Meet Mayra

If you’re raised in Back of the Yards, nothing is ever handed to you. And that was true for Mayra Macías. Mayra was born at Cook County Hospital. The oldest of three, she and her parents–who are Mexican immigrants–lived with extended family to save money as they worked to get on their feet. 

Eventually Mayra’s family moved into a home of their own across the street from her elementary school and the church her family still attends today. It was there she learned the meaning of service. Before Mayra’s dad got a union job with the city as a garbage man, the family sometimes struggled to make ends meet. But Mayra never felt poor; her family was deeply immersed in the community and the church, and everyone helped each other, because that’s just what you do.

Mayra thrived in school and was admitted to Whitney Young, on the other side of town. For six years, she was bussed from Back of the Yards an hour towards downtown and it was then that Mayra experienced for the first time the income inequality that had long existed in Chicago. Her high school years continued to shape her commitment to public service and her community. As a high school senior, Mayra led a student walkout to protest the Sensenbrenner Bill, an anti-immigrant law directly targeting the Latino community. It was also during this time that Mayra became even more involved throughout the Chicago area through Playground Pilots, a program dedicated to building playgrounds and safe spaces for children to play in Chicago Public Schools. The impact of local investments like Playground Pilots was clear to Mayra, as many of those playgrounds are still around today. 

After graduating high school, Mayra was accepted to Yale University making her the first in her family to attend a four-year college. Her need-based financial aid covered most costs, but she took on odd jobs to pay for the rest. When Mayra wasn’t working or studying, she was tutoring children in underserved communities, working at La Casa Cultural on campus and spending time in Latin America working with non-government organizations to bring resources to communities in need.Big or small, if someone needed help, Mayra was there. Mayra’s passion for education led her to Teach for America where she taught middle school English for two years. However, after witnessing the consequences that bad policies—made by Washington, D.C. politicians—had on her students and her classroom, Mayra decided to do something about it. So she joined President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign as an organizer.

Since then, Mayra has dedicated her life to building coalitions with organizers, policymakers and advocates to address the needs of families across the country. She served as Executive Director of the Latino Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to helping elect Latinos to office as well as to empower voters to use their voice and their vote to demand change. And most notably, she served as the Executive Director of Building Back Together—an organization that worked closely with the Biden-Harris Administration to pass the most meaningful legislation since the New Deal.

Mayra’s work helped pass transformative bills to create jobs and funding for roads, bridges, and public transportation including billions to Illinois. Her work building coalitions helped deliver $35 insulin caps, historic legislation to deliver clean air and clean energy jobs in overlooked communities, and the first major federal gun safety legislation in almost 30 years.

Now Mayra’s running for Congress because everything she has fought for is being rolled back and the community that raised her is being directly targeted by the Trump Administration. Families that have long struggled to make ends meet are being crushed by Trump’s tariffs that have skyrocketed the cost of living. Entire communities in Chicago are being racially profiled and detained without due process or regard for the Constitution. The country is living through the most corrupt Administration of our lives and politicians aren’t doing enough to stand up for those that need the most help.

Mayra’s running because in this moment we have to work together to fight for the future our loved ones and our neighbors deserve. Mayra will fight to address the cost of living, she will always protect our immigrant communities and stand up against the corruption that has made it impossible to prioritize the people elected officials are supposed to serve.