The ‘Viejito’ Visionary: Latino Leader Cristóbal Alex Reflects on Life’s Work
Photo via GU Politics
LUIS BREA: Alex comes from a proud line of Mexican agricultural workers. Today, Alex carries that spirit forward by cultivating the seeds of Latino political power.
This effort has taken many forms. Alex has served the Latino community as a civil rights lawyer, White House staffer, MSNBC contributor, and private consultant. These days, Alex is focused on balancing his professional commitments with raising a family.
El Paso Roots
Alex’s mother, the eldest of 10 siblings, moved to El Paso from Zacatecas, Mexico. She worked three jobs to provide for Alex and his brother Richie.
“As a kid, she would tell us ‘If you set your heart to it and you work really, really hard, you can do whatever you want in this country. That was our version of the American dream.”
This new life was far from perfect, however. When Alex was eight, a bully pushed his brother Richie down in the schoolyard. Alex recalls how it felt not being able to defend Richie, who lives with autism. “I just froze. It’s a feeling that I’ll never shake,” he said.
Alex’s first failed run-in with bullies drives his political efforts. “I’m not going to let someone attack our community and not do anything about it,” he said.
The First Battle
Alex’s next major encounter with bullies wasn’t on the playground but in the courtroom.
Alongside a team at MacDonald Hoague & Bayless Alex helped organize a successful policing discrimination case against Manawa, Washington city officials.
As one woman collected her settlement payment, she shared with Alex her desire to run for local office. This passing comment set a career shift in motion for Alex:
“A lightbulb went off in my head: I’ve been working on the wrong side of the equation. I’m working on the redress side but the reason why the community has all these problems is because we don’t have any political power on the front end.”
After this experience, Alex ran the democracy program for the Ford Foundation and eventually served as the founding president of the Latino Victory Fund. This campaign effort led him to the White House, where he served as a senior advisor to President Biden.
The Baby Bosses
Today, Alex leads the D.C. Office of Tusk Strategies, a private political strategy firm. However, despite being in charge at work, he still answers to his two daughters at home. He affectionately calls these two the “baby bosses.”
Barring any emergencies, Alex blocks out time for Friday night dance parties. His daughters, both ardent Swifies, control what songs get played. If Alex has any issues with their song selection, all he can do is “shake it off.”
To Alex, who referred to himself as a viejito (old guy) multiple times during the interview, his daughters underscore the importance of his work.
“When my daughters went to sleep one night, they woke up the next morning with less rights than their mother. That shocks the conscience. That’s what’s on the line.”
With these stakes in mind, Alex has been working around the clock to support his team. “He always has your back,” said Bernadette Carrillo, the Managing Director at Tusk.
Alex aims to bring that same reliability to his family life.
“As I started with my mom making sure I had the chances that she didn’t have, I want my girls to have chances I didn’t have. That’s my focus now: making sure we have the financial security so that they can do whatever they want,” he said
When asked about what he wanted his legacy to be, Alex responded like a true lawyer and rejected the question’s premise:
“I don’t really think about legacy. I just think of my little girls. Them being successful however they want to define being successful is my legacy.”
Luis Brea is a Sophomore at Georgetown University studying Government and Spanish. He is currently the Communications Director for the Philodemic Debating Society.