Wikipedia:Roza Calderon

Roza Irene Calderon (born April 7, 1985) is an American politician, scientist, mother, and human rights activist who ran for U.S. Representative for California's 4th Congressional District. The district includes the Sierra Nevada from Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, to the Sequoia National Forest, as well as a largely suburban area on the edge of the Sacramento Valley in southwestern Placer County. It consists of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, and Tuolumne counties plus most of Placer County and portions of Fresno, Madera, and Nevada counties.

In 2017, she was featured in Robert Reich's documentary Saving Capitalism for organizing and launching what would be the first townhall "Resist" action from Indivisible in Roseville, CA where Congressman Tom McClintock made national headlines for running from constituents and requesting a police escort. She ran in the Democratic primary for the district in 2018 as a Justice Democrat and Brand New Congress candidate. She was featured in the 2019 Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, in which she was set to star in but turned down due to contractual obligations with Anonymous Content for an unreleased documentary.

Early life and education
Calderon was born on April 7, 1985, in El Salvador and arrived in the United States as a child refugee in the late 80's during the civil unrest of Latin America believed to be part of the Reagan Doctrines. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 2003. Calderon attended American River College before transferring to Humboldt State University where she studied Geography and served as the Vice-President of the Geographical Society until 2014.

2018 election cycle
On November 6th, 2017, during an interview on The Young Turks with Cenk Uyger and Jimmy Dore. Calderon stated that she launched her Congressional campaign during the annual Sacramento May Day march (May 1, 2017) a day celebrating labor internationally. Her campaign announced that it would only accept donations from individuals not corporate political action committees. Calderon is the first immigrant, Latina, scientist, running to represent California's 4th Congressional District.

Main article: California's 4th Congressional District 2018 Election Cycle In 2018, six Democratic candidates filed statements of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). They were, in alphabetical order by last name: Regina Bateson; Roza Calderon; Richard Martin; Robert Lawton; Jessica Morse; and Rochelle Wilcox. Martin and Wilcox dropped out of the race, with Wilcox endorsing Morse in February.

In February, the California Democratic Party (CDP) endorsed Jessica Morse in a contested Democratic Nomination. Roza Calderon was able to successfully collect 322 CDP-credentialed delegate signatures needed to block the endorsement, in which Morse only received 44 delegate votes. However, CDP staff refused to accept the forms after it was alleged they closed doors early to prevent the submission. A petition was later filed with the Compliance Review Commission (CRC) by Calderon. The CRC voted to accept and count the signatures, ultimately disqualifying enough signatures to proceed with Morse's endorsement. California allows candidates to include their professional description under their names on the ballot. Regina Bateson later challenged Morse's ballot designation title of "National Security Fellow" at the Sacramento Superior Court after months of controversy that Morse, who had not worked in three years, was "fluffing" her credentials. California's Secretary of State Alex Padilla, had struck down Morse's 3 ballot designations before Judge Gevercer ruled that she presented "no credible evidence" to use the ballot designation of "National Security Fellow". Instead, he held that this title would mislead the average person about her recent activities. In the official Certified Candidate List, Morse's ballot designation was left blank in the Primary and General.

Under the California jungle primary, commonly referred to as the nonpartisan blanket primary system, the top two candidates with the most votes on June 5, regardless of party, went on to the general election on November 6. Both Republicans and four Democrats appeared on the jungle primary ballot. Calderon earned endorsements from labor activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union Dolores Huerta, civil rights activist Linda Sarsour, actress Susan Sarandon, Democratic Socialists of America(DSA), Progressives Democrats of America(PDA), Our Revolution, Justice Democrats, and Brand New Congress. Calderon earned 6.4% of the vote in the nonpartisan blanket primary in June 2018. Calderon made no official endorsement after the Primary.

In August 2019, Calderon and Missouri's 1st Congressional District Representative Cori Bush embarked on an international Progressivism Tour hosted by Federación de Docentes de las Universidades (FEDUN). During their trip they met with the leadership of the National Congress of Argentina. Calderon was appointed to be the United States Chair for Pope Francis' international program of social encounters, Scholas Occurentes in September 2019.

Calderon served as a campaign surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. In March of 2020, Calderon announced her position as Co-Director alongside Chiara D'Angelo in the launch of Future Generations PAC. A political action committee to endorse candidates running at all levels of office, according to their website. The organization lists U.S. Senator Ed Markey, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Congresswoman Cori Bush, and multiple Texas state representatives as Future Generations Candidates: "Future Generations is led by the Seventh Generations philosophy; that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world for at least seven generations into the future. While historically it has been used to describe our relationship with the environment - understanding that economic, racial, housing, and healthcare justice, are undeniably interconnected, is crucial. We support, recruit, train, and endorse candidates who will commit to secure a just and livable planet for generations to come"

In June of 2020 Calderon spoke at a Mineral Wells High School student-led Black Lives Matter march in Mineral Wells, Texas after a hate crime involving a black man being stabbed by a white man while yelling racial slurs made national headlines. After receiving credible threats against Calderon and participants, the Mineral Wells Police Department decided to escort and participate in the historic event in the once segregated town.

Personal life
Calderon has one daughter from a previous marriage. Calderon is a geoscientist and is majority owner of a small energy and environmental services firm. She splits her time between Granite Bay, California and Dallas, Texas.