Rebecca Hermosillo, at your service

Rebecca Hermosillo sits at a picnic table in the meticulously maintained backyard of her family home, and tries to take an hour away from answering the constant calls, texts and emails her phone delivers. It’s not possible.

She is Rep. Mike Thompson’s senior district director and she’s passionate about serving his Sonoma constituents. Even while working from home during the pandemic, her attention never strays from solving problems on immigration issues, IRS nightmares, passport predicaments and any federal government-related question imaginable.

“There are so many people who need help,” she said, explaining that the hardest part of her job is facing those rare situations when it’s beyond her power to make things right.

Hermosillo, 49, joined Thompson’s team as a district representative in 2013, and late last year was promoted to her current position overseeing his Santa Rosa office. It seems counterintuitive that a top aid to a congressman would have little to no interest in politics, which she refers to as “the least fun part of the job.” Hermosillo’s role is all about public service. Helping people is her calling. Helping Thompson is an advantageous byproduct of her efforts.

Despite her disinclination toward the legislative world, her dedication to “the Congressman,” as she repeatedly refers to him, is genuine. There is an admiration in her tone when she speaks of him, and Hermosillo is not the type to work for someone she doesn’t respect.

“What he does for the district and how he sacrifices for his constituents is amazing,” she said.

Her family is the only thing that ranks higher than Hermosillo’s commitment to her career. She keeps a close eye on her mother Maria, 87, showers attention on her grandson Mateo, 4, and her love for her adult sons and large extended family is abounding. Her belief in the importance of family is the like-mindedness she shares with Thompson.

“When he is in Washington, D.C. he’s away from his wife and there are so many birthdays and family get-togethers he misses,” she said.

The Capital holds no allure for Hermosillo, as Sonoma is where she always wants to be. She did make a trip to D.C. for a team training meeting, spending a week there in 2014, and had an eye-opening and educational visit. “It was both informative and overwhelming. It made me realize how hard the Congressman works and how long his days are. He’s fully engaged every single day he’s in D.C.”

Now she can perfectly envision where he is, and what his offices and the Congressional chambers are like. A night tour of the Capital for the staff was a highlight of the trip.

The constant buzz of Washington, D.C. and the hectic pace of her work in Thompson’s district are the complete opposite of the quiet life Hermosillo knew growing up on the Leveroni dairy ranch in Sonoma, when the Valley was much more rural than it is now. Her father Camilo, who died two years ago, was the ranch manager. Hermosillo was born in Sonoma and lived with her parents and older siblings at a house on the ranch until 1985 when her parents bought their own home on the west side of Sonoma where she still lives.

Thompson (D-Saint Helena) has district offices in Napa and Vallejo as well as Santa Rosa, where Hermosillo is his point person. She meets with him (on Zoom these days) as often as five or six times a week when he is not in Washington, D.C., and serves as his representative at local meetings and charity events when he is unable to go himself.

With her joyful smile and warm conversational manner Hermosillo is welcomed and enjoyed at every door she enters. And especially in the Valley, where she’s lived her entire life and raised her sons as a single mother, she seems to know just about everyone.

As a young woman Hermosillo completed the legal secretary program at Empire College and went on to work at the Kemp and Kemp law firm on the Plaza. She next followed her older sister’s lead and entered the real estate business, helping people buy and sell properties in the Valley. Her volunteer work with the Valley of the Moon Teen Center led to a position as its executive director, where she often cooked dinners for the teens, always listening intently to their stories and needs.

“In my family, no matter what, we always had dinner together, so I introduced the dinner idea to the teens,” she said. She carried her empathy and listening skills with her when her career next took her to Thompson’s office.

She works about 60 hours a week in a world where attending a meeting or fundraiser in the evening doesn’t mean you are not back at work first thing in the morning, And, no, she is not paid by the hour. She also found time, mostly late at night and on weekends, to earn an online degree in public administration from Park University in 2019.

“When Mondays come around I can’t wait to get back in the saddle,” she said. “And when I go on vacation I’m happy when it’s time to go back to work.”

Thompson, 70, was first elected to Congress in 1998 and his current term lasts until 2023. “I don’t see him retiring anytime soon, and in the federal government he is still considered young,” Hermosillo said. She hopes to be working for him well into the future, but no matter what she will never veer from her commitment to help others.

“I need to be of service. That will always be my goal.”