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Romualdo Pacheco
Portrait byMathew Bradyc. 1877–1880
12th Governor of California
In office February 27, 1875 – December 9, 1875
Lieutenant	William Irwin (Acting)
Preceded by	Newton Booth
Succeeded by	William Irwin
12thLieutenant Governor of California
In office December 8, 1871 – February 27, 1875
Governor	Newton Booth
Preceded by	William Holden
Succeeded by	William Irwin (Acting)
7thTreasurer of California
In office October 10, 1863 – December 7, 1867
Governor	Leland Stanford Frederick Low
Preceded by	Delos R. Ashley
Succeeded by	Antonio F. Coronel
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's4th district
In office March 4, 1879 – March 4, 1883
Preceded by	Peter D. Wigginton
Succeeded by	Pleasant B. Tully
In office March 4, 1877 – February 7, 1878
Preceded by	Peter D. Wigginton
Succeeded by	Peter D. Wigginton
Member of theCalifornia Senate
In office January 7, 1869 – October 6, 1871
Preceded by	Patrick W. Murphy
Succeeded by	James Van Ness
Constituency	3rd district
In office January 7, 1861 – December 7, 1863
Preceded by	John H. Watson
Succeeded by	Juan Y. Cot
Constituency	3rd district
In office January 4, 1858 – January 2, 1860
Preceded by	Pablo de la Guerra
Succeeded by	Pablo de la Guerra
Constituency	2nd district
Diplomatic offices United States Minister to Nicaragua In office May 21, 1891 – October 13, 1891 President Benjamin Harrison Preceded by Lansing B. Mizner Succeeded by Richard C. Shannon United States Minister to Costa Rica In office May 7, 1891 – October 31, 1891 President Benjamin Harrison Preceded by Lansing B. Mizner Succeeded by Richard C. Shannon United States Minister to Honduras In office April 17, 1891 – June 12, 1893 President Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland Preceded by Lansing B. Mizner Succeeded by Pierce M. B. Young United States Minister to El Salvador In office March 28, 1891 – November 14, 1891 President Benjamin Harrison Preceded by Lansing B. Mizner Succeeded by Richard C. Shannon United States Minister to Guatemala In office February 28, 1891 – June 12, 1893 President Benjamin Harrison Preceded by Lansing B. Mizner Succeeded by Pierce M. B. Young
Personal details
Born	José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco (1831-10-31)October 31, 1831 Santa Barbara,Alta California,Mexico
Died	January 23, 1899(1899-01-23) (aged 67) Oakland,California,United States
Political party	Democratic(before 1860) National Union(1860–1868) Republican(after 1868) People's Independent(1875)
Spouse	Mary McIntire Pacheco
Children	Maybella Ramona Romualdo Jr.
Relatives	José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco (father) María Ramona Carrillo de Pacheco (mother) María Ygnacia López de Carrillo (grandmother) Francisca Benicia Carrillo de Vallejo (aunt) Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (uncle) Pablo de la Guerra (cousin)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	American Civil War

José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco (October 31, 1831 – January 23, 1899) was aCalifornio statesman and diplomat. He is best known as the onlyHispanic person to serve asgovernor of California since the AmericanConquest of California, and as the first Latino to represent a state in theU.S. Congress.^[1] ARepublican, Pacheco was elected and appointed to various state, federal, and diplomatic offices throughout his more than thirty-year career, including serving as aCalifornia State Treasurer,California State Senator, and three terms in theU.S. House of Representatives.

José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco was aCalifornio, born inSanta Barbara, California, to a family with prominent connections. His father,José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco, had moved toAlta California fromGuanajuato in 1825, and served as an aide toJosé María de Echeandía during his tenure asgovernor of Alta California. Pacheco's father was killed at theBattle of Cahuenga Pass in 1831, when the young Romualdo was just five weeks old.^[2] His father had shot José María Avila, who had attackedAlta California GovernorManuel Victoria with a lance, but died when Avila's lance struck him.^[3]

His mother, María Ramona Carrillo de Pacheco, was a sister-in-law of GeneralMariano Guadalupe Vallejo and a daughter ofMaría Ygnacia López de Carrillo, the grantee ofRancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa. After the death of his father, Romualdo's mother married Captain John D. Wilson, aScotsman, who sent Pacheco toHonolulu, Hawaii, for hiseducation.^[4]

At age twelve, Pacheco began anapprenticeship aboard atradingvessel. TheMexican–American War broke out two years later, and he was briefly held by American forces during theConquest of California while on one trip in July 1846, as he brought cargo toYerba Buena (modern daySan Francisco). The ship he was on was searched, and he made an oath of allegiance to the United States and was released.

Pacheco's association with a prominent family in the state helped him to gain support as he entered politics in the 1850s. He was also well respected byAnglos coming into the area. Early in his political career in the 1850s, he was aDemocrat. He became affiliated with theNational Union Party in the 1860s, but was elected to most of his positions as a candidate for theRepublican Party.

In 1853, at age 22, Pacheco successfully sought the position ofJudge inSan Luis Obispo County.^[5] Pacheco waselected to theState Senate in 1857, succeeded his cousinPablo de la Guerra.^[6] At 27 years old, he was the youngest member of the legislature.^[7] He was re-elected two times, serving until 1863. During theAmerican Civil War Pacheco was appointed the rank ofbrigadier general by GovernorLeland Stanford and directed to disarm military companies in theLos Angeles area that were not loyal to theUnion.

