Laura Garza is an American

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician, a garment worker and a member of

UNITE HERE UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 b ...

Local 187.

Political career

Garza ran twice for public office in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

; 1993 for

Mayor of Miami Below is a list of mayors of the City of Miami, Florida, United States. List of mayors See also *Government of the City of Miami * * Timeline of Miami * List of mayors of Miami-Dade County, Florida, 1964–present * Miami City Hall Ref ...

, and 1994 for

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Florida's 21st congressional district Florida's 21st congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, U.S. congressional district on the Treasure Coast. In the 2020 United States redistricting cycle, 2020 redistricting cycle, the district was drawn as a su ...

. Both efforts were unsuccessful. Garza ran as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) candidate for

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. She and running mate James Harris received 8,463 votes. Garza has been an unsuccessful candidate for

Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year ...

three times;

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

as an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

candidate, and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

as a candidate for the District 1 seat. Garza was the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

SWP candidate for the United States House of Representatives in

Massachusetts's 8th congressional district Massachusetts's 8th congressional district is located in eastern Massachusetts, including part of Boston. It is represented by Democrat Stephen Lynch. For one congressional term (1791–1793), it served as the home district of the District of Ma ...

, which includes

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Chelsea,

Somerville Somerville may refer to: Places Australia *Somerville, Victoria, a town **Somerville railway station * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia New Zealand * Somerville, New Zealand, a suburb of Manukau City, New Zea ...

and about three quarters of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. She was the sole challenger to Democratic incumbent

Mike Capuano Michael Everett Capuano ( ; born January 9, 1952) is an American politician and attorney who served as a U.S. Representative of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2019. A Democrat, his district included the northern three-fourths of Boston, as well as ...

, to whom she lost, receiving 12,390 votes, 9% of the total. She was a 'No Party Preference' candidate for California's United States Senate seat in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. In California's

jungle primary A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...

, Garza finished with 34,529 votes, good for tenth out of 27 candidates. She received the most votes for any candidate who was not running as a Democrat or Republican.

References

External links

at ourcampaigns.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Garza, Laura Year of birth missing (living people) Living people UNITE HERE Women in Massachusetts politics Socialist Workers Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Female candidates for Vice President of the United States 1996 United States vice-presidential candidates Trade unionists from Massachusetts 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women 20th-century Florida politicians

Political career

References

Further reading

External links