Joe Biden campaign names Mercado Virginia state director

The Joe Biden for President campaign has named Fernando Mercado as Virginia state director.

Mercado had previously served as the Iowa Deputy Organizing Director for Sen. Kamala Harris.

Prior to that post, Mercado had served as political director for Attorney General Mark Herring, policy coordinator for the Virginia House Democratic Caucus, and Director of Latino Outreach for Gov. Ralph Northam. He also worked on the successful re-election campaign for Sen. Mark Warner and was a community organizer for the Legal Aid Justice Center in Northern Virginia working on health care and immigration issues.

Mercado was born in Bolivia, immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was five years old and is a die-hard UVA basketball fan.