Conversations with Angela Gonzales-Torres

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Gonzales-Torres.

Hi Angela, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m Angie, or Angela Gonzales-Torres, and I’m from Northeast Los Angeles, where four generations of my family are currently rooted in Highland Park. I come from a working-class family. My mom is one of fourteen siblings and my dad is one of twelve, so I’m basically related to everyone in LA, (kidding). But seriously, everything I do is for my family.

I was raised by a single mom in Section 8 housing. She became a single mom of four girls after my father was deported, and I carry the strength I witnessed in her with me every day. I’m a proud product of LAUSD, community college, and UCLA where I graduated from the Chicano Studies and Anthropology departments. Those experiences helped me understand how systems like housing, education, incarceration, and deportation impact families like mine and more importantly, provided me the tools to support other system-impacted people.

For years, I’ve worked to show up for my community, whether serving as President of the Highland Park Neighborhood Council, working in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, serving on Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee, or helping people transition from prison into higher education as an Advocate for Justice. What ultimately led me to run for California’s 34th Congressional District was witnessing what happens when leadership does not show up. In 2024, I stood in the pouring rain in Lincoln Heights with families facing serious health and environmental injustice, and our Congress member was nowhere to be found. That moment stayed with me.

Our main volunteers today aiming to win in June 2026 include people who have been riding with me since fourth grade, my high school English teacher, small business owners and tenants, people I bartended with, and others holding on to the hope right now.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road. One of the hardest obstacles was living through my father’s deportation. Even then, I never imagined we would see what we are seeing today, with ICE raids terrorizing our neighbors, kidnapping parents as they drop off their kids at school, detaining children, and shooting citizens like Renée Nicole Good. It is awful. While I feel the urgency of this moment and feel proud as a daughter of a deportee that I am doing something to resist and respond to this federal overreach and misconduct/murder, it is a challenge every day to watch these attacks on our democracy and our shared humanity. So, I’m very grateful for all doing what they can right now. Because what is the alternative to trying to make things better?

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m currently an Advocate for Justice, which will be my designation on the ballot come June 2. I’m running for California’s 34th Congressional District, which includes Boyle Heights, Chinatown, City Terrace, Cypress Park, Downtown LA, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Elysian Park, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Bangladesh, Little Tokyo, Lincoln Heights, Montecito Heights, Mt. Washington, Skid Row, Pico-Union, and Westlake. It is the heart of Los Angeles and home to one of the largest immigrant populations in the country.

We have one of the largest jail systems on the face of the planet in this district and some of the highest costs of incarceration. One of my greatest accomplishments has been working alongside students who have overcome cycles of recidivism through education. Together, we have built a campaign where people have chosen to store their hope.

As the only woman in this race, I think it is so cool that I get to use my voice to uplift those who have been historically silenced and ignored. We are fighting to get corporate money out of politics and our priorities are affordability, accountability, access by expanding education and youth programs, and abolition by ending ICE and for-profit prisons.

Any big plans?
Well, I’m at a point in my life where a lot of my friends are starting families, and that is something I am beginning to think about for myself too. In fact, this weekend, a new mom my age came out to volunteer with our campaign and brought her baby. Our communications director and my own mom helped provide childcare while she wrote postcards to help us get out the vote. It was so cool.

It made me think two things. First, how powerful it is that she chose to show up for her community with her child. Second, it made me realize that building community is possible, even as a mother! Or especially as a mother because the thought makes me want to work even harder.

I think about the kind of future our kids deserve, one with universal healthcare, free education, and housing as a human right. I am committed to doing my part to help make that future become a reality for them. And personally, my future is starting to feel like it could include becoming a mother. I am open to that, and I appreciate the chance to share that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://angela4congress.com
• Instagram: angela4congress
• Twitter: angela4ca

Image Credits
Photographer credit: (@anishaspice) Anisha Sisodia – portraits, photos titled: “small business support” and “murals”

Photographer credit: (@nick_asokan) Nick Asokan – photos titled: “community” and “care”

Photographer credit: photo titled: “Volunteers” courtosy of Kenneth Mejia’s team (@kennethmejiala)