Brenda Lopez Romero | |
---|---|
Member of the GeorgiaHouseofRepresentatives from the 99th district | |
In office January 9, 2017 –January 11, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Hugh Floyd |
Succeeded by | Marvin Lim |
Personal details | |
Born | January 4 [1] Cuernavaca,Mexico |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Georgia State University (BA) Syracuse University (JD) |
Website | Campaign website |
Brenda Lopez Romero is an American politician and is the first Latina to have ever been elected to the Georgia General Assembly. [2] She was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 99th District,serving from 2017 to 2021. State Rep. Lopez Romero served on the State House Education,Retirement,and State Planning and Community Affairs committees. [3] Lopez Romero sponsored 72 bills. [4] She is a member of the Democratic party. [5] After weeks of lobbying by the Latino Victory Fund,Georgia House Minority Leader Bob Trammell and other public figures in the state,Lopez Romero launched her campaign for Georgia's 7th congressional district on May 1,2019. [6] [2] After a second place finish to Carolyn Bourdeaux,Romero went on to lead the Gwinnett County Democratic Party as its Chair. [7] Additionally,she serves as Senior Assistant District Attorney for the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit handling special projects. [8]
Lopez Romero was born in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca and came to the United States at the age of five. [9] [10] In 2008,after years of waiting on a backlog,Lopez Romero became a U.S. Citizen. [11] She graduated from Cross Keys High School in DeKalb County. After becoming the first in her family to graduate high school,Lopez Romero earned a bachelor's degree in political science and sociology from Georgia State University in 2005. She then went on to receive her Juris Doctor,with a concentration in National Security and Counterterrorism,from Syracuse University College of Law. [12] Before graduating law school in 2011,Lopez Romero served as a law clerk for the Farmworker's Division of the Georgia Legal Services Program;she then clerked for the ACLU of Georgia's National Security and Immigrant Rights Project. [13]
In 2011,after being admitted to the State Bar of Georgia,Lopez Romero managed the immigration department for the Velasquez Law Firm,LLC. [14] In 2012,through her role as a staff attorney for Catholic Charities' Immigration Legal Services,Lopez Romero represented numerous low-income immigrants and families in times of crisis. In 2013,she opened her own law firm in Norcross,Georgia primarily dealing with immigration matters. [13]
In 2016,Lopez Romero ran to represent Georgia's 99th State House District in the General Assembly. After beating Jay Trevari in the Democratic primary,Lopez Romero won 100% of the vote in the general election and became the first Latina elected to the state's legislature. In 2018,Lopez Romero ran for re-election to the State House;she handily beat her primary opponent,Shawn Allen,winning 77% of the vote. She again ran unopposed in the general election and was subsequently re-elected with 100% of the vote. [3]
After being sworn in 2017,Lopez Romero served on the Education,Retirement,and State Planning and community Affairs committees. She sponsored,or co-authored,72 bills in office. [4]
Lopez Romero was opposed to and voted against Georgia House Bill 481,a bill proposing a six-week abortion ban. She,along with several other lawmakers,brought coathangers onto the House floor to show her opposition to the controversial bill. [15]
In 2020,Lopez Romero,along with several other legislators,introduced HB 896;the bill seeks to allow high school graduates in Georgia to receive in-state tuition regardless of their immigration status. If passed,Georgia would have been the 20th state to enact such a law. [16]
On May 1,2019,Lopez Romero announced that she would not seek re-election to the State House and would instead run for Georgia's 7th congressional district. Upon announcing she said,"We have a unique opportunity to elect someone who reflects the values and the rich diversity of our district...I know that I am the right person for the job.” [2] Soon after announcing,she was endorsed by Georgia House Minority Leader Bob Trammell,Chair of the Gwinnett House Delegation Rep. Pedro Marin,Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education Board Chair Jason Esteves,Georgia House Democratic Chair James Beverly,and several other major figures in the state. [12]
After the June 9,2020 election,numerous media outlets had initially declared that the primary would be going to a runoff between Lopez Romero and Carolyn Bourdeaux;however,after tens of thousands of absentee ballots were counted,Bourdeaux was declared to have won the primary outright. [17] [18]
In her concession statement,Brenda Lopez Romero stated,"I am about to walk into legislative session and just walked out of our streets as I protested and stated that #BlackLivesMatter,this impresses upon me how vital our work is and that there is still a great deal to do for our state and country. As I finish up my last term in the state legislature (for now),I will continue to fight for the hate crimes bill and justice-for-all legislation,push back against cuts to our education budget,and reform our state’s election laws so every citizen can exercise their sacred right to vote with ease and security. Furthermore,I will concentrate on supporting efforts to flip the 16 state house seats we need in order to prevent disastrous gerrymandering in 2021....No one is voiceless. Rather,there are those whose voices are always heard and those whose voices continue to be ignored. It is my goal to magnify the voices and perspectives of those who are ignored." [19]
The Georgia Association of Educators' gave Lopez Romero the 2017 Friend of Education Award. [20] In 2019,she was recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential Latinos in Georgia. [20] She was also one of 21 women to have been selected as one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2019 Women Who Mean Business honorees. [21] Leadership Atlanta chose Lopez Romero to be part of their Class of 2020. [22]
Georgia's 99th State House District,Democratic primary,2016 [3] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Vote% | Votes |
Dem. | Brenda Lopez Romero | 57.87% | 566 |
Dem. | Jay Trevari | 42.13% | 412 |
Total Votes | 978 |
Georgia's 99th State House District,General Election,2016 [3] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Vote% | Votes |
Dem. | Brenda Lopez Romero | 100% | 8,060 |
(unopposed) | |||
Total Votes | 8,060 |
Georgia's 99th State House District,Democratic primary,2018 [3] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
Dem. | Brenda Lopez Romero | 77.1% | 1,082 |
Dem. | Shawn Allen | 22.9% | 321 |
Total Votes | 1,403 |
Georgia's 99th State House District,General Election,2018 [3] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
Dem. | Brenda Lopez Romero | 100% | 7,362 |
(unopposed) | |||
Total Votes | 7,362 |
Gwinnett County is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area,being located about 9 miles northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020,the population was 957,062,making it the second-most populous county in Georgia. Its county seat is Lawrenceville. The county is named for Button Gwinnett,one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.
