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Though redistricting has given New York City's 12th Congressional District a Hispanic majority, the smart money still expected the well-financed Democratic incumbent, Stephen Solarz, to prevail over a divided field of five Latino opponents. But the smart money didn't count on Nydia Velazquez. As a native Puerto Rican, she was in touch with the communities she wanted to represent. As a former city council member, she also knew her way through the tangles of local politics. Backed by labor unions, community leaders, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Velazquez emerged as the candidate most likely to beat the nine-term Congressman in the Sept. 15 primary -- and she did. Running now in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, one of the poorest in the country, she is virtually assured of becoming the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress.
During the primary campaign Velazquez was accused of being too attached to the island where she was born 39 years ago. A longtime supporter of Puerto Rican independence, she has served as a U.S. representative of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico since 1986, spearheading Latino voter-registration drives and battling anti-Hispanic discrimination. Opponents charged that she was more beholden to the interests of her homeland than to her would-be constituents. "My heart and soul are with the people who elected me," she insists. "My priorities are to fight for economic development, to help get people out of welfare, create jobs and invest in education."
After her primary victory, Velazquez was surprised by media reports that last year, distraught over her mother's illness and brother's drug addiction, she had attempted suicide by swallowing 21 sleeping pills, washed down by vodka. "It was a painful time," she says. "But I've learned I can't be a robot trying to solve everybody's problems without paying attention to my own needs."
She says that months of psychotherapy have got her back on track and that her successful campaign against Solarz is evidence of her replenished strength. A week after her primary win, she traveled to Washington to let House Speaker Thomas Foley know that she wants a spot on the powerful House Appropriations Committee -- an assignment virtually unheard of for a newcomer. "If I don't get something I want today," she says, "I'll come back tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow until they get tired of seeing me."
CALIFORNIA / Jay Kim
The Republican mayor of Diamond Bar, Kim says he nearly cried last January when he had to lay off more than 20 employees at Jaykim Engineers, Inc., the design firm he started in 1976. When he thought about the 40% pay raise Congress had voted itself, he felt like crying again. "Talk about being out of touch," he says. That was when the Korean-born immigrant, who came to the U.S. 31 years ago, decided to run for Congress in California's newly formed 41st District. Campaigning on a conservative platform that favors tax reduction and fewer regulations for business, Kim, 53, scored a surprise victory in a six-way primary race last June. He is now heavily favored to defeat Democrat Bob Baker in his racially mixed, solidly Republican district, which spans San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles counties. "We have to live within our means," he argues. "Business does that."