Pacheco served asState Treasurer from 1863 to 1867, then returned to the State Senate until he was electedLieutenant Governor in1871. He served asLieutenant Governor of California underNewton Booth until Booth was elected to theUnited States Senate in1873 and took office in 1875. Pacheco then served as Governor from February 27 to December 9, 1875, when Lieutenant GovernorWilliam Irwin, winner in theSeptember elections that year, was inaugurated. Pacheco, having been denied the Republican nomination for Governor, insteadran for Lieutenant Governor on thePeople's Independent ticket alongsideJohn Bidwell.

After his brief tenure as governor, Pacheco ran for a U.S. House seat in 1876, defeating incumbentPeter D. Wigginton by just one vote. California Secretary of StateThomas Beck refused to certify the election due to the revelation that two votes cast for Wigginton in Monterey County were not counted.^[8] Pacheco contested this and brought the case all the way to theSupreme Court of California, where it was found that the tally clerk had indeed removed two votes after California’s Board of Elections had adjourned. However, the court found that this was done to account for a clerical error in the vote totals, legitimizing Pacheco’s win in the election.^[9]

He was sworn into office on October 17th, 1877, in spite of the efforts made to block his taking of the oath of office on the basis of Wigginton’s contestation made by the Democrat-controlled Congress.^[10] TheHouse Committee on Elections found on January 31st, 1878 that while the State Supreme Court’s ruling regarding the two votes removed for Wigginton in Monterey was valid, they argued that because of irregularities in ballots outside of Monterey County, dozens of votes for both candidates were invalid. State law gave precinct judges the authority to throw out ballots for having extraneous markings.^[11] They also claimed that many ballots were cast by voters who were not residents of the state or districts. The committee ruled that Wigginton won by a 4 vote margin. The full house concurred in a partisan vote of 136 to 125, thus removing Pacheco from his seat of February 7th, 1878.^[12]

Pacheco ran again in 1878, winning with 40% of the votes, which was more than either the Democrat Wallace Leach or the independent candidate James Ayers. His win was due in large part to his ability to appeal to “the Spanish Vote” by campaigning in both English and Spanish. He was reelected in 1880, winning with 46% of the vote, narrowly defeating Leach by 191 votes.

During his first term, he was a member of three standing committees: Public Lands, Private Land Claims, and Public Expenditures.^[13] Romualdo preferred working in these smaller committees to speaking in front of the entire house. He focused his legislative efforts on improving the harbors and railroads in his district. Because the House of Representatives was controlled by Democrats at the time, he failed to get his legislation through Congress.

Because of his experience in the field, when theGOP took control of the House, they named Pacheco Chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims.

In 1882, he broke from his silence on national issues when he argued in favor ofThe Chinese Exclusion Act, citing concerns that Chinese immigrants who worked in mines and on railroads in California were stealing the jobs of White Americans and degrading the morality of Chinese cities.^[14] The bill was passed as Pacheco joined the 60 Republicans as well as all the Californian representatives in voting in the affirmative.^[15]

After leaving Congress, Pacheco lived on acattleranch in the northernMexican state ofCoahuila for five years until he was appointed as U.S.Minister to various countries inCentral America in 1890.

He returned to California in 1893, and he died inOakland, at the home of his brother-in-law, in 1899. He is buried inMountain View Cemetery.^[16]

On October 31, 1863, he married Mary McIntire, a 22-year-old playwright.^[17] They had two children, Maybella Ramona and Romualdo^[18]

Pacheco not only was the first Hispanicgovernor of California, but (as of 2024) the only one in California's history as a state. He is also remembered for being the first Latino to represent a state in theU.S. House of Representatives. Latinos had served as non-voting delegates of territories before, but Pacheco was the first Latino member of Congress with full voting rights.

He was the lastHispanic Republican elected to representCalifornia in the U.S. Congress untilMike Garcia was elected to represent the25th district in aspecial election in May 2020,^[19] althoughFrank Coombs, whose mother was Mexican, was a Republican U.S. representative from California from 1901 to 1903, and Mexican-American U.S. RepresentativeMatthew G. Martínez switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party on July 27, 2000 and served in Congress as a Republican until his term concluded on January 3, 2001.

Romualdo Pacheco was the last Latino governor in the United States untilBill Richardson, who served as governor of New Mexico from 2002 to 2011.^[20]

• 
  Pacheco in the 1860s
• 
  Pachecoc. 1870s
• 
  Pacheco with his auntFrancisca Benicia Carrillo de Vallejo
• 
  Pacheco's official gubernatorial portrait

• List of governors of California
• Hispanic and Latino conservatism in the United States
• List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress
• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

• Nicholson, Loren (1990).Romualdo Pacheco's California!. San Luis Obispo: California Heritage Publishing Associates.ISBN 0-9623233-2-2.
• Ronald Genini & Richard Hitchman,Romualdo Pacheco: A Californio in Two Eras, The Book Club of California:1985. LC Control#86101529

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRomualdo Pacheco.

• Romualdo Pacheco at theCalifornia State Library
• Romualdo Pacheco at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Romualdo Pacheco at theLibrary of Congress

• 1831 births
• 1899 deaths
• 19th-century American diplomats
• Ambassadors of the United States to Costa Rica
• Ambassadors of the United States to El Salvador
• Ambassadors of the United States to Guatemala
• Ambassadors of the United States to Honduras
• Ambassadors of the United States to Nicaragua
• American people of Spanish descent
• Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)
• Republican Party California state senators
• Californios
• Republican Party governors of California
• Hispanic and Latino American diplomats
• Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress
• Hispanic and Latino American state governors of the United States
• Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California
• Lieutenant governors of California
• Republican Party members of the California State Assembly
• People from Santa Barbara, California
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
• State treasurers of California
• Latino conservatism in the United States
• American politicians of Mexican descent
• Hispanic and Latino American people in California politics
• Mexican-American culture in California
• 19th-century members of the California State Legislature
• 19th-century United States representatives

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