Julie Chávez Rodríguez was born in Delano, 1978.
It’s mind-boggling. How does a Delano-born girl and a 1996 graduate of Tehachapi High School end up running the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris, the next woman who could be elected president of the United States? The short answer is through arduous work. But it’s an honor/burden that fits Julie Chávez Rodríguez well.
“From the get-go, she was always engaged, always involved in doing things, but she never talked about politics specifically,” said her father, Arturo Rodríguez in a phone interview from his home in San Antonio.
The 46-year-old comes from a family who has accomplished and made history in the farmworker labor movement with its “sí se puede” or “yes we can” attitude” which has made strides in bettering working conditions for farmworkers while facing formidable pushback from the state’s politically powerful agriculture industry.
Chávez Rodríguez learned valuable skills as a labor organizer– and a lot more– from her grandfather, legendary labor icon César Chávez who she referred to as “Tata César,” co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union in Delano in the 1960’s.
In a 2009 speech at Sonoma State University, Chávez Rodríguez recalled an experience that she says left her with the “deepest pain.” She was 10 years old when she was passing out leaflets to grocery store customers in Fresno warning about pesticide poisonings of farmworkers and their children. At the time her grandfather was again fasting for 36 days in Delano to protest the dangers of pesticides in the fields. Chávez Rodríguez handed a leaflet to an older woman who remarked, “I hope he dies this time.” Taken aback and hurt by the woman’s response, she was also angry at herself for not forcefully answering the woman.
She went to her grandfather for advice. His response was, “Mija, next time something like that happens to you, you look that person in the face and you say, ‘I’m sure that you’re in his prayers too.’ It wasn’t exactly the kind of answer she was looking for, but later in life, she realized what her grandfather meant. “It hit me that that conversation with my grandfather was about non-violence, about respect, about ways to build a movement based on those principles,” said Chávez Rodríguez.
But as a teenager, Chávez Rodríguez also learned lessons in a not-so-good way. “At Tehachapi High School, she was told, ‘Don’t think about pursuing college or universities, because you’re a Mexican-American girl. Back then, that’s the way it was,” said her father. That hardly stopped her, Chávez Rodríguez went on to graduate from UC Berkeley. In the first week of classes in her freshman year, her parents were watching the news when they saw a story about UC Berkeley students occupying a building on campus during a protest. “We just looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, oh.’ No sooner had we said that when we got a call from one of Julie’s friends telling us not to worry, that Julie was ok, inside that building” recalled her father.
It’s no secret that Tata César played a huge role in shaping her life, and she often quotes one line her grandfather would say, “There’s no substitute for hard work.” Chávez Rodriguez was
born into this kind of work. Her mother, Linda Chávez was the third of eight children of César and Helen Chávez. As a child, Linda Chávez worked in the fields to help support the family. In 1973 while picketing in the snow for the grape boycott, she and others were doused with a hose outside a grocery store in Detroit. Linda married Arturo Rodriguez, who succeeded Chávez as UFW president in 1993. Linda Chávez passed away in October 2000.
Chávez Rodríguez was tapped as deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement in 2014 for the Obama administration tasked with focusing on immigration and Latino voters.
It was not an easy job because at the time, under Obama, more people were deported than ever before. Immigrant rights activists called Obama the “deporter-in-chief” leaving Chávez Rodríguez dealing with the political fallout. In 2016, Chávez Rodríguez became state director for Kamala Harris when Harris was elected senator. Later, President Biden selected her to manage his reelection campaign, and when he dropped out of the race, Kamala Harris kept her on in the same role. With less than two months before election day, polls keep shifting as to which candidate is the favorite among Latino voters, as they are considered to be the swing vote in key states.
Chávez Rodríguez keeps out of the public spotlight but keeps pushing behind the scenes. Her proud father keeps in touch with her mostly by texting. “It’s just a tremendous honor for anybody to serve in that capacity. And for (Harris and Biden) to have that kind of trust and confidence in Julie, makes you feel extremely proud of what Julie’s accomplished,” said her father as his voice cracked with emotion.
So, who would’ve thought that a Kern County native from a working-class family is now in such a unique position making history? “When you think about it, the movement that started in Delano, that Helen and César Chávez spent all those years there, now comes their granddaughter who was also born there? It’s very symbolic,” said Arturo Rodríguez.
