Four Portuguese-Americans from California in Congress
With the news that John Duarte, from the Modesto area, has just won election to the House of Representatives, the Portuguese-American Community in California has four representatives in the upcoming US Congress.
Jim Costa and David Valadão both won their elections, as did Eric Swalwell, who recently identified as having Portuguese background, and now John Duarte.
We are the only state in the union with four Portuguese-Americans in Congress. This had happened in the past when at one time, we had: Richard Pombo, Dennis Cardoza, Jim Costa, and Devin Nunes, all serving congressional terms in Washington, DC.
With the election of congressman-elect John Duarte, the Central Valley continues to be the region in the country with the most elected members of the US Congress and Portuguese-Americans to public office at various levels of government. The California Portuguese-American Coalition is working on an updated list of all Portuguese-Americans elected to various government offices throughout the state. We will also be featuring a series of short bios on the recently elected.
We congratulate all Americans of Portuguese ancestry who ran campaigns during this last election cycle.
Please look at these stories from the American mainstream press.