LATINO REPUBLICAN LEADERS IMPLEMENTING REPUBLICAN VALUES
“GROW Elect has helped elect over 50 Latino Republicans to office throughout California. Below are just a few examples of these Latino Republicans who are making an important difference in their communities and in reinvigorating the Republican Party in California.”
Former Councilmember Jack M. Guerrero | City of Cudahy. California
Jack Guerrero not only beat back a vicious well-funded assault from Democrats and Marijuana interests during his most recent campaign, which included an altered photo portraying him in a Nazi uniform, but he won his race for City Council and his slate of reformers captured majority control of the Cudahy City Council.
Jack Guerrero, the son of Mexican immigrants, has a distinguished career in the private sector as a certified public accountant, advisor to Fortune 500 companies, investment banker and corporate executive. He grew up in the Los Angeles County city of Cudahy, which is 96% Latino and comprised mostly of working-class immigrants. Guerrero attended local public schools and graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School.
Jack returned to his hometown and became involved in local politics after being outraged by a series of corruption scandals and rampant fiscal mismanagement in city government. GROW Elect played a key role in his election and reelection. Councilman Guerrero has received attention for his efforts to reform the city’s financial practices, and he has successfully secured an independent audit of city finances by the State Controller.
Former Mayor Ignacio Velazquez | City of Hollister, California
Businessman Ignacio Velazquez became Hollister’s first directly-elected mayor in 2012 with the help of GROW Elect. Ignacio ran a campaign to provide a forward thinking agenda that is business friendly and focused on economic development in a city which suffers from severe unemployment. As Mayor, he is bringing fiscal responsibility to City Hall by making tough decisions to balance the budget and working with the community to streamline city operations. He won his fourth two-year term as mayor of Hollister in 2018.
Ignacio is a small businessman, a past President of the Hollister Downtown Association and past President of the San Benito Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Ignacio has also served as a county planning commissioner. Ignacio received his B.A. at Cal State Monterey Bay and his MBA at Cal State Hayward. He and his wife Elizabeth have two children.
Former Councilmember Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias | City of Santa Ana, California
Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias, a GROW ELECT school board member, was the target of sustained union attacks, but won an overwhelming victory over two other candidates to take a seat on the Santa Ana City Council, representing Ward 6.
Ceci’s election, with the help of GROW Elect, to the Santa Ana Unified School Board was an upset win that surprised both Republicans and Democrats. On the Board, her priorities are ensuring every student learns how to read, write and speak English in this heavily Latino and immigrant district and to spend more money directly into the classroom.
Ceci is a product of the Santa Ana schools herself. She immigrated with her family to the United States and to Santa Ana three decades ago from El Salvador. Ms. Iglesias founded the Santa Ana Family Empowerment (S.A.F.E.), a non-profit organization, to provide homework assistance to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. She is certified in American Sign Language and has tutored deaf students in Language Arts and Math.
Former Mayor Mario Guerra | City of Downey, California
Mario Guerra became a civilian aide to the secretary of the Army (CASA) in 2017. He was selected by former Secretary of the Army Eric K. Fanning to represent California (Greater Los Angeles). In this role, Guerra promotes good relations between the Army and the public and advises the Secretary about regional issues.
Mario Guerra has cut red tape for businesses in his city, balanced the budget while earning the city the highest possible municipal credit rating, and has instituted pension reform. He has worked to lower crime by helping create over 140 Neighborhood Watch programs in Downey and by passing a tough Sexual Offender Ordinance. He was named Los Angeles County’s Non-Partisan Elected official of the Year and is president of the Independent Cities Association, representing 53 cities and 7 million residents. Working with GROW Elect,
Mario helped elect a Republican-majority onto the city council in Downey.
Mario came from Cuba as a child and was raised in Los Angeles County. He is a successful businessman who co-founded and serves as president of Scanlon-Guerra-Burke Insurance Brokers (SGB-NIA). His firm was recently named one of the Top 10 largest brokerage firms in Southern California by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Mario was ordained a Deacon in the Catholic Church in 2002.
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