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Last October, California State Senate Leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles)—the first Latino to hold that position in a century—announced his bid to challenge Dianne Feinstein, who has held her U.S. Senate seat for 26 years.
On Jan. 22, De León spoke at the Mission Language Vocational School (MLVS) as part of the Latin@ Young Democrats of San Francisco’s 2018 Speaker Series sharing his vision for California and taking questions from local community organizers and activists.
Introduced by District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen and District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin—both of whom have publicly endorsed him—De León recounted his humble beginnings as the son of a single immigrant mother in the San Diego neighborhood of Logan Heights, who would grow up to be the first in his family to graduate from high school and college.
“I can say this, had we had an exclusive merit-based system [to immigrate into United States]
in place back in the day, I as the youngest child of a single immigrant mother with a third-grade education would never have been the leader of the California state senate,” he said.
De León acknowledged that his story is not unique.
“It’s our story collectively—the children of immigrants, who have grown up to be leaders,” he said. “Right now is the time to decide what type of nation we want to be. This election is a battle, not just for the soul of the party but for the soul of America.”
The Trump era has been a particularly bleak one for immigrants. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status for 800,000 immigrants who were brought to the United States as children has been revoked, and most recently Temporary Protected Status for 200,000 Salvadorans has been terminated.
“I have the largest number of Salvadoran TPS recipients [District 24] in the country, so it impacts my community,” De León said. “Salvadorans have worked so hard. They’re entrapeanures, they’re business men and women, they’re college students, high school graduates. We cannot send them back home. We need to make TPS permanent, they have to be part of comprehensive immigration reform, you can’t have DACA here and TPS over there. It has to be a comprehensive effort.”
But toppling a longtime incumbent in Feinstein, who has publicly voiced anti-immigrant sentiment and introduced anti-immigrant policies, won’t be easy.
“[It’s] time for change, new ideas and a representative that supports medicare for all, free community college and comprehensive immigration reform, and for the DREAMers as well too,” De León said. “It’s very critical we have a pathway into citizenship. We need a voice that is on the front lines, not on the sidelines. We had the largest number of immigrants in the country, right here in California.”
Back in October, De León authored SB 54, the “sanctuary state” legislation, which imposes restrictions on state and local law enforcement from holding or sharing information with federal immigration authorities.
“Were gonna make sure we’re going to have healthcare that is accessible to all individuals,” De León said. “It should be driven by the premise that we believe healthcare is a right for all individuals. It shouldn’t be exclusive to those who have access to the best healthcare.”
De León also pledged to continue addressing climate change.
“It’s an existential threat that impacts all of us,” he said. “It disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable and that’s why we need a national platform to move an agenda like I’ve done here in California.”
Before serving as state senate president pro tempore in the state senate, De León served four years in the California State Assembly.
Prior to holding public office, he was a community organizer and worked for both the National Education Association and the California Teachers Association.
The Speaker Series event was officially co-hosted by the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club, the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, The Young Democrats and the Mission Peace Collaborative.