Analilia Mejia: “good evening. It is a privilege and an honor to stand before this Chamber. We, the privileged few, are honored with the…”

“good evening. It is a privilege and an honor to stand before this Chamber. We, the privileged few, are honored with the responsibility to represent the interests of our fellow Americans at home and across the world. I thank my new colleagues for their warm welcome and the great people of New Jersey's 11th Congressional District for their trust. I thank, of course, my husband, Robert, and my two children, Langston and August, for being my best supporters. The three of them mean the world to me. I also thank my sister, Anaisa, and my two mothers, Luz and Michele, and my dearly departed father, Francisco, for always standing alongside me. My presence in this Chamber is, in many ways, an unlikely reality. I am the daughter of a Dominican factory worker and a Colombian seamstress who knew struggle. Yet, I stand before you, representing the great 11th Congressional District of New Jersey, a place rich in history and eager to make more. I bring greetings from Morristown, where George Washington led through the harsh winters of the Revolutionary War. I bring greetings from Bloomfield, New Jersey, as well, which led the way on access to public education for all. In fact, I send greetings from every corner of my district. My constituents are eager to hear how we shall work together to improve the lives of the many I am honored to represent. Mr. Speaker, there is an African proverb that says: If you wish to know the end, you must strive to understand the beginning.”