Armendariz-Jackson,^[12] in the general election. Escobar won with 64.7% of the vote to Armendariz-Jackson's 35.3%.^[13]

Tenure

On November 13, 2019, Escobar was elected as a freshman class representative in a secret ballot by her peers, filling the role of Katie Hill, who had resigned from Congress.^[14]

On February 4, 2020, Escobar delivered the Spanish-language response to President Trump's State of the Union Address. Her remarks touched on healthcare, immigration, the national debt, the importance of diversity, the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, wealth inequality, gun violence, and the United States–Mexico–Canada trade agreement. She called Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate "the greatest threat to our security."^[15]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Political positions

Escobar voted to provide Israel with support following 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.^[18]^[19] She has voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.^[20]

Electoral history

2018

Democratic primary results^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar	30,630	61.4
	Democratic	Dori Fenenbock	10,992	22.0
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	3,325	6.7
	Democratic	Enrique Garcia	2,661	5.3
	Democratic	Jerome Tilghman	1,489	3.0
	Democratic	John Carrillo	771	1.6
Total votes			49,868	100.0

Texas's 16th congressional district
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar	124,437	68.5
	Republican	Rick Seeberger	49,127	27.0
	Independent	Ben Mendoza	8,147	4.5
	Independent	Sam Williams (write-in)	43	0.0
Total votes			181,754	100.0
	Democratic hold

2020

Texas's 16th congressional district^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar (incumbent)	154,108	64.7
	Republican	Irene Armendariz-Jackson	84,006	35.3
Total votes			238,114	100.0
	Democratic hold

2022

Democratic primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar (incumbent)	30,954	88.0
	Democratic	Deliris Montanez Berrios	4,235	12.0
Total votes			35,189	100.0

Texas's 16th congressional district
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar (incumbent)	95,510	63.46
	Republican	Irene Armendariz-Jackson	54,986	36.54
Total votes			150,496	100.0
	Democratic hold

Personal life

Escobar and her husband, Michael Pleters, have two children.^[4]

References

^ Perks, Ashley (November 15, 2018). "Texas New Members 2019". The Hill. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Bassett, Laura (September 8, 2017). "Meet The Woman Who Could Be Texas' First Latina In Congress". HuffPost. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "County Judge Veronica Escobar | Q&A". elpasoinc.com. December 12, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2018.(subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Veronica Escobar is closer to making House history in Texas". Elpasotimes.com. March 9, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Benson, Eric (January 2018). "What Makes Beto Run?/Does Beto O'Rourke Stand a Chance Against Ted Cruz?". Texas Monthly. pp. 78–108.
^ SVITEK, PATRICK (August 25, 2017). "El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar begins campaign for Congress". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ "Our Campaigns - TX District 16 - D Primary Race - Mar 06, 2018". Our Campaigns. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ Aguilar, Julian; Garcia Hernandez, Juan Luis (June 17, 2018). "Beto O'Rourke, Veronica Escobar lead Father's Day march on tent city housing separated immigrant children". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
^ González, María Cortés (June 17, 2018). "Beto O'Rourke leads Tornillo protest against separation of immigrant families". El Paso Times.
^ Flores, Aileen B. (March 12, 2018). "Veronica Escobar on path to make Latina, Texas history after Congress primary victory". KHOU. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ "Veronica Escobar, Sylvia Garcia win, will be first Texas Latinas in Congress". NBC News. November 7, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
^ Litton, Andra (December 10, 2019). "List: 2020 March Primary candidates". KTSM. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Texas Election Results - Official Results". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
^ "Rep. Veronica Escobar wins freshman leadership seat". Politico. January 1, 1970. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
^ "Democratic Spanish Language Response to State of the Union | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. C-SPAN. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
^ "Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
^ "Leadership | New Democrat Coalition". newdemocratcoalition.house.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
^ Demirjian, Karoun (October 25, 2023). "House Declares Solidarity With Israel in First Legislation Under New Speaker". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
^ Washington, U. S. Capitol Room H154; p:225-7000, DC 20515-6601 (October 25, 2023). "Roll Call 528 Roll Call 528, Bill Number: H. Res. 771, 118th Congress, 1st Session". Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved October 30, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Bycoffe, Aaron; Wiederkehr, Anna (April 22, 2021). "Does Your Member Of Congress Vote With Or Against Biden?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
^ "2018 Primary Election Official Results". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved March 8, 2018.

External links

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar official U.S. House website
Veronica Escobar for Congress

Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
Profile at Vote Smart
Appearances on C-SPAN

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Beto O'Rourke	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 16th congressional district 2019–present	Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Madeleine Dean	United States representatives by seniority 234th	Succeeded by Lizzie Fletcher