I'm Maite Salazar (they/them). I’m a queer, Latinx, nonbinary, and a fighter.

My passion for advocating change started very young— when I advocated for animal rights with plans to send a "Barbie Jeep" to save endangered animals from poachers. At 17, I was involved in the Anti-War movement during the Bush Administration, participating in direct action when former President George W. Bush was in town. He ran from his car to the event venue, rather than confront the protest I participated in.

I participated in the protests at the North Dakota Pipeline Shutdown facilitated by the Water Protectors. During the protests, I raised thousands of dollars to support Water Protectors on the front lines, with myself on the front lines among them fighting the corporate and government abuse of Native land. I experienced first-hand the full barrage of human rights violations and police brutality facilitated by the United States Government, North Dakota, and Private Police forces on peaceful protestors.

I’ve worked Service Industry jobs for the past 17 years at restaurants, bars, and call centers. Over the years, I’ve learned to maintain the presence of mind in stressful situations, manage staff from many backgrounds, and set loving personal and professional boundaries.

I appeared in the Emmy nominated 2016 documentary called “Abortion: Stories Women Tell” that reacted to devastating laws restricting abortion that passed in Missouri in 2014.

For Season 3 and 4 of Grammy Winning Queer Eye: Kansas City I served as personal assistant to Antoni.

I’ve spoken at nearly every University in the Kansas City region, including guest lecturing for The Kansas City Art Institute and Park University.

I’ve worked as a cultural reporter and music reviewer for KCUR, Kansas City’s local NPR Station.

I have published three books of poetry. I am the founder and Editor-in-Chief of La Resistencia, a local publishing house, and exclusively publish and market books from poets of color in Kansas City.

In 2019 I and three others fought hard to pass a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy in Kansas City.

In 2020 I fought against the proposed VisionQuest juvenile detention center and we won.

In 2020, I saw an opportunity to bring working-class advocacy and powerful front-lines-of-change​ experience to Washington to represent the 5th district. I’m not a millionaire and I don’t care about millionaires. I haven’t been groomed by the political machine of any party, and I don’t come from a political family. I’m interested in changing the way the world works for the working class because right now, it’s not.