Lucy Flores

Lucy Flores
Member of the Nevada Assembly
from the 28th district
In office
January 2011 – January 2015
Preceded by Mo Denis
Succeeded by Edgar Flores
Personal details
Born Lucy Flores
(1979-10-24) October 24, 1979
Glendale, California, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Alma mater University of Southern
California
University of Nevada, Las
Vegas
Website Official website

Lucy Flores (born October 24, 1979) is an American politician from the state of Nevada. She was a member of the Nevada State Assembly, representing the 28th district in the northeast Las Vegas Valley covering Sunrise Manor West and North Las Vegas.[1] She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Personal life and education

Flores was born in Los Angeles, California, but her family moved to Northeast Las Vegas shortly after Flores was born.[2] Flores was one of thirteen children.[3] Only one brother graduated high school, and all of her sisters became pregnant in their teens.[3] Flores's mother left her family when she was nine, and Flores's father worked multiple jobs, so Flores had to care for her younger siblings. After her mother left, Flores's school performance suffered, and she looked to local gang members for role models.[4] She became involved with the local gangs, and spent months in juvenile detention after stealing a car. Leslie Camp, Flores's parole officer, became an important role model for Flores, and helped Flores turn her life around. Flores's difficult early life informs her political views, and she advocates job retraining and educational opportunities to help other people who came from difficult backgrounds.[1]

Flores dropped out of Rancho High School,[4] but passed the GED test. After working as a receptionist and office manager, Flores started attending community college.[2] She transferred to and graduated from the University of Southern California, and earned a JD from University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2010.[1] While at UNLV, Flores pushed the school to create a course dedicated to investigating potential wrongful convictions.[5] Her hobbies include running and singing.[6] A fan of medical dramas, one of Flores's favorite television shows is Grey's Anatomy.[7]

In 2013, while explaining why she supported a sex education bill, Flores stated that she had had an abortion when she was 16.[8] Flores would later receive death threats for saying that she had an abortion.[9]

Career

State Assembly

Flores was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 2010, and became vice chair of the Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus in 2012. Flores became one of the first Latina members of the Nevada Assembly.[10] In the Assembly, Flores represents the neighborhood she grew up in.[4] Flores serves on the transportation, ways and means, and legislative operations and elections committees.[6] Flores was re-elected in 2012 without opposition.[1] In 2012, Flores became an assistant majority whip.[11]

Flores introduced an education bill that would use end-of-course final exams in high school rather than Nevada's proficiency exams.[12] Other bills introduced by Flores include one that would allow domestic violence abuse victims to break leases in order to avoid the abuser, and a bill that would require professional sporting events to have medical personnel present.[13] Flores also helped to organize a conference of teachers and legislators centered on how to improve educational success among Latinos.[14] Flores supports expanding early childhood education,[15] and considers education to be her most important priority as a legislator.[7] In 2013, Flores introduced a bill that would require chain restaurants to post calorie counts. The measure passed both houses of the Nevada legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Brian Sandoval.[16]

Flores established a PAC, Impacto Fund, to help elect Latinos in the Southwest United States. Flores was motivated by the feeling that Latino are underrepresented in politics, and that there should be an effort to recruit and encourage Latino candidates.[17]

In the 2012 presidential election, Flores was a campaign surrogate for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign; Flores helped the campaign by, for example, debating with members of the Republican Party on Univision.[1] While campaigning, Flores was hospitalized for exhaustion.[17]

Flores was honored with the Excellence in Legal Clinics Award by UNLV in 2010 and the Hubbard Award by the Mexican-American Alumni Association of USC in 2007. Latism named Flores the best politician at using social media to reach Latinos.[18] In 2013, Flores was named a Rodel Fellow by the Aspen Institute.[19] Flores has been affiliated with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the Nevada Council of the Blind, Seniors United, and the Stonewall Democratic Club of Southern Nevada.[6]

Flores decided not to seek reelection to her Assembly seat for the 28th district to instead run for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada. Her seat was taken by Edgar Flores (no relation[20]).[20]

In the 2014 Lieutenant Governor of Nevada elections Flores was defeated by Republican Mark Hutchison[21] in a landslide,[22] 60% to 34%.[23] The election was seen as particularly important because Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican, may vacate his office (after winning the re-election bid) to challenge Senator Harry Reid in 2016.[24][25]

Future campaigns

In April 2015, Flores announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives seat in Nevada's 4th congressional district against incumbent Republican Cresent Hardy in the 2016 election. She will face State Senator Ruben Kihuen in the Democratic primary.[26]

