Chávez worked briefly as editor of a Belen weekly newspaper, as a court interpreter, and as a private contractor until 1916, when he obtained temporary employment as a Spanish interpreter for Senator Andrieus A. Jones' election campaign. In 1917, he was offered a position as assistant executive clerk of the Senate in Washington, D.C. by Senator Jones. He accepted this position, passed a special admission exam at Georgetown University Law Center and studied law at night. He graduated from Georgetown in 1920, and returned to Albuquerque to establish a law practice. He was successful in defending organized labor and as a defense counsel in high-profile murder cases, where he used his popularity to run for office.
House
In 1922, Chávez was elected to the New Mexico state legislature, but he did not seek another term. In 1930, he was elected to New Mexico's one at-large seat in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat, and was re-elected in 1932. Chávez served as chairman of the HouseCommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation. He did not seek re-election to the House in 1934, becoming a candidate for the United States Senate.
Senate
Chávez was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from New Mexico in 1934. He lost narrowly to Republican incumbent Bronson M. Cutting. However, Cutting was killed in an airplane crash on May 6, 1935, and five days later, Chávez was appointed to fill the vacancy pending a special election. In 1936, Chávez was elected to the remaining four years of Cutting's term, and then won a full term of his own in 1940, becoming the first person of Hispanic descent to be elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate. Chávez was re-elected again in 1946, 1952 and 1958, and served until his death in 1962. He served as chairman of the Committee on Public Works from 1949 to 1953, and again from 1955 until his death. In 1954, Senate Republicans attempted to remove Chávez from his seat, claiming that irregularities from the 1952 election meant the election results could not be trusted. A resolution that claimed no candidate had won the 1952 election, and therefore requiring the Republican governor of New Mexico to appoint a new senator, was defeated by a vote of 36-53.
Personal life
In 1911, Chávez married Imelda Espinosa, a member of a prominent New Mexico family. In 1914, they moved to Belen. The couple had three children: Dennis, Jr., Gloria and Ymelda. Dennis Chávez died of cancer, due to him being a life time smoker, in Washington, D.C. on November 18, 1962, and was buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Congress honored his memory with a minute of silence, and then-Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at his funeral. At the time of his death, he was fourth-ranking in Senate seniority.
Legacy
Chávez, only the second-ever Hispanic member of the US Senate, was the first US-born Hispanic elected to the Senate. He was also the first person born in New Mexico elected by the state to the Senate. By a large margin, he is the longest-serving Hispanic US senator. He was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 35¢ Great Americans seriespostage stamp. His daughter, Ymelda Chavez Dixon, wrote a successful women's column for the Washington Evening Star from 1965-1981 called "Your Date with Ymelda." A granddaughter, Gloria Tristani, followed in public service, serving as chair of the New Mexico State Corporations Commission in 1996, as a member of the Federal Communications Commission from 1997 to 2001, and as the Democratic nominee for New Mexico's other U.S. Senate seat in 2002 where she lost to Senator Pete Domenici.
