Climbing up Capitol Hill

Rising `Runner Adrienne Salazar keeps rising in D.C.

By California State University, Bakersfield

February 18^th, 2020

Editor's note: Adrienne Salazar is one of four 2020 Alumni Rising Runners, CSUB graduates of the last 10 years already making a mark with their careers.

Adrienne Salazar wasn’t sure she wanted to return to Capitol Hill until she saw a job with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib pop up and Googled her.

On Tlaib’s resume: First Muslim woman elected to the Michigan Legislature, and one of the first two elected to Congress. Congresswoman for the third-poorest House district. A member of “The Squad,” known for its progressive politics and feuds with President Trump.

“I thought if there’s anyone I’m going to go back to the Hill for, it’s that woman,” Salazar, 30, said.

And what a return it has been. Salazar is Tlaib’s press secretary, meaning she takes reporters’ calls, plots communications strategy and handles social media for a congresswoman who constantly receives nasty phone calls and makes national news.

Salazar tagged along as her boss, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, taped an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Myers" in May 2019.

Tlaib made headlines for being briefly detained by police last Friday during a protest with airline workers at Detroit Metro Airport—a detainment she volunteered for in solidarity with other protestors. Last August, Israel announced it would deny her and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar entry into the country because of their Middle East politics.

Israel relented and said Tlaib could visit her grandmother in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but she refused to accept its conditions.

The realization Tlaib wouldn't get to see her grandmother for potentially the last time -- hitting around the fifth anniversary of her own grandfather's passing -- made Salazar so emotional she cried at her desk. So her job can be intense and stressful.

But Salazar embraces it.

“She’s down to earth in a way I didn’t think was possible for a member of Congress. She really cares about her constituents and so it’s all worth it,” Salazar said of Tlaib.

“Whenever any sort of controversy comes up or we’re debating how to address a controversial topic, I’m the one to say, ‘You be yourself, I will deal with whatever comes from it.’”

Michigan’s 13th Congressional District faces a lot of the same struggles as Salazar’s hometowns, another reason she loves her job.

Salazar grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, the third of six children. After her parents divorced and her mom had to go back to school and work, she assumed a lot of responsibility over her three younger siblings.

She was eager to attend college out of state and so moved to Bakersfield where she had family. She wanted to go to CSUB but couldn’t afford the $8,000 tuition.

So Salazar worked at Best Buy for four years to earn enough money for school.

“I have a whole lot of useless knowledge because I was a TV salesperson,” she joked in 2018 when the Alumni Association first profiled her. “I can set up a proper home theater.”

Pressed for time and money, Salazar obtained permission to take unusually heavy course loads and graduated from CSUB in three years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2015.

Salazar was hungry for real-world experience and wanted to make a difference, so joined the 2014 valley congressional campaign of Democrat Amanda Renteria. Renteria lost to incumbent Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford. But Salazar got to see an “amazing” woman from the valley make a run, she said.

Salazar watches as Tlaib is photographed for the American Superhero Project, a photo essay featuring Americans deemed real-life superheroes.

While earning her master’s degree in political communication at American University in Washington, D.C., Salazar interned at “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” as a booking agent, researcher and writer.

From there Salazar was an advertising fellow at Revolution Messaging in Washington, where she got to write ad copy for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign during the waning days of it. Then she became a broadcast media intern at the White House.

She monitored news networks for information relevant to the Obama Administration and helped tape interviews with senior staff and the president. That includes Bill Maher’s first interview with Obama, which was so meaningful to her because “Real Time” had sparked her interest in other political shows like “This Week,” “Morning Joe” and “Hardball with Chris Matthews” when she was just 13 years old.

Just two months later, Salazar went to work for Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., first as press assistant and then deputy press secretary.

Feeling a little restless, Salazar left Clark’s office after the November 2018 election and went to work for a politically oriented temp agency to figure out what to do next. That’s when she saw the opportunity to work with Tlaib, and in February 2019 got the job.

Her family back in Bakersfield (many of whom are Trump supporters) knew generally what she did in D.C. two years ago. They’re far more in tune to it now.

They frequently send her news articles about Tlaib, express opinions about the goings on of Washington, ask if certain things are true, and check to see if she’s OK.