Days after the House of Representatives approved a measure to put Dreamers on a path to citizenship in 2019 – a measure that had no chance to clear the Senate or to get then-President Trump’s signature – a cloud billowed over a rental house near Capitol Hill.
That plume in the early June sky was four Texans’ way of sharing their home with friends, colleagues, mentors and mentees.
“Growing up on the border, you see a bunch of mushroom clouds in the weekends. And it’s like, your vecinos, your tíos and everybody else making carne asada and it’s just the mushroom clouds there,” said Jorge Aguilar, the grill master and, at the time, a top communications adviser for then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Aguilar and housemates Carlos Sanchez, Carlos Paz and Juan Sanchez were hosting the biggest party they would hold in their four years sharing a house that Politico Playbook once dubbed the Republic of Texas on H Street.
The four worked their way up from south Texas to top positions on the hill and brought others along with them, growing a family tree of Latino staffers throughout the Capitol, providing a voice that had at times been missing in the nation’s capital and making their mark on some of the biggest issues of the day.
And the H Street house, also known as the Texas Embassy or, simply, the Texas House, became a central gathering place.
“I think the idea was, ‘how do we bring people together who might not be in the same room?’ Because they’re junior staffers, mid-level staffers and senior staffers. And we had a range of roommates that were able to bring those people together. And that was really, really cool to have, you know, folks that worked, who had been on the Hill for 10-plus years, people that had been on the Hill for you know, five years and the new staff, staff assistants,” said Paz, who worked communications jobs in several offices and is now chief of staff for Rep. Jimmy Gómez (D-Calif.).
The party was an extension of the House’s purpose: To shelter and feed its inhabitants, of course, but also to elevate Washington outsiders as congressional aides, to provide refuge from the political chaos of the Trump administration and to turn homesickness into a sail, rather than an anchor.
Recruiting back home
“Carlos Sanchez is really the through line in all of our stories, like he was the one that recruited – went to El Paso or Laredo to recruit for [the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI)] and that’s how we met Jorge,” Paz said.
“I met [Carlos Sanchez] on the Hillary campaign in 2016. And he’s the one that said like, ‘you should come to DC. I think you could do really well.’”
Carlos Sanchez’s first recruit was his brother Juan, who in 2022 was confirmed by the Senate as the Southwest Border Regional Commission federal co-chair.
The Sanchez brothers, both graduates of Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) grew up in Laredo, taking manual jobs to pay for their education. Carlos Sanchez, who first arrived in Washington in 2004, credits his own Texan mentors for getting him to the capital.
“Cindy Jiménez who used to work for Pelosi is now a lobbyist. Dean Aguillén who’s now a lobbyist but also worked with Pelosi and Moses [Mercado] were instrumental. Dean and Cindy were instrumental in me coming to DC. Those three guys were instrumental in me rising in DC. So instrumental that like, up until four years ago, or three years ago, I hadn’t stopped to take notice that I’ve worked in government longer than they ever, ever did,” said Carlos Sanchez, who now works as chief of staff to Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.).
“I’ve never forgotten that. And I’ve always wanted – one, wanted to bring more talented Hispanics to DC. But two: when you have that connection, like I did with Carlos and like I did with Jorge, it was just like a natural. Like, ‘you guys should come, we should all come and do this together,’” added Sanchez, who also credits former White House senior adviser Adrian Saenz as a key mentor.
Carlos Sanchez and Paz worked long days together on the Clinton campaign in 2016, where they developed a personal and professional relationship. Paz, the only housemate who isn’t from Laredo, had prior Washington experience, having attended George Washington University.
“I went to school at GW and I had made my peace with Washington D.C. I said ‘you know I’m a Houstonian and I want to work in Houston. I want to work in Texas.’ And it really wasn’t until Carlos said, literally said, ‘you know I think you could do really well in D.C’. You should come and you can stay on my couch and I’ll introduce you to people,’” Paz said.
“He laid it out very cohesively, like the argument was there very logically [he] said, ‘if you don’t get a job in three or four months, you just come back and keep running races but if you do get a job like see what happens,’ and the rest is history.”
