Primary Election Date: 06/05/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

I am one of four children from a migrant farming family. I didn't learn English until I was 12 years old and we spent much of childhood traveling in the car from Mexico to southern California each spring, working northward to the Stockton area by November, picking strawberries and cucumbers at farms along the route. Then we would return to Mexico for Christmas, and start the cycle all over again come spring.

I graduated from high school in Stockton, CA then went to the University of the Pacific in Stockton, where I earned a degree in electrical engineering. After graduate school at UC Santa Barbara, I accepted a full-time job with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where I had worked as a co-op in college.

At Lawrence Livermore, I worked on developing quantitative x-ray film imaging analysis techniques for the x-ray laser program. That work lead me to co-develop the first full-field digital mammography imaging system. This system has proven useful for detecting breast cancer at an earlier stage than present film/screen mammography techniques. Additionally I worked in the international arena where I represented Lawrence Livermore and the U.S. Department of Energy on Russian nuclear non-proliferation issues.

I left Lawrence Livermore to take a position at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where in 2004 I was accepted into the Astronaut training program. In 2009, I served as a flight engineer aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-128) on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station.

Why Am I Running?

I am an example of what can be possible if you work hard and get a good education to reach the American Dream. With unemployment over 16%, the people in my district are hurting and losing hope in the American Dream. I have five children, ages 17 to 8, so I want to be able to look them straight in the eye and tell them the same thing that my father told me that with, “hard work and an education, you can reach the American Dream.” People are losing hope in that, and that is why I am running for Congress.

Hold Me Accountable!

In my travels around my district I see crumbling roads, overgrown weeds that line them – and many people looking for work. We must dedicate ourselves in Congress to helping get our people back to work.

Secondly, without a solid public school education I wouldn't have been able to achieve my dreams and we need to make sure our public schools have the resources they need to train the next generation of american workers. Further we must make a college education affordable to middle class families as those countries that out-educate us now, will out-innovate us in the future.

My DFA values:

I am from the community, and I am running a campaign that will reflect that. I am going daily to various community events with organizations from all walks of life here in the valley. I want to work for an economy that provides for those who seek a decent job to support their family, and for a government that does not spy on their own citizens.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

We are working with the local Democratic clubs to secure endorsements, and grow the clubs. In California you can file to get on the ballot by collecting signatures instead of paying the filing fee. We aim to get the necessary signatures and at the same time help our local Democratic clubs grow by getting their participation in our efforts.