Government Resources on Hispanic Heritage: Hispanic Americans in Government

Sonia Sotomayor entered the record book as the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was sworn in on August 8, 2009.

Hispan@s de la NASA is a series of intimate video portraits and profiles of NASA Hispanic professionals talking about their career paths. All the videos will be in Spanish with English captions.

As of December 2021, approximately 67,000 active and Reserve Sailors of Hispanic heritage serve in the U.S. Navy contributing to the strength of the nation’s force. Hispanic Americans’ military service dates back to the Civil War. Click here to learn more about Hispanic Americans in the U.S. Navy.

Joaquin Castro, a second generation Mexican-American, is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who has represented Texas's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2013. The district includes just over half of his native San Antonio, as well as some of its nearby suburbs.

This publication recounts the story of U.S. Hispanic military heroes who have played a pivotal role in making the United States the great nation it is today. The Smithsonian Latino Center would like to introduce these heroes to both our Latino and non-Latino audiences, to enhance awareness among all American students of the positive and valiant contributions that Latinos have made to the United States’ military history. The soldiers profiled in this publication have been selected to represent the broad range of the Latino military experience, from the American War of Independence through the Texas Revolution and the Mexican-American War.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of the Democratic Party.

Since 1822, when Delegate Joseph Marion Hernández of Florida became the first Hispanic American to serve in Congress, a total of 137 Hispanic Americans have served as U.S. Representatives, Delegates, Resident Commissioners, or Senators. This Web site, based on the publication Hispanic Americans in Congress, contains biographical profiles of former Hispanic Members of Congress, links to information about current Hispanic Members, essays on the institutional and national events that shaped successive generations of Hispanic Members of Congress, and images of each individual Member, including rare photos.

Judge Lina Hidalgo is the head of Harris County’s governing body. She is the first woman to be elected County Judge and only the second to be elected to the Commissioners Court.

In 1928 Mexican-born Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo became the first Hispanic American to serve in the U.S. Senate when he was elected to complete the unexpired term of New Mexico senator Andrieus A. Jones. Dennis Chavez, the first American-born Hispanic senator, occupied the same New Mexico Senate seat from 1935 to 1962. The third Hispanic American to serve in the Senate was Joseph M. Montoya, who also represented the state of New Mexico, from 1964 to 1977. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada are currently serving in the Senate, and represent the growing ethnic diversity in the U.S. Congress. Click here to see current and former Hispanic Americans in the Senate.