| Alfonso Lopez is a lifelong Democrat and activist with nearly 30 years of federal and Virginia legislative experience on issues critical to the people of Arlington County, Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria. He has served as an Obama Administration political appointee, Kaine Administration cabinet-level appointee, and a six-term member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the people of the 49th District. Alfonso also served as the Majority and Minority Whip of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus from 2016 - 2022. Prior to that, served as Campaign Chair and Political Director of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus in 2015. Alfonso has represented the 49th District in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2012. Since becoming a Delegate, Alfonso has successfully championed legislation creating the Virginia Housing Trust Fund, establishing the Small Business Investment Grant Fund, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote, creating the Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, and raising the cap on nonresidential solar net metering in Virginia. In 2015, he founded the Virginia Environment and Renewable Energy Caucus in the Virginia General Assembly and served as its founding co-chair. As a member of the House of Delegates, he serves on the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee, Commerce & Energy Committee, and the Communications, Technology & Innovation Committee. Additionally, Delegate Lopez serves on the Virginia Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation, the State Water Commission and on the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. Previously, he served as the Chair of the Virginia Small Business Commission. Alfonso served as the Assistant Administrator for Congressional and Legislative Affairs of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Alfonso served as Governor Kaine's Director of the Virginia Liaison Office in Washington, D.C. where he directed and supervised all Congressional and Federal Relations for the Commonwealth. He also served as the Governor's representative to the National Governors Association, Democratic Governors Association and the Southern Governors Association. Alfonso was the highest-ranking Latino in the Kaine Administration. He also served as the Deputy Policy Director on Governor-Elect Kaine's Transition Team. Before becoming a member of the House of Delegates, Alfonso was twice elected the Deputy Chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee. He has also served as the President of the Arlington Young Democrats and as an elected Steering Committee Member of the Democratic Party of Virginia. He is a former President of the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia (DLOV) and former At-Large Member of the Democratic National Committee where he served on the Credentials Committee and as the Southern Regional Vice-Chair of the Hispanic Caucus. Since 2013, he has regularly served as a surrogate, media spokesman, and speaker for Democratic candidates and campaigns in Virginia. In 2016, he also served as the Whip Captain for Hillary Clinton's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. In 2020, he served on the National Latino Leadership Committee for the Joe Biden presidential campaign. Alfonso has served on numerous Arlington and regional boards and commissions. He was a Member of the Arlington Fiscal Affairs Advisory Commission from 2003 to 2006-where he chaired the Health and Human Resources Committee and was a Member of the Public Safety Committee. He was also the Board Vice Chair of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center and the Board Co-Chair of the Arlington Veterans' Memorial YMCA. In 2006, he served on the Commonwealth Coalition's Virginia State Advisory Board. In this position he worked as a part of a State-wide effort to fight Republican attempts in the General Assembly to pass a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage in Virginia. He was previously a Member of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership's State Board. He graduated from Northern Virginia Community College in 1975. Then he took one class a semester every year until he graduated from George Mason University - one month before Alfonso graduated from high school. Alfonso graduated from Vassar College and received his law degree from Tulane University Law School. He was chosen as a 2003 Fellow of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. Alfonso and his wife, Sarah Zevin, live in Arlington along the Columbia Pike corridor with their sons Aaron and Gabe. They have been active in the Arlington community for many years. |