Katherine Archuleta is the First Latina to Direct a Major Party’s Presidential Campaign - Higher Education

Katherine Archuleta is the First Latina to Direct a Major Party’s Presidential Campaign - Higher Education: When President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign appointed Katherine Archuleta national political director in June 2011, pundits across the country took this as a sign that the president was serious about nabbing the Latino vote once more in 2012, more specifically putting several swing states out West in his column. However, Latino leaders, including Archuleta, who is Mexican-American, took this as a sign of much more.

Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), said assigning Archuleta national political director was a huge milestone for Latinos.

“What was most significant of the appointment is that here we have a Latina who is not responsible for outreach to Latinos only, but it’s a position that has overall responsibility for the campaign,” he said, adding, “This is a mainstream position, which is something that we’ve been wanting to see for some time now. And I think it’s recognition of the kind of talent and experience that we have within the Latino community and certainly within Katherine Archuleta herself.”