Senator Richard Polanco was born on March 4, 1951 in East Los Angeles. He joined the Optimist Club in elementary school, was active in Teen Post, and was class president when he attended James A. Garfield High School in Los Angeles. His political awareness started to develop in high school and he got involved with the United Farm Workers when he attended community college. He worked in Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman’s office as a deputy, Arroyo Vista Family Health Center, and attended University of Redlands before first running for California State Assembly in 1986, where he served for eight years. He was elected to the California State Senate in 1994 and served as Senate Majority Leader from 1998 to 2002, when he retired. In this interview, Senator Polanco discusses his early life, family, education, early involvement in politics, community work, career leading up to his political campaigns, serving in both the state assembly and senate, his legislative priorities and committee work, legislation to address the AIDS epidemic, serving as the Latino Caucus chair, working with Cesar Chavez, support of Senate Bill 984, memories of September 11, 2001, decision not to run for re-election in 2002, and his creation of the fellows program under the Latino Caucus Institute.