Angelina Cruz never intended to get into politics.
In fact, she said, “poltician” is “a gross word.”
“But over a decade ago, something happened called Act 10,” she said, referring to the controversial legislation that severely limited the collective bargaining rights of public employees. “That completely changed my professional career. I was a fifth-grade elementary school teacher, and politicians stripped away my collective bargaining rights. That changed everything.”
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The Caledonia native has been a teacher in the Racine Unified School District for more than 20 years, and president of the teacher’s union for the last eight – the longest-serving president in the union’s history.
And in January, she’ll become the first Latina to represent Racine in the State Assembly, “which is crazy to say in the year 2024,” she said in an interview for the 365 Amplified podcast.
She ran unopposed in Democratic primary, and is running unopposed in the general election as well.
Act 10 galvanized Cruz to join the tens of thousands who descended on the state Capitol in 2011 and lean into membership and eventually leadership in the teachers’ union. But more recent undoing of another legacy of the Walker Administration prompted her to run for Assembly. Walker’s administration drew legislative maps that heavily favored Republican candidates, but the State Supreme Court this year approved new, more equitable maps that have Democrats optimistic about closing the gap or perhaps even taking over the majority.
“I would say Act 10, and then us getting fair maps were sort of the the two things that brought me to where I am today, and sitting down with local electeds and talking about who could run for this seat, and just sort of reflecting on all of the work that we’ve done up until this point. That was sort of the light bulb moment for me,” Cruz said. “It occurred to me that after over a decade of all this intense organizing and all of this work and finding allies in the state capitol to sort of hold the line on this really regressive legislation, this was a moment in time, this election cycle, where we could really start flipping the Assembly to more represent the will of the people of Wisconsin.”
Cruz noted that Racine is one of the state’s more diverse communities, so equity in education is at the front of her mind.
“Equity is the key word. It’s meeting people where they’re at and ensuring that opportunities reflect the challenges they face,” she said. “Not giving everyone the same thing, but recognizing that not everyone starts from the same place.”
Cruz said her future constituents want pretty basic things from their state government.
“People want to afford housing, groceries, and have good public schools for their children,” she said. “They’re not asking for extravagant things; they just want to thrive, not just survive.”
She also noted the polarized nature of politics these days, and hopes to work past that.
“I don’t subscribe to ‘you’re in this party, I’m in that party, and we can’t work together,’” she said. “I believe in listening to all voices and working together. We are accountable to the people, and that demands results.”
