Michigan House Votes to Repeal Cesar Chavez State Holiday Following Misconduct Allegations
Michigan House votes 103-2 to repeal Cesar Chavez state holiday after sexual misconduct allegations surface against the late civil rights leader.
LANSING, MICHIGAN — The Michigan House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to repeal the state holiday honoring civil rights leader Cesar Chavez following recent sexual misconduct allegations against the late farmworker activist.
House Bill 5836 passed by a margin of 103-2, with only Democratic state Reps. Kara Hope of Holt and Carrie Rheingans of Ann Arbor voting against the measure. The legislation was sponsored by state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford).
The vote came after a New York Times investigation published in March uncovered allegations that Chavez sexually assaulted and abused members of the farmworker community and those in his own organization, including teenage girls.
Co-Founder Breaks Decades of Silence
The scandal deepened when UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta, herself a prominent civil rights leader, accused Chavez of sexual assault dating back to the 1960s. Huerta had kept the allegations secret for nearly 60 years before breaking her silence this year.
Chavez was the longtime leader and co-founder of United Farm Workers and was widely celebrated as a civil rights icon throughout much of his career until his death in 1993.
Lawmaker Cites Evidence Against Chavez
Following the bill’s passage, Schriver defended the repeal effort in a statement.
“The evidence against Chavez cannot be ignored,” Schriver said. “We have detailed accounts from multiple women, including women who say they were abused as minors. As lawmakers, we owe it to victims to make sure that we are not using the state government to officially honor Chavez.”
The revelations have prompted a national reassessment of Chavez’s legacy, with Michigan joining other jurisdictions reconsidering official honors for the late activist.
Next Steps
The legislation now moves to the Michigan Senate for consideration. If approved by the upper chamber and signed by the governor, Cesar Chavez Day would be removed from Michigan’s official state holiday calendar.
The House vote represents a rare bipartisan consensus on a politically sensitive issue, with lawmakers from both parties largely agreeing that the state should not continue officially honoring someone facing credible allegations of sexual abuse.
Michigan established Cesar Chavez Day as a state holiday to recognize the activist’s contributions to labor rights and civil rights advocacy, particularly his work organizing farmworkers and leading boycotts to improve working conditions.
