Wendy Carrillo is a bold, unapologetic progressive running for Congress in California’s 34th District. Wendy immigrated to the United States as a child, escaping El Salvador’s civil war with her family. Between the ages of 5 and 13 she was undocumented, and she grew up neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and City Terrace while her mother worked as babysitter and her father worked as a cook and dishwasher in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Wendy’s mother is now a certified nurse assistant with SEIU and her father is a supervisor with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. The values of courage, hard work and community instilled in her by her family were fundamental to her work as journalist, a political speech writer, and as an advocate.

Wendy became a naturalized citizen by her 21st birthday and for a few years, she was the only voting member of her family. She paved the way as a first generation college student for her four sisters. She attended East LA College and received a Bachelor’s in Rhetorical Communications from Cal State Los Angeles and a Master’s in Specialized Journalism from the University of Southern California. Recently, Wendy fulfilled her dream of becoming a homeowner in Boyle Heights, just blocks from where she lived when she first came to Los Angeles.

Wendy is the host of the popular radio program, “Knowledge is Power” , focused on elevating the voices of Angelenos and discussing key issues of the day with nonprofit leaders, business owners, artists, and elected officials. A dedicated activist, she spent three months protesting at Standing Rock, spoke at the Women’s March on Washington, and was an early supporter of the Bernie Sanders campaign. She is campaigning on a platform centered in racial and economic justice - to stand up in Trump’s Washington and build the Fight for $15, defend LGBTQ rights, make sure there is Not One More Deportation, that Black Lives Matter, and say Mni Wiconi (that Water is Life!)

Wendy is running to represent the 34th because the communities who woke up on November 9th feeling assaulted by our nation’s politics deserve a leader who will go to Washington unafraid to fight for equality.