Victoria Rivas has a lot on her plate.
As national security adviser to Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Rivas handles not only that explosive topic, but also issues related to immigration and national security.
The position is a study in multitasking, and Rivas has a hand in everything from prepping for markups, devising questions for hearings and meeting with policy experts in Washington and constituent groups in Aguilar’s Southern California district.
“Every day is so different,” she said.
Rivas, 32, didn’t immediately have the Capitol Hill bug. Fresh from the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a degree in political science and international relations, she found her way to Washington through an internship for then-Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.). She’s been here ever since.
“I didn’t think I was going to be a Hill person, in all honesty,” she said. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something in the foreign affairs space. And I really liked it, and I’m here 10 years later still working on the Hill, and I love it.”
Rivas’s first full-time position on the Hill was with another Democratic Caucus chair: former Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.). She also worked in the office of former Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) before landing with Aguilar in 2020.
It was a homecoming of sorts: Her hometown of Rancho Cucamonga is in Aguilar’s district. She describes meetings with district residents as among the most rewarding — and eye-opening — elements of her experience in the Capitol.
“It’s their office, too,” she said. “And I think back to when I lived in the district, I didn’t know that you could reach out to your local member of Congress or anyone and have your voice heard. … That, I think, has been the most surprising. Because D.C. feels so far away from California.”
When she’s not up to her neck in Hill politics, Rivas escapes by reading books. A lot of them.
In fact, she sets a goal to read 100 books every year, and says she usually hits the mark.
“It’s nice to get your eyes off of the screen and just kind of escape from the craziness here,” she said. “I don’t really watch TV or movies, so I’m very behind on pop culture.”
“But I can give book recs.”
