Sergio de la Peña is an American politician and retired United States Army colonel who was deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs during the Trump administration.[1]
Sergio de la Peña | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Chihuahua City, Mexico |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ |  United States Army |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Education | University of Iowa (BS) United States Army Command and General Staff College (MA) |
| Political party | Republican |
Career
De la Peña retired from the Army as a colonel. During his career, he was also a division chief of the U.S. Northern Command.[2] De la Peña worked for the private military contractor L-3 before founding[3][2] de la Peña Consulting, LLC in June 2011.[2] He spent five years leading the consultancy.[3]
De la Peña was surrogate for the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign,[2][3] and was then part of the Trump transition team assigned to the United States Department of Defense.[3] In 2017, Defense Secretary James Mattis appointed De la Peña as deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere.[3][2]
2021 Virginia gubernatorial election
On January 11, 2021, de la Peña announced his candidacy as a Republican candidate for the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.[4]