Pelosi endorses Cisneros for House
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed Democrat Gil Cisneros in the 2024 race for a San Gabriel Valley-based House seat that is open for the first time in a generation.
“Gil Cisneros is an outstanding public servant and leader,” she said in a statement Thursday, noting legislation the two had collaborated on in Congress, where he previously represented an Orange County district.
Pelosi, who rarely picks favorites in primaries, called him “a shining example of an elected official who fights for people, not corporate special interests.”
Cisneros is one of 11 candidates seeking the seat that Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk) has held for 25 years. Napolitano, who at 87 is the House’s oldest member, announced in July that she would not seek another term.
“I am profoundly honored,” Cisneros said of Pelosi’s endorsement, which he said “reflects her confidence in our shared vision for a better America,” with “accessible healthcare, quality education, and economic opportunities for all.”
Cisneros is running in the 31st Congressional District, which includes Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bradbury, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, La Puente, La Verne, San Dimas, South El Monte and West Covina. The former Orange County resident moved to El Monte in October after living in Virginia while he served in the Pentagon.
He served one term in the House in 2019-2020 representing an Orange County district narrowly divided between Democratic and Republican voters.
He was one of several freshman lawmakers pushing for change that session, joining those who first moved to impeach thenPresident Trump, as well as the small group of House Democrats who pledged in a letter to oppose Pelosi’s return as speaker.
At the time, Cisneros said that he respected the San Francisco Democrat but that his constituents were asking for new leadership. Pelosi eventually reached a deal with the lawmakers to step down after four years.
After Cisneros lost reelection in 2020 to Republican Young Kim, President Biden appointed him to be undersecretary of Defense, overseeing military personnel and readiness. Cisneros resigned in September to run for the House again, returning to California after two years in McLean, Va.
Cisneros says he was raised in a family of veterans, and served in the Navy before becoming the first in his family to graduate college. He worked as a Frito-Lay shipping and distribution manager from about 2004 until 2010, when he won a $255-million lottery jackpot.
Cisneros was 39 when he came into the fortune that propelled him into philanthropic work. He and his wife started the Gilbert and Jacki Cisneros Foundation to fund college education for Latinos in the Pico Rivera area.
He has received master’s degrees in business administration and urban education. His first political appointment was to to President Obama’s Advisory Council for the Arts.
Napolitano has endorsed state Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) in the race, which has attracted six Democrats, three Republicans and two third-party candidates, according to L.A. County Registrar’s Office filings. The other candidates include state Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and Republican Daniel Bocic Martinez, who ran against Napolitano in 2022.
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2 to 1 in the district, which is about 55% Latino.
“I am a Democrat,” Cisneros, a former Republican, told The Times. “I will put my Democratic record up against [my opponents’] any day.”