| Congressman Robert Garcia is a career educator, who served two terms as the Mayor of Long Beach, California.
Congressman Garcia immigrated to the United States as a young child and was raised in Southern California, becoming a proud U.S. citizen in his 20's. He holds an M.A. from the University of Southern California and an Ed.D. in Higher Education from Cal State Long Beach, where he also earned his B.A. in Communications.
Congressman Garcia believes in defending our democracy, leveling the playing field with progressive education policy, addressing the climate crisis, supporting working families with increasing wages, and fighting to expand and protect essential rights for women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Under his leadership as Mayor, Long Beach piloted programs like tuition-free community college and a universal basic income pilot. He also passed measures to support community safety and rebuild our infrastructure, legalized and taxed cannabis while promoting social equity, and promoted open, honest and transparent governance by strengthening the city auditor, setting term limits, and creating ethics and redistricting commissions. His signature ballot initiative, Measure A, launched the largest infrastructure repair program in a generation, promoting good-paying union jobs.
Congressman Garcia has also been a leader on access to quality, affordable health care and was co-chair of Mayors for Medicare. Under Congressman Garcia's leadership, Long Beach was nationally recognized as a model city for its response to COVID-19 for containing the spread of the virus, providing a community-focused testing operation, and excelling at vaccine distribution. Garcia knows the pain the pandemic took on families, having lost his mother and stepfather to COVID.
Garcia was elected to represent California's 42nd Congressional District, including Long Beach and Southeast Los Angeles, in November 2022.
He is married to Matthew Mendez Garcia, a professor of political science at California State University, Long Beach, and is proud to serve as the first openly LGBTQ foreign-born member of Congress. A self-admitted comic book nerd, Garcia credits comics with helping him learn to read and write English. |