Youngest Member Of Oklahoma Legislature Representing South OKC

The youngest member of the legislature is gearing up for his first session.  

Arturo Alonso will represent House District 89 in southwest Oklahoma City at 23 years old. 

It’s important to note that more than 70 percent of this district is Hispanic and a lot of them speak Spanish, making accessibility and communication Alonso's top priority. 

“It was a tough decision because politics is not something I really thought about getting myself into. That’s for many reasons, for one I didn’t see people that looked like me,” Alonso said.

A recent graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Alonso had his sights set on an engineering job in Austin when the opportunity to run for a house seat came knocking.  

“Leaders that I had involved myself with in high school this included Senator Brooks-Jimenez, Arturo Delgado he is with La Yuma Union, and a few others just because I saw that they were contributing in different ways to my community, which has often been left out of politics, they reached out to me with the opportunity to run with their support,” Alonso said.  

The representative said they laid the groundwork to continue bridging the gap between the southside of Oklahoma City and the capitol.  

“Sometimes it seems like that is the perception like ‘Latinos are all one way, they all vote the same way’ but that is not all the case, we have Latinos that are progressive, conservative, Latinos that have been here for generations but also Latinos that are new migrants to the state,” he said.  

Not only does he relate to his constituents, but he understands the importance of having a seat at the table. 

He said it was his lived experience that made hiring an all-bilingual staff one of his top priorities.  

“Most of my district is Latino or Hispanic. Historically we have not had a lot of people that speak our language. Luckily, I am bilingual, and my parents made sure I understood the language growing up, that is a huge thing,” he said.  

As the youngest member of the Oklahoma legislature, he hopes to inspire his peers to get involved.  

“I really want to find ways to empower young people from all backgrounds to really show them that they belong in politics...they belong in government. Arguably we have more stakes in it because we are young, and we are fighting for our future,” he said. 

Alonso said his goal for this first session is to pass one of his own bills. 

“I want to let people know that they have someone in the capital fighting for them, working for them and I’m doing everything I can to develop myself. I am new to politics, and I am a young guy so I know I have a lot of life to live,” he said.