Nanette Barragán

Nanette Barragán wants to be the face of the resistance.

The freshman Democratic lawmaker, who represents a heavily Latino majority-minority district in Southern California, backed an impeachment resolution late last year and nearly snubbed the president inside his own White House.

“I asked if I could stand in front of Melania Trump instead of him,” she said in an interview, recalling the time she met President Donald Trump at the White House’s congressional ball. When staff rejected her request, telling her it’s customary for members to stand next to the president, “I literally just shook his hand out of courtesy and immediately went to her, and I said, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’”

Barragán, the youngest child of Mexican immigrants who had 11 children, is a fighter whose life story has been about beating the odds. She grew up in poverty, and while her mother’s education stopped at third grade, Barragán went on to obtain degrees from UCLA and the University of Southern California law school.

During her undergraduate studies, an adviser told her she could work anywhere she wanted. “And the next thing you know, I got an acceptance letter from the Clinton White House,” she said.

While in Washington, Barragán did African-American outreach for the Clinton administration and later got her first Hill experience while working for the NAACP. Roughly two decades later, she mounted an uphill campaign against an establishment-backed candidate for an open congressional seat.

“People frankly thought: ‘No way. You’re not gonna be able to win,’” she said of her rookie campaign, which focused on the progress Democrats would make under Hillary Clinton.

But this time around, “a lot of the conversation has turned to what we’re fighting against, what we’re trying to protect,” she said. “Anything with the word ‘Obama’ in it is under attack by this administration.”

Barragán’s reelection race briefly drew national attention: For a few weeks, her challengers included “Clueless” star Stacey Dash and Compton Mayor Aja Brown. Both have since dropped out for family reasons but will still appear on the June 5 primary ballot. Republican Jazmina Saavedra is the only other active candidate, meaning Barragán is all but assured victory. Yet she insists she won’t take anything for granted and will fight to continue representing her district because there’s much work that needs to be done.

Barragán is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party but is superstitious when it comes to looking too far ahead. When the House requested information and photos from both general election candidates in 2016, she directed her staff not to respond.

“We’re focused on what we’re focused on,” she told staffers. “We’ll deal with that if and when.”

As for any ambition she may have to take on a larger role in the House or pursue higher office, her response is that “I just got here.”

“I’m here to be a voice,” she adds. “I’m here to be the face for the very community that this president is attacking.” — Nolan McCaskill

Photos by John Shinkle/POLITICO.