Alex Padilla believes in the power of his story: a son of two Mexican immigrants — a short-order cook and a house cleaner — who became California's first Latino U.S. senator.
He believes in the power of his story not only to inspire other Latinos but also to convince some Republicans that "Latinos are just as American." He goes at politics with the laidback confidence that's on display in a viral L.A. Taco video of him rolling a tortilla. (Admirers gushed: "This is honestly the greatest tortilla roll of all time. And he didn't think about it." "He's like the Snoop Dogg of tortilla rolling." And "mexican blood indeed.")
Reflecting on his first year in the Senate, Padilla recalled one of his first interactions with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham said he knew Padilla was the son of immigrants, but was surprised to learn that Padilla had attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Padilla recalls Graham asking: "You have an engineering degree from MIT? How does that happen?"
