SACRAMENTO, CA –Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) announced today that she has recognized McFarland resident Margarita Ortega as the 14^th Senate District Woman of the Year.

“I am honored to recognize Margarita Ortega as the 14^th Senate District’s Woman of the Year,” Senator Hurtado said. “Margarita embodies the soul of the Central Valley. As an agricultural employee she has risked it all to provide food to our nation. Her volunteer work teaching classes on wellness and mental health through Zumba to other farm workers is invaluable and forever appreciated.”

Margarita is a mother of two, and a native of Mexico. She risked everything to immigrate to the United States and became a citizen last year. Margarita’s husband recently had to have his leg amputated, which left her as the sole provider for her family. She works in the extreme California heat to pick grapes and help feed the Nation. She teaches classes on health, wellness and mental health, and she also volunteers to provide resources to those in need.

Media Contact: Michelle.Sherwood@sen.ca.gov

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

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