“My parents fled El Salvador and came to this country in the trunk of a car,” Ricky Hurtado told Mijente. After at first settling in Los Angeles, his parents moved Ricky and his family to a rural area of North Carolina, in Alamance County. The reason for the move? Hurtado was suffering from childhood asthma, and they hoped the air quality in North Carolina would help their son.  

At 31, Hurtado is committed to improving conditions for his community in North Carolina. He’s garnered a good deal of attention in his race to beat incumbent Republican Stephen Ross for House District 63 in Alamance County. If Hurtado wins, he could be part of an effort to win back control of the House of Representatives in the state. 

Mijente has endorsed Hurtado, whose platform focuses a lot on public education, as well as support for immigrant and Latino families like his. His opponent, Representative Ross, has used his position in public office to protect big banks instead of working families, to support bills that endanger the environment, to block Medicaid expansion, and to slash unemployment benefits.

Hurtado speaks often of how he became the first in his family to go to college, thanks to the support of public education. It’s an opportunity that not many he grew up with had, and he’s dedicated his work to helping other students like him succeed. “Budgets are moral documents,” he said in a recent television interview about his commitment to funding public education. 

If elected, Hurtado would be the first Latino to serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives. It’s a state that has seen a dramatic increase in the Latino population over the last few decades, but political representation remains extremely limited. 

Hurtado’s campaign has received a number of major endorsements, including from former President Barack Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren, HRC, AFL-CIO and many more. But he still faces a challenging race, with a well-funded opponent, a state where many of the Latino residents aren’t able to vote, and the challenges of running on a progressive platform. 

But Hurtado remains focused on what motivated him to run for office in the first place. “How do we govern in a way that represents all North Carolinians?”

Early voting has begun in North Carolina, and Mijente is organizing volunteers to canvass and reach out to voters. Sign up here to join the efforts.