Saludos, amigos:
During last October’s Latino Tennessee Voices Storytellers Liv e, Luis Mata was one of five storytellers who shared a vulnerable story about his life.
He spoke to a full house at Casa Azafrán community center about his path from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.A. as an undocumented immigrant child.
His family endured economic hardships. His mother survived domestic violence. But they persisted.
Mata graduated from University of Tennessee Knoxville, helped found Students for Migrant Justice and eventually became a U.S. citizen. He went on to work as an organizer and coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
Last week, he announced he was running as a Democratic candidate for the District 49 seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives . If he wins, he would be the first Latino elected to the state legislature.
He is not the first who has vied for a legislative seat. Tommy Vallejos, a Republican, lost his race in Clarksville (District 67) by only 153 votes in 2022. Gabby Salinas, a Democrat in Memphis, has run in recent years for state Senate and House. In 2018, she was within two percentage points of defeating incumbent District 31 Sen. Brian Kelsey .