Delia C. Ramirez

The daughter of working-class Guatemalan immigrants, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez is an accomplished legislator, social service director, community leader, and coalition builder who has dedicated her life and career advocating for working families. Delia Ramirez was born in the Belmont Cragin community in Chicago. Her family moved to Humboldt Park at the age of one, when her parents found a subsidized apartment above a church that they could finally afford.

Delia’s commitment to community and working families is shaped by her lived experience. Her mother crossed the border while pregnant with Delia and worked multiple low-wage jobs to give her children a fighting chance to escape poverty. Delia’s father worked two jobs and alternated switched shifts with her Mom so that they could care for their children. Delia witnessed firsthand how important social services were, as she watched neighbors come to her church for housing assistance, food and services for the undocumented. She saw the heartbreaking financial crises that her parents and many others in her community shouldered, hoping to provide a better life for their children.

These experiences ignited a fire that propelled her to fight for the rights of all working families struggling to survive, whether it be housing justice, fully funding public schools, women’s reproductive rights, or Medicare for all. She spent the next 18 years as a non-profit leader at the Center for Changing Lives, Common Cause and Community Renewal Society, and board chair for both the Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA) and Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), fighting for affordable housing, quality education and campaign finance reform.

In 2018, her community drafted Delia to run for State Representative of the 4th House District of Illinois. In the Illinois General Assembly, she successfully passed legislation expanding Medicaid coverage to IL senior citizens regardless of immigration status, securing over 450 million to build affordable housing, protecting abortion rights, and creating an elected school board in the City of Chicago. She co-founded the Illinois House Progressive Caucus and served as Assistant Majority Leader.

Delia is a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University and lives in Chicago with her husband Boris and their golden retrievers Lola and Milo.