David James Shafer is an American politician who is a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. From 2002 to 2019,Shafer was a Republican member of the Georgia State Senate from Senate District 48,a suburban district located north of Atlanta that includes portions of Fulton County and Gwinnett County.
Georgia's 7th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is currently represented by Democrat Lucy McBath.
Sugarloaf Parkway is an at-grade and limited-access highway in Gwinnett County in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The highway provides a cross-county route from Duluth to Dacula. In 2010,a freeway extension opened past the former eastern terminus at Georgia State Route 20 (SR 20),and the highway was extended to US 29/SR 316 in Dacula.
William Robert Woodall III is an American attorney and politician who was the U.S. representative for Georgia's 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2021. The district included most of Gwinnett County,a suburban county northeast of Atlanta. A Republican,Woodall prior to being elected to Congress,worked for his predecessor,John Linder from 1994 to 2010,eventually becoming Linder's chief of staff. Woodall announced in February 2019 that he would not seek reelection to a sixth term in Congress.
Curt Blackburn Thompson II is an American politician and former State Senator in the Georgia State Senate. In February,2023,Thompson was elected to the State Transportation Board from Georgia's Congressional District 7 for a 5-year term. He was elected to the state senate in 2004 and represented the 5th District. Despite being in the minority party,he served as Chair of the Special Judiciary Committee. Before his 14 years in the state senate,he served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2003–2005.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia were held on November 6,2018,to elect the fourteen U.S. representatives from the state of Georgia,one from each of the state's fourteen congressional districts. The elections coincided with a gubernatorial election,as well as other elections to the House of Representatives,elections to the United States Senate,and various state and local elections. The primary elections took place on May 22,2018.
Joyce Chandler is an American former educator and politician from Georgia. Chandler is a former Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives representing District 105 from 2013 until January 14,2019. Chandler has sponsored 125 bills.
The 2018 Georgia lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 6,2018,to elect the lieutenant governor of Georgia,concurrently with the 2018 gubernatorial election,as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Lucia Kay McBath is an American politician who has served in the United States House of Representatives from a district in the suburbs of Atlanta,Georgia since 2019. She represented Georgia's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2023,and has represented the neighboring 7th district since 2023. McBath is a member of the Democratic Party.
Carolyn Jordan Bourdeaux is an American educator and politician who served as the U.S. representative from Georgia's 7th congressional district from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,she was a professor at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University from 2003 to 2021.
Rachelle Dinet Hutchinson is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party,she serves in the Georgia House of Representatives from the 107th District,taking office in January 2019.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia were held on November 3,2020,to elect the 14 U.S. representatives from the state of Georgia,one from each of the state's 14 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election,as well as other elections to the House of Representatives,elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.
Elizabeth Bachman Moore is an American attorney and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 95th District,serving from 2019 to 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. At the time Moore represented the 95th District it included the cities of Peachtree Corners,Berkeley Lake,Duluth,Norcross,and Johns Creek. The district included citizens of both Gwinnett and Fulton counties. As of 2022,District 95 was changed to a completely different area south of Snellville and north of Stonecrest and Conyers.
The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia were held on November 8,2022,to elect the 14 U.S. representatives from the state of Georgia,one from each of the state's congressional districts. The elections coincided with the Georgia gubernatorial election,as well as other elections to the U.S. House of Representatives,elections to the U.S. Senate,and various state and local elections.
Zulma P. Lopez is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat,Lopez represented the 86th District of the Georgia House of Representatives,which encompasses a part of metro Atlanta,from January 2021 to January 2023. On February 4,2022,Lopez announced she would not be seeking re-election in the Georgia House of Representatives.
The 2022 Georgia Secretary of State election was held on November 8,2022,to elect the Secretary of State of Georgia. Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger won re-election to a second term. Raffensperger emerged as a major national figure in early January,2021 when he faced significant pressure from then-President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The party primary elections took place on May 24,with runoffs scheduled for June 21. Trump had been taped in a phone call asking Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes," the exact number needed for Trump to carry the state.
Georgia School of Orthodontics (GSO) is an orthodontic school located in Atlanta,Georgia,United States. It was established in 2016 and offers a 36 month Advanced Specialty Education Program in Orthodontics &Dentofacial Orthopedics. In response to GSO's growth,the school opened another location in Georgia in 2017.
Nicole Love Hendrickson is an American elected official serving as the chair of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners. She is the only full-time and at-large commissioner in the county. Hendrickson is the first African-American and person of color,and the third woman,to serve as the county's chair.
Nabilah Islam Parkes is an American activist and politician from the state of Georgia who is the Georgia State Senator for the 7th district as a result of the 2022 Georgia State Senate election. She became the first Muslim woman in the Georgia State Senate and the second overall in the Georgia State Legislature,along with Sheikh Rahman and Farooq Mughal. She previously ran to represent Georgia's 7th congressional district in 2020. Due to her progressive stances,she has been described as "Georgia's AOC" and "Atlanta's AOC."