Jesse Scheckner
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar will be among the honorees at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute’s (CHLI) 21st Annual Gala and Leadership Awards event in Washington.
Rubio will receive the CHLI Lifetime Leadership Award in recognition, the group said, of his “exceptionally impactful services to the Hispanic community of the United States.”
Salazar, who represents Florida’s 27th Congressional District, will receive the CHLI Leadership in Public Service Award along with Democratic U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas of California. The award honors “public servants who demonstrate commitment to advancing the Hispanic community’s diversity of thought, and who serve as role models for our future leaders.”
The biggest honoree of the evening will be Luis Abinader, who has served as the 54th President of the Dominican Republican since 2020. CHLI is giving him its Founders International Leadership Award, which recognizes individuals whose leadership has had “an extraordinary, positive global impact.”
Former CHLI Alumni Association President Keith Fernandez will also receive the CHLI Ambassador Award for his “exceptional dedication and commitment to CHLI’s mission.”
CHLI Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a former U.S. Representative who served in CD 27 from 1989 to 2019, said in a statement that the organization is honored to recognize each of the recipients.
“Their unwavering dedication to public service and profound impact on the Hispanic community exemplify CHLI’s core values of leadership, community, and diversity of thought,” she said.
This year’s awards event, which begins at the Waldorf Astoria at 6 p.m., comes as a record number of people of Hispanic and Latino descent are serving in Congress. Fifty-three Hispanics serve in the U.S. House and seven are in the U.S. Senate, according to the Pew Research Center. That includes recently elected U.S. Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Bernie Moreno of Ohio.
It also comes as Hispanics are breaking glass ceilings. With his unanimous confirmation Jan. 20 as Secretary of State, Rubio became the first person of Hispanic heritage to take the job and the highest-ranking Latino government official in U.S. history.
CHLI, founded in 2003, describes itself as “the premier organization founded by former Members of Congress to advance economic prosperity with a focus on social responsibility and global competitiveness. CHLI is dedicated to advancing the Hispanic community’s diversity of thought and fostering a broad awareness of the heritage, interests, and views of Americans of Hispanic and Portuguese descent.”
Sponsors of Wednesday’s event include AARP, Altria Client Services, Amazon, American Airlines, Capital One, Comcast, Haleon, NBCUniversal Telemundo, PMI U.S., T-Mobile and Wells Fargo.
Click here for more info on this and past CHLI events and honorees.
