Rosanna Pulido: Conservative for Illinois' Fifth District

Rosanna Pulido has been described as everything from "feisty" to "provocative." On April 7, 2009, in a special election to fill White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's former seat in the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois, Pulido and her supporters are hoping to take that attitude all the way to Washington. Pulido, who was born and raised in the Fifth District, became one step closer to fulfilling that dream when she won the Republican primary for that seat in early March.

So who exactly is Rosanna Pulido? Whether she's helping to solve the United States and Mexico's border problems or being an advocate for senior citizens, she is a woman with a history of standing up for the causes she believes in. Pulido's conservative values may account for her strong pro-life stance against abortion. Her staunch support of the 2nd Amendment comes from her belief that every person has the right to protect themselves and she feels that the people of Illinois are being denied their constitutional rights. While caring for her own parents, Pulido became a voice for senior citizens.

But perhaps her biggest cause is the fight against illegal immigration. Being the daughter and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, Pulido has a unique perspective on this issue and feels that it helps make her an effective leader, but it hasn't prevented her from being labeled a racist. Despite those attacks, Pulido says she sees the issue as a matter of right and wrong. From her website:

Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. It hurts American workers and Legal Immigrants. It hurts the taxpayers of Illinois to the tune of 3.5 BILLION dollars a year. We must give American workers a break and demand that every business uses E-Verify which allows businesses to check if their potential employee is legal to work in the United States.

Unlike many politicians, Rosanna Pulido doesn't just talk the talk. Over the last decade, Pulido has been fighting for the causes she believes in. She was one of the original Minutemen at the American-Mexican border in 2005 and is currently the head of the Illinois Minutemen; the only female to head a state branch of the Minutemen. She has worked for Federation of American Immigrant Reform and spent most of 1999 serving as a missionary in Mexico. She has also worked in law enforcement and hosted a talk-radio show that helped shed light on what services are available to seniors.

Pulido claims that she is the common sense answer for both Republicans and Democrats who are "fed up with Illinois politics."