Mario Salazar, originally from Buena Park, CA, has been an active member of the Filipino American progressive community. As an undergraduate at Cornell University, Mario was a member of the Cornell Filipino Association executive board for 3 years and served as President in 2003. He also served as the Publicity Officer for Asian Pacific Americans for Action and was the Chairman of the Cornell Asian Pacific Student Union, where he worked to increase Asian American community awareness on campus. Mario was also the Cornell representative to the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue. In 2004, Mario was awarded the Cornell Distinguished Student Leader Award for his on-campus activities.
Mario then went on to New York Law School, where he acted as the Employment Law Intern for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. In this capacity, he assisted migrant Filipina domestic workers in their claims to collect damages for unpaid wages and overtime. After graduating in 2008, Mario acted as the New York State Chair for Filipinos for Obama and played an active role with NY AAPI for Obama. He then went on to work for the Obama for America campaign in Philadelphia, PA where he helped run one of the most productive field operations in the nation. Thereafter, Mario worked for the Montgomery County Democratic Committee in Lower Merion, PA where he worked to elect the first Democratic judge in the history of the county. Mario then went on to work for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s reelection campaign in Reno, NV, where he had some of the top individual field numbers in the entire state. Mario then went on to act as the Southern California Regional Political Organizer for SEIU Healthcare Workers West, where he assisted in the managing the union’s field political campaigns in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and Fresno.
Mario also has strong experience in corporate law. After working as a law clerk at the international corporate law firm Inouye & Ogden, Mario worked at Morris Polich & Purdy and later assisted on a major case at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
Mario is also a member of the Board of Advisers for the Southern California Pilipino American Student Alliance and actively participates in legal clinics hosted by the Long Beach based Filipino Migrant Center, where he assists low-income individuals with their immigration and employment-based legal matters.
In his free time, Mario plays and watches basketball and spends time with his friends and family. Mario is the Operation Vote Director for Organizing for America – Nevada and is the Vice Chair of API Democrats of Orange County.
