1936 November 3

Dennis Chavez First Hispanic Elected to the U.S. Senate

 

Dennis Chavez had been appointed in 1935 to fill an unexpired Senate term from New Mexico, making him the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Senate. On this day, he was elected to complete that original term, making him the first Hispanic to be elected to the Senate. In 1940 he was reelected to his first full term.

Chavez served until November 1962, when he died of a heart attack.

In 2017-2018 (the 115th Congress), there were a total of 45 Hispanics in Congress, involving 31 Democrats and 14 Republicans.

Learn about Chavez at the Biographical Directory of the U. S. Congresshttp://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000338

Learn more: John Garcia, Latino Politics in America: Community, Culture, and Interests (2003)

And more: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (2014)

Learn about Latino elected officials today: http://naleo.org/

Visit the Congressional Hispanic Caucus web site.

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