María Pérez

María Elizabeth Pérez (born 1974) is a Salvadoran-born American politician who is a former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. First elected as a Democrat in 2020, Pérez left the party in 2023, citing frustration with a lack of progress on issues that were important to her and "feeling unwelcome in the party". Pérez represented the Hillsborough 23rd district from 2020 to 2022, and the Hillsborough 43rd district from 2022 to 2024.

Early life and career Pérez was born in El Salvador on her grandparents' farm, where she had eight brothers and sisters. Throughout her childhood, she was sexually abused by her father and at the age of 16, was sold off into an arranged marriage in the United States. On her way to there, she was raped by two Mexican border agents. The marriage itself lasted 11 years and resulted in two children.

At the age of 40, she graduated from Nashua Adult Learning and Nashua Community College. She also remarried. Pérez also served as a regional organizer and regional director for Amy Klobuchar's 2020 presidential campaign and field organizer for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.

Political career While in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Pérez focused on restoring abortion access in New Hampshire, the environment, and education. She was seated on the House Children and Family Law Committee, the House Environment Committee, and the House Agriculture Committee.

In 2021, Pérez was "accused of antisemitism" after tweeting, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" and describing Israel as an apartheid state. She later deleted the tweets. She was then removed from the New Hampshire House Progressive Caucus's leadership.

Pérez criticized Maggie Hassan, the United States Senator from New Hampshire, after she voted in favor of an amendment to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that expanded Title 42. This party switch was met with some negative reactions from members of the democratic caucus of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

She was the vice-chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators from 2021 to 2024.

Personal life Pérez moved to New Hampshire from El Salvador and obtained American citizenship in 2007.