Lily Eskelsen García
| Lily Eskelsen García | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Organization: | National Education Association | ||
| Role: | President | ||
| Location: | Washington, D.C. | ||
| Expertise: | Education | ||
| Education: | •University of Utah (B.A., elementary education) •University of Utah (M.A., instructional technology) | ||
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| Connections | |||
| •National Education Association | |||
Lily Eskelsen García is the current president of the National Education Association. She was a sixth grade teacher in Utah and was named Teacher of the Year in 1989.
In 1998, García ran as a Democratic candidate to represent Utah in the U.S. House. She writes a blog entitled "Lily's Blackboard," serves as keynote speaker around the country and has appeared on MSNBC and CNN en Español.
Career
Lily Eskelsen García started her career in education working in a school cafeteria as a lunch lady in Colorado Springs, Colo. She then became an aide in a special-ed kindergarten class and began taking classes at the University of Utah, eventually earning her bachelor's in education. She began teaching fifth and sixth graders at Orchard Elementary in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah.[1]
After nine years of teaching, in 1989, García was recognized as Teacher of the Year. According to her blog, García used this recognition to advocate for better funding of Utah schools and, in 1990, was elected as president of the Utah Education Association.[2] In 1996, she was on the executive committee of the National Education Association (NEA).[3]
In 1998, García ran for the U.S. House in Utah—the first Hispanic to do so in Utah—as a Democrat against Merrill Cook, the Republican incumbent. She got 45 percent of the vote but lost to Cook.[3][4]
In 2014, García was elected as president of the NEA. She had served the two previous terms as the organization's vice president and before that as secretary and treasurer.[4][5] As president of the NEA, García is vocal against standardized testing and charter schools but supportive of teacher tenure and Common Core initiatives.[5][3]
García has also served as the president of the Utah State Retirement System, president of the Children at Risk Foundation and as a member of the White House Strategy session on Improving Hispanic Education.[2]
At an awards dinner in October 2015, García gave a speech in which she said that part of a teacher's job is to meet the needs of diverse students, adding "the chronically tarded and the medically annoying" to her list of students. This generated criticism from the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) among others, who considered Garcia's words insensitive and stated that "it is horribly unfortunate and sadly ironic that we [AAPD] must chastise the President of the NEA for her comments."[6] After apologizing, García argued that she meant to say "chronically tardy", not "chronically tarded," and by "medically annoying", she said she was referencing "the student who, for example, has an argument with his girlfriend and now is having a very bad day, and doing everything humanly possible to annoy the teacher."[6]
2016 Democratic National Convention
- Delegate to the 2016 DNC (click to expand)
- See also: Democratic National Convention, 2016
Lily Eskelsen García Democratic National Convention, 2016 Status: Superdelegate State: Washington, D.C. Supporting: Hillary Clinton Delegates to the DNC 2016 Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • State election law and delegates • Superdelegates by state Lily Eskelsen García was a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention from Washington, D.C.[7] García was one of 26 superdelegates from Washington, D.C. Superdelegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention were not bound by the results of their state’s primary or caucus to support a specific presidential candidate. García supported Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.[8] Clinton formally won the Democratic nomination for president on July 26, 2016.[9]
What is a superdelegate?
Superdelegates in 2016 were automatic delegates to the Democratic National Convention, meaning that, unlike regular delegates, they were not elected to this position. Also unlike regular delegates, they were not required to pledge their support to any presidential candidate, and they were not bound by the results of their state's presidential primary election or caucus. In 2016, superdelegates included members of the Democratic National Committee, Democratic members of Congress, Democratic governors, and distinguished party leaders, including former presidents and vice presidents. All superdelegates were free to support any presidential candidate of their choosing at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.[10]
D.C. superdelegates
Washington, D.C., had a total of 26 superdelegates in 2016. All of them are listed below beneath the candidate they are known to have supported. As of June 6, 2016, 19 D.C. superdelegates were known to have expressed their support for Hillary Clinton, two supported Bernie Sanders, and the support of five superdelegates was unknown.
Clinton
- Carrie Pugh
- Harold Ickes
- James C. Boland
- Jeff Berman
- Karl Racine
- Lee Saunders
- Lily Eskelsen García
- Maria Cardona
- Minyon Moore
- Steve Regenstreif
- Arrington Dixon
- MaryEva Candon
- Earl Fowlkes
- Mary Beth Cahill
- Sunita Leeds
- Rick Wade
- Jeffrey David Cox
- Muriel Bowser
- Eleanor Holmes Norton
Sanders
Unknown
- Anita Bonds
- Donna Brazile
- Ed Potillo
- Paul Strauss
- Michael D. Brown (Washington, D.C., U.S. Shadow Senator)
Washington, D.C. primary results
Democrats held a presidential primary election in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2016.Washington, D.C. Democratic Primary, 2016 Candidate Vote % Votes Delegates 
Hillary Clinton 78% 76,704 16 Bernie Sanders 20.7% 20,361 4 Rocky De La Fuente 0.2% 213 0 Other 0.5% 485 0 Under and over votes 0.6% 635 0 Totals 98,398 20 Source: The New York Times and D.C. Board of Elections Delegate allocation
Washington, D.C., had 44 delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Of this total, 18 were pledged delegates. National party rules stipulated how Democratic delegates in all states were allocated. Pledged delegates were allocated to a candidate in proportion to the votes he or she received in a state's primary or caucus. A candidate was eligible to receive a share of the state's pledged delegates if he or she won at least 15 percent of the votes cast in the primary or caucus. There were three types of pledged Democratic delegates: congressional district delegates, at-large delegates, and party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs). Congressional district delegates were allocated proportionally based on the primary or caucus results in a given district. At-large and PLEO delegates were allocated proportionally based on statewide primary results.[11][12]
Twenty-six party leaders and elected officials served as unpledged delegates. These delegates were not required to adhere to the results of a state's primary or caucus.[11][13]
Media
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Lily Eskelsen García. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- National Education Association
- Common Core State Standards Initiative
- Utah Education Association
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Desert News, "Doug Robinson: Former lunch lady Lily Garcia goes to Washington to run for the NEA," February 17, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lily's Blackboard, "About Lily," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Washington Post, "Lunch lady rises to teachers union leader and takes on all comers, bluntly," August 11, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 NEA, "NEA President Profile: Lily Eskelsen García," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Politico, "Next NEA leader's first task: Win back public," July 6, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Hill, "NEA president's remarks were more than an 'epic fail'," December 7, 2015
- ↑ Ballotpedia's list of superdelegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention is based on our own research and lists provided by the Democratic National Committee to Vox.com in February 2016 and May 2016. If you think we made an error in identifying superdelegates, please send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.
- ↑ WTOP, “Majority of DC superdelegates backing Hillary Clinton,” November 13, 2015
- ↑ To find out which candidate a superdelegate supported, Ballotpedia sought out public statements from the superdelegate in other media outlets and on social media. If we were unable to find a public statement that clearly articulated which candidate the superdelegate supported at the national convention, we listed that superdelegate as "unknown." If you believe we made an error in identifying which candidate a superdelegate supported, please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The Presidential Nominating Process and the National Party Conventions, 2016: Frequently Asked Questions," December 30, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Democratic National Committee, "2016 Democratic National Convention Delegate/Alternate Allocation," updated February 19, 2016
- ↑ The Green Papers, "2016 Democratic Convention," accessed May 7, 2021
- ↑ Democratic National Committee's Office of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection, "Unpledged Delegates -- By State," May 27, 2016
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