Aguilar, now a K Street strategist, a TAMIU graduate and Laredo native, walked up to Carlos Sanchez, who was at his alma mater recruiting students for CHCI’s internship program.
“Every class I went to I offered, like, ‘here’s my email, here’s my cell phone, here’s the pamphlet. You guys apply, let me know, so that I can recommend you,’ and Jorge after class came up,” Carlos Sanchez said.
Aguilar got a fellowship with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), then a job on the Obama campaign in 2012 in Nevada.
The Texas Embassy is born…
Years later, the Sanchez brothers and Paz found themselves in Washington, trying to adjust to the new realities of working for the minority with Trump in the White House.
Carlos Sanchez suggested the three of them get a place together, and they found the H Street house, but needed someone to fill a fourth bedroom. Jorge Aguilar quickly came to mind, Paz said.
The group quickly settled into a routine. In the evening, after work, the four housemates would cook dinner together and talk, sometimes about personal issues, often about their careers.
“We challenged each other a lot. You know, we always talked about our professional growth. We talked about ways in which we could approach certain scenarios. We talked about ways in which we could just you know, help each other out, leverage each other as well,” Aguilar said.
The interactions were surprisingly drama-free, though one recurring point of contention turned into an inside joke.
“Jorge was always the one who was trying to get rest – to kind of go back up[stairs] – he also worked for Pelosi at the time. And so you know, those – particularly on the comms side it can be pretty demanding. But we enjoyed each other’s company and I’ll tell you this: Jorge, while he did want to go to bed or wanted to go upstairs, he was like, easy to convince, so he didn’t really want to go. Like, it didn’t take much to get him to stay,” Carlos Sanchez said.
For Aguilar, the struggle was real.
“I loved it and I hated it because I’m an early person. I like to wake up early,” said Aguilar.
“We would get home like at 8:30 from work. We would go get a pizza or some tacos or whatever or cook out and we would just stay in the backyard or in the living room just talking. And just talking till midnight, sometimes a little past midnight. But it was, you know, I always wanted to be the first one to leave but I also didn’t want to miss on any talk, on something that I could learn from and grow and get better at.”
On weekends, the group would dial up the Texas and often welcome a fifth weekend roommate, Julio Obscura, into the house.
“Juan loved to do paellas and beans, he had great charro beans. Paz, Carlos Paz loved, loved, loved to cook breakfast and do what’s it called? Cinnamon Buns. His specialty were the sweets,” Aguilar said.
“Carlos, Carlos. Believe it or not, Carlos [Sanchez] has a nice hand at carne asadas too. I remember one day I came out late from work and we were gonna do a carne asada but I couldn’t – you know, I wasn’t gonna be there on time to cook. And he ended up doing it and to me, it was really really delicious.”
But Aguilar remained the official purveyor of mushroom clouds.
“I was a poor substitute. I was a poor man’s Jorge. It was just like – Jorge, man. One: he’s got a real a real talent and a real passion for grilling. Two: He just makes it taste like home,” Carlos Sanchez said.
“I was not an adequate substitute. I was more of a more of a director. I kind of like, this is what we’re doing, this is who’s invited. You know, kind of like I set the table. Metaphorically, because my brother set the table physically.”
…and lives on
In 2021, the group reluctantly decided to disband – Aguilar got married and was expecting a baby, long-distance girlfriends and wives moved to town, and the Texas Embassy lease was up for renewal.
“Every, every, every moment was special. It truly was every, every moment was great. Every moment for me was monumental. Felt like, you know, I needed to appreciate all that and that’s something that I learned from them. Appreciating the moments, appreciating the time that you’re here and that you continue giving that your all, you know, always putting your head down and just give it your all,” Aguilar said.
But the group still gets together regularly, inviting mentors and new and former mentees to their backyard gatherings, often featuring a mushroom cloud laid by grill master Jorge Aguilar.
“So we’ve shared in life’s most important moments with one another, professionally, personally, and been there for one another through like hard times, right? When parents get sick, when friends pass away, when family members pass away, and we always make it a habit even to this day to reach out. We try to get together at least once a month and we talk to each other and we have text group chains and it’s I just feel so fortunate that that these guys came into my life,” Paz said.