Alex Padilla
U.S. Senator for California
Senator Alex Padilla is the proud son of Mexican immigrants, his father a short-order cook and his mother a housekeeper. Alex attended Los Angeles public schools and is a graduate of MIT where he studied mechanical engineering. After graduating from MIT, Alex was elected to the Los Angeles City Council where he served as the youngest Council President in Los Angeles history and provided citywide leadership at critical times, including serving as acting Mayor during the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Alex was elected to the State Senate in 2006 to represent the more than 1.1 million people in the San Fernando Valley. As a State Senator, Alex passed more than 70 bills, including landmark legislation to combat climate change, and was named as one of Sacramento’s "most effective legislators."
Alex was sworn in as California’s first Latino Secretary of State on January 5, 2015 and was re-elected in 2018, receiving the most votes of any Latino elected official in the United States. As Secretary of State, Alex worked to make our elections more accessible and inclusive, while fighting to protect the integrity of our voting systems. In December 2020 Alex was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to finish the term of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Alex lives in the San Fernando Valley with his wife Angela and their three sons.
