Nanette Díaz Barragán Bio
Nanette Díaz Barragán (born September 15, 1976) is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for California’s 44th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents a South Bay and harbor-area district that includes portions of Los Angeles County. Before her time in Congress, she served on the Hermosa Beach City Council from 2013 to 2015 and built a legal career focused on public service and pro bono advocacy.
Barragán is also the first Latina elected to the Hermosa Beach City Council and has emerged as a national voice on issues ranging from environmental justice along the Los Angeles coast to immigrant rights and Hispanic political representation in Washington.
Early Life and Background
Nanette Díaz Barragán was born in Harbor City, a neighborhood in the Los Angeles area of California. She is the youngest of eleven children and was raised by parents who immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Growing up in a large household in Torrance and the surrounding South Bay communities shaped her early understanding of working-class life and the importance of educational opportunity.
She attended North Torrance High School, where she distinguished herself by petitioning school leadership to allow girls to try out for the baseball team, an early indication of her willingness to challenge established rules. She also played softball during her school years and developed a lasting love of baseball that continues into her adult life.
After high school, Barragán enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a minor in public policy in 2000. During her undergraduate years and through 2003, she served as Executive Director of the Gillian S. Fuller Foundation, an organization that funded nonprofits working in education, the environment, and youth programs. Grantees included Heal the Bay, the Nature Conservancy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Para Los Niños, Proyecto Pastoral, and Literacy Partners.
Path to US Politics
Barragán’s first formal engagement with politics came during the Clinton administration, when she joined the White House Office of Public Liaison to lead African American outreach. In that role she served as a facilitator between the president and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1999 she worked with the NAACP’s Washington Bureau on health policy and racial health disparities, experiences that cemented her commitment to public-interest work.
While building her early career, she volunteered for a range of federal and local candidates and served on the Board of the L.A. County Young Democrats for three years. She also pursued a law degree at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, earning her Juris Doctor in 2005 and serving on the Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Her legal training would later become central to her legislative identity and her work on immigration, civil rights, and consumer issues.
In 2012, she took a leave of absence from her law firm to work on President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in Florida as out-of-state volunteer attorney director for the voter protection team, a step that deepened her national campaign experience and helped set the stage for her own run for office.
Nanette Díaz Barragán Career
Early Career (2003–2012)
While in law school, Barragán completed several externships that defined her legal outlook. In 2003 she externed for Justice Carlos Moreno at the California Supreme Court, and in 2004 she worked at the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation, assisting low-income workers with unpaid overtime and meal-break claims. In 2005 she joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where she supported attorneys in the Organized Crime and Terrorism section on a money-laundering trial and on investigations.
After clerking, she joined the international law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, where she handled matters ranging from land use to securities litigation. She served as lead attorney on a multi-year immigration asylum case involving a Guatemalan child and mother, ultimately winning withholding of removal. Following Hurricane Katrina, she and a colleague traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi, to provide pro bono insurance-claim assistance. She also served as a Spanish-speaking child advocate and adoption attorney for low-income families.
Hermosa Beach City Council Breakthrough (2013–2015)
In 2013, Barragán ran for the Hermosa Beach City Council on a platform that included fighting an oil company’s proposal to drill 34 oil and water injection wells in the city and into the Santa Monica Bay. She defeated six other candidates, becoming the first Latina elected to the council and the first woman elected to the body in a decade. Her victory marked a breakthrough moment for environmental and Latino representation on the local stage.
She resigned from the council on July 31, 2015, to pursue a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, paving the way for her campaign in California’s 44th congressional district.
U.S. House of Representatives Era (2017–Present)
Barragán officially announced her candidacy for California’s 44th congressional district on Equal Pay Day in April 2015, seeking the seat being vacated by Democrat Janice Hahn. She quickly secured high-profile endorsements from EMILY’s List, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the California League of Conservation Voters, the Latino Victory Project, and numerous members of Congress. In the November 8, 2016 general election she defeated state senator Isadore Hall III to win her first term.
She has since won reelection with comfortable margins, including a 2018 victory over Compton mayor Aja Brown by roughly 68 percent to 32 percent, and a 2020 win over fellow Democrat Analilia Joya by about 68 percent to 32 percent. In July 2019 she toured border facilities as part of a congressional delegation examining conditions along the Mexico–United States border. In January 2023 she assumed leadership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, becoming one of the most prominent Latina voices in the House Democratic caucus.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among her signature legislative efforts, Barragán has championed banning hydrofluoric acid at oil refineries, citing the dangers of storing volatile chemicals near residential neighborhoods and the risk of mass-casualty incidents. She holds a 100 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America and has publicly opposed the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it “a sad day” for the country. In 2017 she threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium, a personal milestone reflecting her lifelong connection to baseball.
Nanette Díaz Barragán Career Wins
Across her time in elected office, Barragán has compiled a record of decisive victories, beginning at the municipal level in Hermosa Beach and continuing through multiple congressional campaigns in California’s 44th district.
U.S. House of Representatives Highlights
Barragán first won California’s 44th congressional district in November 2016, defeating state senator Isadore Hall III. She followed that win with a dominant 2018 reelection against Aja Brown and another comfortable victory in 2020 against Analilia Joya. Her consistent double-digit margins reflect durable support across the diverse, working-class communities of the South Bay and harbor regions of Los Angeles County.
Other Wins & Achievements
Before reaching Congress, Barragán won a contested Hermosa Beach City Council race in 2013 against six opponents, breaking barriers as the first Latina and the first woman elected to the council in ten years. Her earlier civic leadership roles, including her work with the NAACP’s Washington Bureau and as Executive Director of the Gillian S. Fuller Foundation, laid the groundwork for her transition into elected politics.
Nanette Díaz Barragán Family
Family Background and Cultural Roots
Barragán is the youngest of eleven children in a family rooted in Mexican immigrant heritage. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico and raised their children in Torrance and the surrounding South Bay neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Her upbringing in a large, working-class household has been a recurring influence on her public-service focus on education access, immigrant communities, and economic mobility.
Personal Life
Barragán remains an avid baseball fan and player, supporting the Los Angeles Dodgers and participating in the annual Congressional Baseball Game since 2017. She has also taken part in the Congressional Women’s Softball Game. She is Catholic, and her faith and family background continue to inform her approach to community advocacy in Southern California.