Denise Moreno Ducheny has spent most of her life fighting for working men and women and standing up for her family, her constituents and her community.
Denise’s roots run deep in San Diego and Imperial Counties and her campaign to represent the 51st District in Congress comes from her desire to make life better for the area she loves and to continue to be an effective advocate for working men and women.
Denise was born in Los Angeles and raised in La Habra, California. She went to Pomona College, studied Spanish in Mexico and economics in Sweden and received her Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. Denise started her public service as a Trustee for the San Diego Community College District where she was a Founder and Chair of the Association of Latino Community College Trustees. In 1994 she was elected to the California State Assembly where she served for 6 years followed by 8 years in the California State Senate. In both houses of the Legislature she was the first woman and first Latino to Chair the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. During her years in the State Legislature she served on the California State Coastal Conservancy, the Workforce Investment Board, and the K-12 Curriculum Commission.
Denise’s tenure in the Assembly and Senate was dedicated to standing up for what she believed in, always putting her constituents first and taking leadership roles in addressing the challenges facing the communities she represented. She was a leader in the fight to implement welfare reform, encourage renewable energy projects, insure a reliable water supply for both agricultural and urban uses, build farm worker housing, and the restoration of the Otay River Valley, the Tijuana River Valley Estuary, Paradise and Chollas Creeks and the Salton Sea.
Denise has years of experience creating jobs and economic opportunities and targeting investments in education and infrastructure improvements. She has also lead efforts to build co-operative relationships with Mexican Government officials as founder and chair of the Border Legislators Conference and the Legislative Forum of the Three Californias. She has fought consistently to improve the infrastructure and environment of the border regions, increase the efficiency of border crossings to increase trade and improve cross-border economic, social and cultural activity, and address cross-border air quality, water quality, and health issues.
In addition to her leadership role on economic development, state budgeting and education she has been a champion of funding and expanding community health clinics in underserved areas and providing incentives to medical students who serve in underserved communities.
In Congress she will continue her leadership role in the areas of job creation and affordable health care while protecting seniors from unfair budget cuts to Medicare and Social Security and providing our children with a first rate education system that will allow them to compete in a global marketplace. She is also a strong advocate for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bringing our brave men and women home. Denise will stand up to the special interests who have dominated our politics and continue her fight for what’s in the interests of working men and women.
A practicing attorney since being admitted to the California State Bar in 1979 her practice has focused in the areas of immigration and Family Law. Denise Moreno Ducheny has been married to Al Ducheny since 1980.
