Leslie Guerra
Leslie was born and raised in the small military town of Junction City, Kansas. She is the third of four female siblings and sees herself as a classic middle child (peacemaker, indecisive, always able to see two sides of an issue). Her Dad was a real estate agent and her Mom stayed home, but then went to work at age 60 substitute teaching. Leslie earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Kansas State University and a Master’s in Clinical Social Work from the University of Kansas. Thus, she has split loyalties between these two major Kansas universities.
She worked for the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services as a child protective services worker for four years after college. After earning her Master’s Degree, she worked for community mental health centers, first in her home town and then, the Kansas City area and worked for the same mental health center for the rest of her career (almost 30 years). There, she was a therapist working with children, couples, families and groups. In the last several years, she was a supervisor for an outpatient crisis center, working with people with chronic mental illnesses and very limited resources.
Leslie has been a Democrat since she was old enough to vote. Both of her parents were Democrats and her father was very involved in politics at the local level – mayor, city commissioner, county commissioner, etc. She began volunteering for the Democratic Party in the past few years – canvassing and doing phone banking for local and national candidates.
Leslie and her husband, Larry, moved to Sanford in August 2018 so that he could pursue a work opportunity. She decided to retire at that time and was looking for ways to meet people and things to do to contribute to her community. They began attending SemDems monthly meetings in September 2018 and quickly decided to get more involved.
Leslie is the precinct captain for Precinct #3 in Sanford and also works in the SemDems office several hours/month. She has activated neighbors in her gated community and has already had a couple of parties to mobilize volunteers. Leslie and Larry enjoy canvassing together and plan to do lots of that in the coming year and plan to support local campaigns, as well. They have also volunteered to help provide training to new volunteers. Leslie is involved with the Progressive Women’s Alliance and is currently helping with voter registration.
Leslie said, “The past few years have been devastating to the Democrats with the current President. Participating in the party helps me to feel connected to like-minded folks and to feel like I might be making a difference. I am passionate about equal rights for all, cleaning up the environment, maintaining women’s reproductive rights and living in a safe and compassionate world. There are so many issues that I think are important and my values align with the Democratic Party.”
Her other interests include two book clubs because she loves to read. She is also an avid runner/walker and enjoys several yoga classes per week. She has just started doing a little traveling and hopes to increase this when her husband decides to retire.
“Moving to Seminole County has been a great experience and I am enthused with all of the people I have met in the past year who share my political views and are working hard to keep Seminole County BLUE,” she emphasizes.