Elizabeth Rosalina Guzmán is an American politician and

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

who served as a member of the Virginia's House of Delegates for the 31st district from 2018 to 2024. She was first elected in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

after defeating incumbent Republican

Scott Lingamfelter Lee Scott Lingamfelter (born March 27, 1951) is a retired American politician, soldier, and writer who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2018, representing the 31st di ...

. She served on the House committees on Privileges and Elections and Cities, Counties, and Towns. Guzmán is the Democratic nominee for Delegate in the 2025 Virginia House of Delegates election for the 22nd district, running against incumbent Republican Ian Lovejoy. As a Delegate, Guzmán passed legislation to repeal Virginia's Jim Crow-era prohibition on

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

and provide paid sick leave to home health care workers. Guzmán was Virginia co-chair of the

Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders was an election campaign from the junior United States Senate, United States senator from Vermont. It began with Bernie Sanders, Sanders's formal announcement on February 19, 2019. The announcem ...

. In June 2020, Guzmán was elected at the Democratic Party of Virginia State Convention to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia at the DNC.

Early life

Born in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, Guzmán immigrated to the United States and became a

Career

In 2017, Guzmán ran for state delegate and unseated eight-term incumbent Republican Delegate

. Guzmán and Hala Ayala became the first Hispanic women elected to the House, both in Virginia's November 2017 election. Their terms began in January 2018. Guzmán was invited by

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

to deliver the Spanish language response to the 2018 State of the Union Address, As a Delegate, Guzmán passed legislation to repeal Virginia's Jim Crow-era prohibition on public sector collective bargaining and provide paid sick leave to home health care workers. Guzmán introduced a bill in the House of Delegates that would expand the state's definition of

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...

to include parents who do not affirm their child's

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

. Guzmán is a progressive, and has criticized the Virginia Democratic Party for its traditionally

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

ideology. Guzmán worked as a Court Appointed Service Advocate for CASA CIS, a nonprofit. In 2023, Guzman voted against stiffening penalties for drug dealers if a user dies of a drug overdose.

2021 lieutenant governor campaign

Guzmán announced her candidacy for Lieutenant Governor in October 2020. Guzman came in third place in the first straw poll of the cycle at a Hunter Mill District Democratic Committee meeting, behind 1st place Sam Rasoul and 2nd place Sean Perryman. On April 17, Guzman withdrew from the lieutenant governor's race to focus on her reelection campaign for delegate.

2023 Virginia senate campaign

In December 2022, Guzmán announced her intention to challenge incumbent senator Jeremy McPike in the Democratic primary. She earned 49.76% of the vote, but conceded rather than go to a recount.

2024 congressional campaign

In November 2023, Guzmán announced her candidacy to replace Abigail Spanberger in Virginia's 7th congressional district. She had been endorsed by the Latino Victory Fund, Virginia AFL-CIO, Progressive Campaign Change Committee,

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, and the Amalgamated Transit Union. However, she placed second in the primary, losing to Eugene Vindman.

Electoral history

Awards

In May 2019, Guzman was given “The First” award from Latino Victory Fund. The

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library is located at 800 East Broad Street, tw ...

selected her as one of the changemakers in its "New Virginians" program.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzman, Elizabeth 21st-century American women politicians Capella University alumni American social democrats American politicians of Peruvian descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Virginia Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Living people Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Politicians from Lima Peruvian emigrants to the United States People from Dale City, Virginia Women state legislators in Virginia Year of birth missing (living people) Candidates in the 2024 United States House of Representatives elections 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly