For Evelyn Mantilla, representation started long before she knew what it meant in the political sense.
Her grandfather, Don Antonio, gave softballs and bats to neighborhood kids in Puerto Rico during Christmas. Her mother, a teacher, provided for her students. Later, her extended family and friends in Puerto Rico stepped in to care for her and her siblings when her parents divorced, simply because “that’s just what you do.” “I had exposure to all of that,” Mantilla said. “It really helped me shape who I am.”
That sense of caring for others would follow her into the Connecticut legislature years later where she represented Hartford’s fourth district, and made history as the first Hispanic woman to serve as deputy majority leader and the first openly bisexual legislator in the country.
But before there was politics for Mantilla, there was family.
A Colombia-Rican upbringing
Mantilla is one of 4 children and the eldest daughter to a Colombian father and Puerto Rican mother. Raised primarily in Puerto Rico, she was always taught to prioritize family. And in very Latino fashion:
“Meaning uncles, aunts, cousins, friends — you know we all call each other family,” she said.
That principal stuck with her when she moved to Harford in 1978 as her mother was recruited to teach the growing Puerto Rican population.
“I always say Connecticut chose us. We did not choose Connecticut,” she said.
While her mother dove into work to provide for her family, 14-year-old Mantilla took on registering her siblings into school, helping with homework and running errands for the family.
Back then, it was all about helping her loved ones get ahead. But as she got older, that sense of responsibility began extending beyond her own family.
At just 19, she trained to be a volunteer sexual assault crisis counselor because she was passionate about advocating for others.
She credits the program not only with the birth of her feminism, but her first run-in with local politics. Then-mayor Carrie Saxon Perry was building her slate for city council and they wanted a Puerto Rican woman to add to the team, Mantilla said.
As a proud Latina, the proposal piqued her interest despite having no idea what it meant. She said yes anyway.
Finding the ‘why’ behind politics
Mantilla realized running and campaigning were two different stories. On her first day, shewas sent to Newton Street in Hartford. She was given a list of voters and instruction to knock on their doors. She parked, got out of the car, walked up and down the street, but couldn’t bring herself to knock on a single door.
“I didn’t know what I was going to find behind that door,” she said.
Yet, she came back the next day and that street changed the course of her life. To her surprise, behind that first door was an African American senior who loved her community just as much as Mantilla, but worried about the youth.
Once-determined to pursue a career in computers and technology, Mantilla fell in love with going door to door.
“The activity of campaigning really feeds my soul, primarily because it puts me in front of people that I want to hear from,” she said.
That feeling remains today, many years after her first campaign run.
Mantilla lost that city council race by less than 16 votes learning that every vote does in fact count. But she was already too fascinated with local politics to step back.
She secured a seasonal position on the former Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. And once in the Capitol, she learned that sharing an identity with the people you represent isn’t enough.
One Puerto Rican legislator, she recalled, wasn’t representing her community in ways she saw fit. That fueled her fire again to fight for the representation she wanted.
“On the last day of the session, I walked out of the state capitol, and I quietly said to myself, ‘I'm going to run against him,’” she said.
She lost the initial race but the representative, Edwin Garcia, faced fraud charges and resigned. She won the seat in a special election in 1997 with a platform of dignity for all.
“I just really felt strongly that everyone, no matter who they are, what background they come from, what resources they have, everyone has a right to a life of dignity,” she said.
That message took a personal meaning on the day she was sworn in and her partner looked at her from the crowd.
“Something told me inside my heart and my brain that I wasn't doing right,” she added.
Making history in CT
Among other identities, Mantilla is bisexual but hadn’t come out publicly at the time.
Just four months later, at an LGBTQ pride ceremony at Bushnell Park, Mantilla officially came out and asked her wife to marry her. Not only was it a day she’ll never forget, but to her surprise, she became the first openly bisexual state legislator in the country.
“It felt amazing,” she said. “ And a little scary too, to be honest.”
Mantilla went on to represent the fourth district for five terms between 1997 to 2007. The district, in the southwest corner of Harford, included part of downtown and was overwhelmingly Latino. She made every effort to represent them how they saw fit.
“Phone calls I got were a lot, but they were not about legislation. My phone calls that were coming to me were, ‘I'm getting evicted tomorrow. What am I going to do?’ Or, ‘I can't afford my meds,’” she said.
For Mantilla, representing the district meant those calls weren’t separate from her legislative work. They drove it.
Her first year in office, Medicaid established a $1 copay for each prescription. While a small change for some, constituents with several prescriptions could rack up meaningful costs. This was especially a barrier for seniors and constituents dealing with HIV or AIDs, Mantilla recalled.
“If you have to get your medicines every month and you have to pay this copay when you're already living in poverty, that makes it very difficult,” she said.
Then-freshmen state representative Mantilla was at the forefront of getting the copay repealed.
“Anyone could say, but you can afford $1, and the truth is that no, not everybody can afford that,” she said.
With that same grit and passion for her community, she went on to be the first Hispanic woman to serve as deputy majority leader in Connecticut — an honor that she still holds close to her heart.
“To me, being a Latina is an identity that almost surpasses my other identities because it comes from such an early place in my life.”
Mantilla says her latinidad gave her strength at time when she needed it most, and it’s an identity that connects her to not only those that raised her, but her two adopted daughters from Guatemala.
Mantilla gave up her seat in 2007 when she moved to West Hartford as her family grew. But nearly three decades after her first encounter with local politics, she is still involved in the political scene, advising those interested in running and lobbying for issues she’s passionate about.
“I think our kids need to see themselves in positions of leadership at all levels and for all different kinds of reasons, and that's why I want to see equity and representation,” she said. “I want to see as many women as I see men. I want to see as many people of color serving, you know, working towards a common goal, and that's really motivating for me.”
This story is part of the series Poderosas: Portraits of Purpose, highlighting Latina leaders in our Connecticut communities.
