Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 80

The daughter of an immigrant farmworker and a nurse, Lorena Gonzalez learned the value of hard work and determination at an early age. After graduating from public school in San Diego County, she earned a Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University, a Master's Degree from Georgetown University and a Law Degree from UCLA School of Law.

Lorena graduated in the top 10% of her law school class and gave up offers from high-paying law firms to pursue a career in public service. She worked as the Senior Advisor to California's Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, where she was a consultant to the Commission on Economic Development and served as the Lt. Governor's principal advisor on policy issues dealing with labor, the environment, energy and infrastructure. Lorena was also the Lt. Governor's appointee to the California State Lands Commission from 2000 to 2006, where she played a critical role in protecting the South Bay Wildlife Refuge and beginning the process in ensuring the decommissioning and eventual demolition of the South Bay Power Plant.

In January of 2008, Lorena Gonzalez became CEO and Secretary-Treasurer for the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO, a non-profit labor organization whose mission is to improve the lives of all workers in the region through community organizing. Lorena became the first woman and first person of color to be elected to head the Labor Council since the organization's inception in 1891. At the Labor Council, Lorena has spearheaded a number of initiatives to strengthen job quality, public safety, public education and access to healthcare.

Working with environmentalists, labor, developers, the Port of San Diego and the City of Chula Vista, Lorena helped to end decades of gridlock and litigation to negotiate a Master Plan for the Chula Vista Bayfront that was approved by the California Coastal Commission. She spearheaded the strongest Living Wage ordinance in the history of the City of San Diego, protecting wages and access to healthcare for countless subcontracted workers. She also forged a local hire agreement between developers, labor, the City of San Diego and the Port to come to an agreement on an expansion of the San Diego Convention Center.

When the San Diego Unified School District issued lay-off notices 1200 teachers, it was Lorena who convinced both the Teachers Union and the School District to come back to the table -- saving students from the threat of larger class sizes and a shortened school year.

Lorena served as San Diego City Councilman Ben Hueso's alternate to the Coastal Commission, and is currently on the Boards of Directors for the Center for Policy Initiatives, the Planning and Conservation League, the League of Conservation Voters of San Diego and the United Way of San Diego County.

Lorena was awarded the Labor Leader of the Year Award by the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, Leadership California's Community Leadership Award, the Mayor George Moscone Civil Rights Award, and named Assemblyman Ben Hueso's Woman of the Year.

Nonetheless, Lorena's most cherished title is that of mother. She lives in the City of San Diego's Sherman Heights neighborhood with her two children -- Tierra and Antonio.