Resolution Honors California Congresswoman and New Britain Native Anna Eshoo

California U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo (CA-16) is to be honored with a City Council resolution from her birthplace, New Britain, Connecticut, thanking her for serving more than 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In February, Council Majority Leader, Ald. John McNamara (D-4), who is also the sponsor of the Council resolution, wrote about the announcement of Congresswoman Eshoo’s retirement, saying,

The CA Congresswomen’s roots, however, are in New Britain where she was born in 1942 of Armenian and Assyrian heritage. According to a biography, Eshoo’s mother fled from Armenia to Iraq and later to the United States. Her father, Fred Georges, a Chaldean Christian, was a jeweler and watchmaker.

Eshoo graduated from New Britain High School in 1960 and subsequently moved to California where she settled to marry, raise a family and enter Democratic Party politics. She is a graduate of Canada College of Redwood City, CA and the Coro Foundation.

The Council resolution says that Eshoo, “has served with distinction for 32 years representing her district which includes Silicon Valley and parts of Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties in California.”

“Rep. Eshoo was the first woman and first Democrat to represent her congressional district,” the resolution says, “having been elected in 1992, and having previously served on the San Mateo Board of Supervisors and in other public service positions during a distinguished career.”

Point out that, “Rep. Eshoo’s service has always reflected her New Britain and ethnic and religious roots as Co-Chair and founding member of the Caucus on Religious Minorities in the Middle East and is a member of the Armenian and Ahmadiyya Muslim caucuses,” the resolution honors Eshoo as a leader who, “championed U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide and is the only Assyrian American in Congress as well as the only Armenian American in the U.S. House.”

The resolution says, “that the Common Council of the City of New Britain honors and recognizes U.S. Representative Eshoo, a native of New Britain and its Armenian and Assyrian communities, for her public service and for her steadfast commitment to religious and human rights throughout her years in Congress.”