Angela Ramirez

Angela Ramirez likes to say she’s a comedian by trade.

After college, the Princeton University grad skipped the age-old ritual of an internship on Capitol Hill and was instead pitching jokes to Comedy Central.

That was her first passion, before politics. Sixteen years later, Ramirez is chief of staff for Rep. Ben Ray Luján, who is set to become the chamber’s No. 4 Democrat come January.

And the New Mexico congressman, who has steadily climbed the ranks to his new role of assistant Democratic leader, has had Ramirez at his side from the start.

That includes a four-year stint running the Democratic campaign arm, which earned Luján something of a celebrity status after he helped House Democrats gain the most seats in a midterm since the post-Watergate election of 1974.

During the grueling campaign season, Ramirez acted as the official liaison between her boss’ election work and the Democratic Party’s work in the House — from scheduling to strategic messaging.

Keeping tabs on the hundreds of candidates, Ramirez said she was reminded of the Democratic wave in 2008, when her boss was first elected: “I think back to all the excitement and the energy that came in when my boss was a freshman, and that is the energy and engagement I see now.”

Back then, Luján was so new to the Capitol that he had to be walked to the floor votes. Ramirez, who had never managed an entire staff before, remembers phones ringing in their tiny Cannon office and suddenly realizing she forgot to buy pens.

Come January, the House will welcome its most diverse freshman class in history, something that’s particularly meaningful for Ramirez, who served as executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for two years.

“With all of the diversity — and I say diversity in every way — I think it’s going to be really, really exciting,” Ramirez said, ticking off potential new policy priorities like voter protection and access to the ballot box. “When I think back to the stories people told on the campaign trail, how can it not have an impact on what we do here?”

Ramirez was raised in Sacramento, but her parents grew up in a tiny town south of Fresno, Calif. Ramirez remembers selling corn and other produce at a local stand when her family returned during summers. Both her parents spent long days in the fields, living what she called “their version of the American dream.” They would later go on to send their daughter to Princeton.

“It made me think about what’s possible in this country,” Ramirez said, and then deadpanned: “Which is why I went into comedy.” — Sarah Ferris

Photos by M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO.

A previous version of this article incorrectly reported where Ramirez grew up. She was raised in Sacramento and spent some summers in the Fresno area.