Meet Delia
Rooted, Ready, Results
Delia Ramirez
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez is a progressive Democrat representing the new IL-3 district as the first and only Latina Congresswoman in the Midwest. The daughter of working-class Guatemalan immigrants, Delia Ramirez is an accomplished legislator, social service director, community leader, and coalition builder who has dedicated her life and career advocating for working families. She currently serves as the Vice-Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security and sits on the Veteran Affairs Committee.
Rep. Ramirez leads in Congress with the same people-centered values that she brought during her leadership as an IL State Representative. In just a few months she has introduced legislation with bipartisan support to help student veterans, is co-leading the Dream and Promise Act, and is introducing legislation that gives tenants the right to organize. She is committed to fighting for housing justice, healthcare for all, public education, community safety, community-centered economic development, and for the rights and safety of women and the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, Rep. Ramirez is the only Congressperson in a mixed-status marriage, and fights for the rights of DREAMers like her husband, Boris, and for comprehensive immigration reform.
Delia Ramirez was born in the Belmont Cragin community in Chicago. Her family moved to Humboldt Park at the age of one, when her parents found a subsidized apartment above a church that they could finally afford. Delia’s commitment to community and working families is shaped by her lived experience.
Her mother crossed the border while pregnant with Delia and worked multiple low-wage jobs to give her children a fighting chance to escape poverty. Delia’s father worked two jobs and alternated switched shifts with her Mom so that they could care for their children. Delia witnessed firsthand how important social services were, as she watched neighbors come to her church for housing assistance, food and services for the undocumented. She saw the heartbreaking financial crises that her parents and many others in her community shouldered, hoping to provide a better life for their children.
These experiences ignited a fire that propelled her to fight for the rights of all working families struggling to survive, whether it be housing justice, fully funding public schools, women’s reproductive rights, or Medicare for all. She spent the next 18 years as a non-profit leader at the Center for Changing Lives, Common Cause and Community Renewal Society, and board chair for both the Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA) and Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), fighting for affordable housing, quality education and campaign finance reform.
In 2018, her community drafted Delia to run for State Representative of the 4th House District of Illinois, where she eventually rose into leadership as Majority Floor Leader and co-founder of the Illinois Progressive Caucus. As State Representative, she passed legislation expanding Medicaid coverage to senior citizens regardless of immigration status, securing over $450 million to build affordable housing, protecting abortion rights, and creating an elected school board in the City of Chicago.
Rep. Ramirez also serves as Co-Chair of the Strengthening Democracy Task Force, Vice Chair of the Equal Rights Amendment Caucus. Board Member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) PAC, and CPC Special Order Hour Convener. She is a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University and lives in Chicago with her husband Boris and their golden retrievers Lola & Milo.
