Representative Pete Aguilar, who represents much of the Inland Empire in the House of Representatives, is running for the seat of Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. If elected by his fellow members of Congress, Aguilar would be number six in the House’s leadership structure.
Aguilar says he’s running for the Vice Chair position because the Inland Empire is often overlooked in congressional decision-making.
“I just felt that this was an opportunity to have a seat at the table for the Inland Empire," Aguilar says. "So often our region is the afterthought when these kinds of decisions about our direction and agenda are made, and obviously as we look to pass an agenda for our communities to recover from the pandemic and a myriad of issues that we're facing, I think there's room at the table for someone from the Inland Empire.”
Aguilar says allocating congressional funding towards Inland Empire residents and programs is a top priority of his.
“The goal is always to make sure I'm advocating best for the region, and one of the ways we can do that is to bring resources back," Aguilar says.
"As a member of the appropriations committee that's our responsibility is to ensure that federal tax dollars are allocated fairly, and that means making sure that they go to every corner of our community. And making sure that the Inland Empire is not left behind is obviously a key task. So, we'll continue to build on that and hopefully it's a friendly administration, we'll be able to do that.”
Representative Robin Kelly from Illinois is also running for the position, and Representative Deb Haaland from New Mexico is reportedly considering running.
The internal election for Vice Chair will be held in November.