Let Latinos Lead: CHC Urges President-Elect Biden to Pick Latinos in his Cabinet

Lawmakers from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) sent a letter to President-elect Joe Biden's transition team to choose Latinos to lead the Education Department and Small Business Administration.

Latinos played a very significant role in the recent presidential election. They were the largest minority group in the country who helped President-elect Joe Biden flipped some states. Now, lawmakers from the CHC urged him to choose Latinos as part of his cabinet.

CHC: Let Latinos lead

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is a group of Democratic lawmakers from the House of Representatives. They represent Latinos and Hispanics across the country and not only the state where they are from. The group urge the president-elect to include more Latinos as part of his cabinet.

Members of the CHC sent a letter to the transition team of President-elect Joe Biden on Friday pushing for Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona to serve as Education Secretary, according to a report in POLITICO.

In their letter, they also picked Stacie Olivares to lead the Small Business Administration (SBA).

"The members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) are proud to offer our enthusiastic endorsement of Mr. Miguel Cardona for Secretary of Education and of Ms. Stacie Olivares for Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA)."

Moreover, they also highlighted the qualifications of Cardona that make him suitable for the jobb; from being an elementary school teacher to the first Latino to be education commissioner in Connecticut.

Cardona is not the only Latin that CHC endorsed to Biden. They also first endorsed Lily Eskelen García to lead the role.

According to The Hill, Garcia, who is the former president of the National Education Association, was the front-runner for the role and lawmakers said that they will still support her.

"We had previously sent a support letter for Lily Eskelsen Garcia for Secretary of Education and we remain strongly supportive of her."

Additionally, the letter of endorsement also highlighted Olivares' level of experience that makes her qualified to lead the SBA.

Biden is under pressure as he picks his cabinet members

President-elect Joe Biden has been under pressure to form a cabinet that reflects diversity, most especially since the Hispanic lawmakers and organizations have pushed for the President-elect to appoint at least five members to his Cabinet.

Letters of endorsement from the CHC come after the transition team reportedly leaked that New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham turned down the offer to serve as Joe Biden's Interior Secretary. The position was later filled by Rep. Deb Haaland.

Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden's transition team vowed to put Latina as part of Biden's Cabinet. It can be remembered that the Caucus "laid into the transition team" during a virtual meeting on the matter, expressing frustration at the way Lujan Grisham was treated.