Grace Garcia, the executive director of the Democratic women-in-politics group Annie's List, was killed in a fatal car accident in Waxahachie on Monday, the organization said early Tuesday morning.
"It is with a tremendous sense of loss that we announce the passing of our executive director and leader Grace Garcia, who lost her life in a car accident Monday afternoon," Annie's List board chair Amber Anderson Mostyn said in a statement.
Garcia came to work for Annie's List after serving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a senior adviser in the Office of the Chief of Protocol. Before working at the State Department, she ran an event management and public affairs firm she founded in 2001. Garcia spent more than a decade orchestrating the schedules of then-President Bill Clinton, and later, Hillary Clinton. She worked as the deputy director in the White House's Office of Presidential Scheduling and served as the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Garcia has also been a top adviser to campaigns; she was one of the founders of the National Latina Political Action Committee and oversaw the National Latino Finance Council for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.
A San Antonio native, Garcia attended high school alongside friend and lieutenant governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte, according to The San Antonio Express-News. She attended the University of Texas at Austin.
"Grace Garcia was the passionate, tough, visionary leader we needed at Annie's List," Mostyn said. "The best tribute to her life is to continue the work Grace started on behalf of Annie's List and women across Texas."
