Is Lucy Flores the Latina star Democrats have been waiting for
LAS VEGAS, Nev. I don t have the background of a typical politician, right? Lucy Flores told a crowd of Democratic activists as she accepted the party s nomination for lieutenant governor of Nevada in June.
It s a line you ve heard before: Candidates love to brag about how they didn t grow up like those typical politicians. But there s no other way to describe Flores, a Latina rising star who was born into an impoverished family of 13 children, whose mother abandoned her in grade school, wwomens patagonia better sweater full2ho fell in with a gang, who was sentenced to a youth prison, who dropped out of high school and who became a lawyer and a state legislator all by age 31.
Flores, now 34, isn t running from her troubled past; she s running on it. Her early struggles and the way she s overcome them are the centerpiece of her campaign.
There are Lucys in every town across this state, she told activists. That why my focus is on making sure that this is a state that works for every Nevadan, not just the privileged few.
Flores isn t the only womens patagonia better sweater full1one betting big on her life story either. Nevada Democrats are looking to her underdog tale to lead their entire party in a challenging year.
Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval is running virtually unopposed and may challenge Sen. Harry Reid in 2016. Because the lieutenant governor would take over if Sandoval wins, Reid and Sandoval are each throwing their full weight behind strong candidates for that office Flores for the Democrats and Mark Hutchison, a state senator and successful attorney, for the GOP. This proxy fight makes the Flores Hutchison matchup one of the most closely watched races of the year in the West.
Lucy is the water that lifts all the boats in the Democratic Party, Derek Washington, a progressive activist and former chairman of the Nevada Stonewall Democrats, said. The entire ticket all the way down depends on Lucy.
Nationally, Hispanic and women s activistwomens patagonia better sweater full3s see Flores as a potential superstar for the Democratic Party, whose elected leaders have so far failed to match the youth and diversity of its voters.
Her candidacy would help resolve an uncomfortable paradox for Democrats: Even as they pin their electoral future on Hispanic voters, the party has few Latino political stars of its own to counter Nevada s Sandoval, New Mexico governor Susana Martinez, and Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio on the GOP side.
Some political observers interpreted the White House s recent decision to tap San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to join the cabinet as an attempt to boost Castro s national rsum ahead of a possible role as Hillary Clinton s running mate. But the move was also a tacit admission that Castro s prospects of moving up in deep red Texas were remote and that Democrats had almost no viable Latino prospectpatagonia jackets discounts without him.
In this context, Flores s campaign is a potential breakthrough. There s no telling how far she could go from there.
I m ready, I m qualified [to be governor], Flores told a meeting of LGBT Democrats in June. And I don t want to say the D word, but I would do a damn good job, let womens patagonia better sweater fullme tell you.
Even before she threw her hat in thebest of patagonia ring for lieutenant governor, Flores s willingness to lend her personarare patagonia snap t fleece military camo reversible sweater retro synchillal biography to even the most contentious policy debates had put her on the national radar.
In 2013, she testified in support of a bill expanding spatagonia outlet store dallaschool health programs. As she explained from the witness table, her school s failure to teapatagonia outlet store portlandch sex education had a direct impact on her family.
I had six othpatagonia outlet store 1 adobeer sisters all of them became pregnant in their teens all of them, Flores said. One of them was 14 years old when she got pregnant with twins.
Then, with a nervous laugh, Flores told her colleagues something she had never admitted to anyone.
Since I m sharing so much this session, I might as well keep going, she said. I always said that I was the only one who didn t have kids in their teenage years. That s because at 16, I got an abortion. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
Her eyes welled up and her voice caught as she described how she had convinced her father to pay the $200 cost for the procedure. She didn t want to end up like her sisters, Flores told him.
I don t regret it, she said. I don t regret it because I am here making a difference, at least in my mind, for many other young ladies and letting them know that there are options and they can do things to not be in the situation I was in, but to prevent.
News of Flores s testimony spread in the state and arounwomens patagonia better sweater full0d the country, bringing with it a torrent of abuse via phone, e mail, and text messages, including death threats. The absolutely horrific response, as Flores described patagonia everlong review internetit to msnbc, led her to question whether perhaps, the sharing has just gone too far.
But just as anti abortion activists were appalled by her testimony, pro choice groups rallied around Flores. A fepatagonia everlong review transformersminist blogger in Las Vegas started a hashtag on Twitter, FierceFlores, that ended up becoming her nickname among supporters. Some women reached out to her to share similar stories they had been unwilling to talk about before. When Flores announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor, EMILY s List gave its enthusiastic endorsement.
Now her only regret is her ankle tattoo, a rose next to her last name that she carefully concealed with pantsuits early in her career. The design is hardly embarrassing by today s standards, but Flores had it done as a teenager. It s not who she is today, she said.
From big house to the state house
Flores began telling her story in public at an awards ceremony while a student at the Universitypatagonia guide jacked up of Southern California. The remarks are still on the school s website and USCGRAD is still on her SUV s vanity plate.
But no matter how many times she discusses her past, the pain is never far from the surface. Describing it to msnbc, she still gets choked up recalling a particular slight or an unexpected helping hand when she needed it most.
Flores was born in Los Angeles, but northeast Las Vegas is all she remembers. Her father, a mariachi singer, moved the family to Nevada when Flores was a toddler after two of her older brothers were killed in gang related violence. At first she took to the new environment, earning good grades throughout elementary school. But her mother left the family when Flores was 9, and things began spinning out of control.
She decided that she really didn t want to be a mom anymore, Flores told msnbc. That was the part that was most difficult for me.
