Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez

Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez is an American labor organizer and writer.[1] From August 12, 2019 until March 3, 2020 Tzintzún Ramirez was a potential challenger to incumbent United States Senator John Cornyn in the 2020 United States Senate election in Texas as part of a twelve-person Democratic primary, in which she placed third.[2][3]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Costello and the second or maternal family name is Tzintzún.
Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez
Born
Cristina Costello

1982 (age 38–39)
Moxahala, Ohio, US
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin (BA)
OccupationLabor organizer, writer
Political partyDemocratic

Early life and education

Ramirez is of mixed ethnicity. Her mother, Ana Tzintzún, is from a rural agricultural community in Michoacán, Mexico, and her father, Thomas Costello,[4] is a white American who came to live in Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s.[5] Tzintzún's original surname was Costello, which she changed to Tzintzún as a teenager.[4] She was born and raised in Ohio, where her parents operated a fair-trade Mexican jewelry business.[6] The family business required that the Tzintzún family live and travel to Mexico throughout her early life. Her parents, both progressive, encouraged their children to participate in various causes, especially those involving the Latino immigrant community. In high school, Tzintzún began organizing and working with newly-arrived Mexican immigrants in Ohio.[5] She graduated from University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) in 2006 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Latin American studies.[7]

Career

Tzintzún began organizing with Latino immigrant workers in 2000 in Columbus, Ohio, and then moved to Texas, where she helped establish the Workers Defense Project (WDP), serving as its Executive Director from 2006 until 2016.[8]

At the WDP, Tzintzún and co-founder Emily Timm led the organization to focus its efforts on the construction industry, the largest employer of undocumented labor in Texas.[1] She helped spearhead the organization's efforts to organize workers in one of the most-hostile political climates for worker and immigrant organizing in the country.[1]

Tzintzún served as the lead coordinator of immigrant mobilizations and strikes in Austin, Texas, on April 10, 2006 and May 1, 2006.[9] It was estimated that 60% of restaurants and 80% of construction sites closed in Austin for the strike.[9]

In 2008, Tzintzún co-founded the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC), which brings together stakeholders across the city to advocate for the rights of immigrants.[9]

Tzintzún helped lead the organization to pass over half a dozen local ordinances and state laws better protecting the rights of hundreds of thousands of workers by combining grassroots organizing, strategic research and smart communications strategies.[9] She co-authored two reports on construction workers in Texas that resulted in a federal investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and led the agency to review 900 construction sites resulting in $2 million in fines.[10]

Tzintzún created and developed the organization's Better Builder Program, which won construction workers living wages, higher safety standards, training and on-site enforcement by Better Builder monitors against some of the largest corporations in the world.[8] At the close of 2015, the Better Builder program had won agreements on nearly a billion dollars in construction projects covering 10,000 workers.[11] A quarter of workers surveyed on Better Builder sites reported receiving a raise from their last job, 38% reported receiving safety training for the first-time and 30% reported receiving workers’ compensation coverage for the first time in their construction careers.[12]

In 2017, Tzintzún founded Jolt, a civil rights organization that works to increase voter turnout among Latinos in Texas.[13][14]

On August 12, 2019, Tzintzún announced her intention to challenge incumbent United States Senator John Cornyn in the 2020 United States Senate election in Texas as a progressive candidate.[2] Her bid was endorsed by New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,[15] Texas representative Joaquin Castro,[16] and actor Alec Baldwin,[17] as well as by the PACs Blue America[18] and Latino Victory Fund,[19] labor unions UNITE HERE Local 23[20] and Communications Workers of America,[21] 350 Action,[22] the Working Families Party,[23] and the University of Texas at Austin University Democrats.[24] Tzintzún’s campaign was criticized for also accepting an endorsement from actress Susan Sarandon, who had supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.[25] She received additional criticism for her comments made in a speech, in which she said:

Tzintzún is more Mexican than any Garcia or Lopez. We were the only indigenous group in Mexico that were not defeated by the Aztecs. So you know I come from good lineage and I’m ready to defeat John Cornyn.[26]

Ultimately, Tzintzún placed third in the March 3, 2020 Democratic primary with 13.2% of the vote.[3] She and fellow former candidates Chris Bell and Michael Cooper then endorsed Royce West, who had advanced with MJ Hegar to the Democratic primary runoff.[27]

Electoral history
Main article: 2020 United States Senate election in Texas
Democratic primary results [3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic MJ Hegar 411,369 22.37%
Democratic Royce West 267,236 14.53%
Democratic Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez 244,004 13.27%
Democratic Annie "Mamá" Garcia 190,342 10.35%
Democratic Amanda Edwards 184,467 10.03%
Democratic Chris Bell 156,238 8.49%
Democratic Sema Hernandez 136,549 7.42%
Democratic Michael Cooper 90,990 4.95%
Democratic Victor Hugo Harris 59,018 3.21%
Democratic Adrian Ocegueda 40,929 2.23%
Democratic Jack Daniel Foster, Jr. 31,425 1.71%
Democratic D.R. Hunter 26,691 1.45%
Total votes 1,839,258 100.0%

Personal life

Tzintzún married Jose Manuel Ramirez on November 13, 2015.[28] The couple has a son, Santiago Tzintzún Ramirez, who was born in 2017.[29] Tzintzún took her husband's surname, Ramirez, after they were married in 2015. The couple divorced in December 2019.

