The American Latina population stands at a sturdy 25 million, yet, they persist as one of the largest groups underrepresented among elected leaders. According to a new report, there are 8,218 political office seats on the state and national level and Latinas only occupy 92 of those seats -- which is about 1 percent. LatinasRepresent, a collaborative effort between Political Parity-whose goal is to boost the number of women in the upper levels of government-and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, hopes to change this.

Congress' 435 seats have only 9 Latinas warming them (2 percent); the slew of 7,383 state senators and representatives only includes 78 Latinas (1.1 percent); and the nation's 320 statewide executives have only welcomed 5 Latina (1.5 percent). There has only been one Latina elected governor, and there has never been a Latina elected to the U.S. Senate. There are notable politicians, such as Gov. Susana Martinez, Leticia Van de Putte, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lucy Flores, and Eloise Gomez Reyes, there simply aren't enough.

LatinasRepresent, which launched on Feb. 6, has set an agenda to "swell the ranks of Latina officials" by campaigning for Latina politicians from both parties and encouraging Latinas to vote for those officials. Former Labor secretary and former congresswomen Hilda Solis, like many talented political Latinas before her, was wedged into the position of "surrogate," acting on behalf of other candidates and going where candidates like President Obama cannot -- in order to reach the Latino community. Generating more candidates and encouraging national name recognition would mean that 8 percent of the nation's population would be better represented in government.

PoderPac, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, and TPP-ACE are past organizations that launched with intentions similar to LatinasRepresent. LatinasRepresent is committed to encouraging advocacy and action, sharing models of success, promoting alliances that amplify support for Latina candidates, and it will embolden Latinas to serve as representatives.