Lydia Camarillo serves as President of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), the country’s oldest and largest nonpartisan Latino voter participation program. She also is President of SVREP’s William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI) and serves on the SVREP and WCVI Board of Directors.
Taking the helm of SVREP in 2018 after the untimely passing of Antonio Gonzales, the longest-serving president in the organization’s history, Ms. Camarillo has helped SVREP to grow the registration of Latino voters from 5.4 million in 1994 to over 18.6 million in 2020. Latino voter turnout increased from 5 million to 16.6 million, from 1994 to 2020.
Named one of the 100 Sisters in Suffrage by the National Organization of Women in 2020 to celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, Ms. Camarillo has a long history of working to register, educate and promote voting among the nation’s growing population of Latino citizens. She started her career working as a field organizer for the Latino Issues Forum and Monterey Bay Girl Scouts and then joined the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in 1989 as National Leadership Director. In 1994, Ms. Camarillo joined SVREP as Executive Director, a post she held until 1999. She was then tapped by President Bill Clinton to be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the 2000 Democratic National Convention, served on several political campaigns, and in 2003 returned to SVREP as Vice President, a position she held until being named President in 2018.
Besides her work leading SVREP and WCVI, Ms. Camarillo serves as Chair of the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force and as Chair of the Texas Senate Latino Caucus and Mexican American Legislative Task Force as well as being on numerous boards and commissions. Additionally, she serves on the Earth Day Network and the King Awards Board of Directors. Among her many honors, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund bestowed Ms. Camarillo with the Lifetime Achievement -Excellence in Community Service Award in 2021 and she was named twice by Latina Magazine as one of the 10 most influential Latinas in the US.