Flores has endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 US presidential race, saying that "this is about real lives" and that "this is a system that isn’t working for the everyday person. . .it’s one of the reasons why I decided to endorse Bernie Sanders."[27]

On April 13, 2016, Sanders sent out an email to his supporters asking them to split a contribution to his campaign and Flores' senate campaign. His reason for this request was that EMILY's List, a group that help's elect pro-choice female democrats to office, including Sanders' opponent Hillary Clinton,[28] endorsed Flores' opponent Susie Lee[29] instead of her. The organization had endorsed her three times previously.[30] Sanders claims that they did not endorse Flores again because she endorsed Sanders. Sanders said in another fundraising email that same day to split the contribution 4 ways instead of just 2, adding Zephyr Teachout and Pramila Jayapal.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Laris, Michael (November 1, 2012). "Latina legislator in battleground Nevada is busy surrogate for Obama". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Sarlin, Benjy (July 8, 2014). "Is Lucy Flores the Latina star Democrats have been waiting for?". MSNBC. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Joffe-Block, Jude (February 7, 2011). "Lucy Flores: From Juvenile Hall To The Halls Of Nevada's Legislature". Fronteras. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Spillman, Benjamin (December 17, 2010). "Lawmaker overcomes troubled past". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  5. ↑ Kihara, David (September 2, 2008). "Guilty until proven innocent". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 "Assemblywoman Lucy Flores". Nevada Legislature. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Jacob, Matt (January 26, 2012). "Lucy Flores". Vegas Seven. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  8. ↑ Hagar, Ray (April 2, 2013). "Assemblywoman Flores tells dramatic, personal story in sex-education hearing". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  9. ↑ Peterson, Hayley (April 4, 2013). "Nevada lawmaker in hiding as she receives death threats over emotional testimony about abortion she 'didn't regret' having at age 16". Daily Mail. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  10. ↑ Ramos, Elianne (November 19, 2012). "Nevada’s first Latina assemblywoman on breaking barriers". NBCLatino. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  11. ↑ Ralston, Jon (December 4, 2012). "Full Assembly leadership, committee chairs announced". Ralston Reports. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  12. ↑ Milliard, Trevon (November 26, 2012). "Education weighs heavily on minds of Nevada lawmakers". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  13. ↑ Vogel, Ed (November 23, 2012). "State bill seeks to bar job discrimination against communists". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  14. ↑ Lapan, Tovin (May 5, 2012). "Educators, legislators meet to discuss Latino student success". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  15. ↑ Joffe-Black, Jude (January 24, 2012). "The Latino Gap: Preschool Helps, But Not Enough Are Enrolled". Fronteras. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  16. ↑ Jennings, Lisa (June 6, 2013). "Nevada governor vetoes menu-labeling legislation". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  17. 1 2 Lapan, Tovin (November 27, 2012). "Q&A: Assemblywoman discusses upcoming session, social media strategy and new PAC for Hispanic Democrats". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  18. ↑ Anarc (October 29, 2012). "Meet The Best Of The Best Among Latin@s In Social Media And Tech Innovation". Latism. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Aspen Institute Names New Class of Leadership Fellows". Aspen Institute. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  20. 1 2 http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/newcomer-flores-wins-las-vegas-assembly-race-without-having-campaign
  21. ↑ Sebelius, Steve (June 23, 2014). "No, I’M Lucy Flores!". Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  22. ↑ http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/harry-reid-nevada-races-213837
  23. ↑ LAURA MYERS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. "Nevada joins the big red wave". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  24. ↑ Hagar, Ray (July 9, 2013). "Hutchison 'gets it' about social media; Will Flores announce run at lieutenant gov?". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  25. ↑ Wilson, Reid (August 21, 2013). "The most important race you’ve never heard of". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  26. ↑ LAURA MYERS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. "Democrat Lucy Flores announces congressional bid". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Nevada Congressional Candidate Lucy Flores Endorses Bernie Sanders". I Agree To See.
  28. ↑ Blumenthal, Paul (June 19, 2015). "EMILY's List Already Raising Big Bucks For Hillary Clinton". Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  29. ↑ http://www.emilyslist.org/news/entry/emilys-list-endorses-susie-lee-for-congress-in-nevadas-fourth-congressional
  30. ↑ http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/elections/congressional-candidate-flores-questions-why-emily-s-list-endorsed-competitor

External links

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