Boards

She is a board member of Zev Shapiro's organization TurnUp

Honors and awards

Selected works

Tzintzún is also an author on issues of race, gender and immigration her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, The Dallas Morning News and Al Jazeera and in the following publications:

  • Presente! Latino Immigrant Voices in the Struggle for Racial Justice" Co-Editor, AK Press, 2014 ISBN 978-1849351669
  • "Build a Better Texas: Construction Working Conditions in the Lone Star State", University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Co-Author
  • "Building a Better Nation: A Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform" University of Texas at Austin, 2013
  • "Building Austin Building Injustice: Working Conditions in Austin's Construction Industry" University of Texas at Austin, 2009
  • "Killing Misogyny: A Personal Story of Love, Violence and Strategies for Survival" in: "Yes Means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape. Seal Press, 2008 ISBN 9781580052573
  • "Colonize This!" in: Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism, Edited by Daisy Hernández and Bushra Rehman. New York. Seal Press, 2002 ISBN 9781580050678
  • "Protecting Immigrant Workers" National Housing Institute: ShelterForce Sept. 1 2015

References
  1. "The Workers Defense Project, A Union in Spirit". New York Times. August 11, 2013.
  2. Tribune, The Texas; Svitek, Patrick (2019-08-12). "Latina organizer Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez enters Democratic primary to challenge Cornyn". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  3. "Live: Texas State Primary Election Results 2020". New York Times. June 3, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  4. Jeffers, Jr., Grover (6 January 2020). "Senate candidate apologizes for saying her surname, Tzintzún, is 'more Mexican' than others". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  5. "Colonize This!" in: Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, Edited by Daisy Hernández and Bushra Rehman. New York. Seal Press, 2002 ISBN 9781580050678
  6. "Costello International".
  7. "LinkedIn profile of Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez". LinkedIn. March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  8. "Time for a Change After a decade of fighting for immigrant worker rights in Austin, Cristina Tzintzún is going national".
  9. Tzintzun, Cristina. "Presente!Latin@ Immigrant Voices in the Struggle for Racial Justice / Voces de Inmigrantes Latin@s en la Lucha por la Justicia Racial".
  10. "The Workers Defense Project, A Union in Spirit".
  11. "Better Builder Texas, Victories & Campaigns".
  12. "Better Builder Texas".
  13. Staff, Texas Tribune Events (2019-11-21). "A conversation with Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, candidate for U.S. Senate". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  14. Stephania Taladrid (March 22, 2020), "The Dream of Turning Texas Blue Depends on Latino Voters", Newyorker.com
  15. Itkowitz, Colby (21 February 2020). "Ocasio-Cortez endorses 7 female progressive candidates to challenge establishment Democrats". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  16. Svitek, Patrick (18 February 2020). "Joaquin Castro endorses Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez in crowded primary to challenge John Cornyn". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  17. Nowlin, Sanford (10 February 2020). "Alec Baldwin Throws Support Behind Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez as She Vies to Take on John Cornyn". San Antonio Current. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  18. Klein, Howie. "Organizing To Flip Texas — A Guest Post By Progressive Senate Candidate Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez". Blue America PAC. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  19. Kloosterman, Tomas (January 22, 2020). "Latino Victory Fund Endorses Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez for United States Senate". Latin Victory Fund. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  20. Taqvi, Sarah (February 10, 2020). "Signal Q&A with Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez: 'You don't win unless you drive up voter turnout among young people and Latinos'". The Texas Signal. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  21. "CWA Endorses Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez for U.S. Senate". Action Network. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  22. "Endorsements". 350 Action. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  23. "Our 2020 Endorsements". Working Families Party. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  24. "March 2020 Club Endorsements". Austin Chronicle. February 4, 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  25. Svitek, Patrick (January 6, 2020). "Tzintzún Ramirez deals with back-to-back criticism in Democratic primary to challenge Cornyn". Texas Tribune. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  26. Herman, Ken (January 6, 2020). "In Democratic Senate race in Texas, Mexican heritage becomes an issue". Statesmen News Network. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  27. Svitek, Patrick. "Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez endorses Royce West over MJ Hegar in Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate". Texas Tribune. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  28. "Marriage Record 01-09679-2015". Travis County Texas County Clerk. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  29. King, Michael (12 August 2019). "Workers Defense and Jolt Founder Announces Candidacy for Senate". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  30. Bruno, Anne. "Cristina Tzintzún Ramírez". Tribeza. Tribeza. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  31. "Roddenberry Fellowship 2018". Roddenberry Foundation. Roddenberry Foundation. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  32. "2017 Innovation Prize Awardees". J.M. Kaplan Fund. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  33. "Best of Austin 2015". The Austin Chronicle. The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  34. "Change Makers".
  35. "Southern Living, New Hero of Civil Rights".
  36. "Edna Award Recognizes Wisconsin Organizer". CWA. CWA. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  37. Carr, Housley. "Standing Up For Workers Who Have Been Exploited". Engineering News-Record. Engineering News-Record. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
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