Michelle Vallejo

The “people’s candidate”

Michelle Vallejo is a businesswoman and community leader running to represent Texas’ 15th Congressional District. Vallejo, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as children, comes from a big family of farm workers and business owners. After she attended Columbia University to study political science and history, she returned to Alton, Texas to help her father run the flea market that her family has operated for almost 25 years. Seeing the importance of community and entrepreneurship, Vallejo co-founded Hustle+Socialize, an annual conference to support and empower minority women in business in South Texas. Vallejo was the 2022 Democratic nominee for the 15th District, and she is running again to fight for working class South Texans. “All along la frontera and throughout South Texas, we look out for each other because we know that no one else will,” she has said. When elected, she will give her community a powerful new voice in Congress.

A champion for working class South Texans

Vallejo is running for Congress to fight for economic opportunity for all by addressing Texas’ vast inequities in income, education, and health care. Vallejo’s life changed forever when her mother passed away at just 46 years old after 15 years of fighting multiple sclerosis (MS) without access to the care she needed. Vallejo realized that the best way to honor her mother’s legacy was to fight for a better future for her family and all people in South Texas. At a time when both a lack of affordable options and a dangerous abortion ban impact Texans, Vallejo is running for Congress so “no one has to leave home for medical care or medicine,” she has said. In Congress, she will fight tirelessly for reproductive freedom and to ensure that health care is a right — not a privilege.

A must-win seat in a redrawn district

Vallejo is running in a rematch against Republican anti-choice extremist Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who has previously been endorsed by the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, whose stated goal is to ban abortion entirely across the country. Texas’ 15th Congressional District will be a critical seat to flip in order for pro-choice Democrats to retake control of the U.S. House, and we know Vallejo is the candidate who has what it takes to win in the next election. Let’s show Vallejo the full support of the EMILYs List community and help elect this champion for South Texas to the House.