Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress

Of the 150 total, 36 have served as non-voting members of the House of Representatives as either Territorial Delegates or Resident Commissioners of Puerto Rico.

[6] The 9 senators remaining served during the 21st century: 5 Democrats, from California, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico and Nevada respectively; and 4 Republicans, 2 from Florida, 1 from New Hampshire and 1 from Texas.

[1] All of these gains combined to give the United States all or portions of the states of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming; all of these land gains were previously held by Spain or Mexico, and in particular the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo played a key role.

The earliest history of representation largely placed delegates as political observers, wrestling with the issues of diminished powers for territorial representation, the language and cultural barriers, and a lack of voting privileges coupled with no real coalition building or political alliances.

[1][8] The language barrier was so notable for some representatives, such as for New Mexico territorial delegate José Manuel Gallegos, who had an interpreter read his speeches throughout his tenure in Congress.

[1] For over 100 years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which ended the Mexican-American War and gave the United States the large portions of the Southwestern borderlands, until the period following World War II, the only Hispanic and Latino Americans involved in national politics were from three states: California, Louisiana, and New Mexico.

[10] Dennis Chávez of New Mexico followed suit by being elected in 1935 and becoming the first Hispanic or Latino American to serve in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate; Chávez also importantly represented a continued trend of political representation leading to substantive and surrogate representation of Hispanic and Latino American interests more widely, and was one of the earliest advocates for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights.

The aftermath World War II proved another time for increased representation for Hispanic and Latino Americans in Congress, fueled by desires for equal rights born out of experiences fighting for the country abroad.