SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s leading elected officials on Wednesday praised labor icon Dolores Huerta not just for her impact on a wide range of social issues but for the inspirational role she had on many of their own careers. She died Wednesday at 96.

In the Capitol, Huerta was a powerful symbol of the values many Democratic lawmakers hew most closely toward — a farmworker activist who dedicated her life, at times at great personal cost, to demonstrating for civil rights, improved labor conditions, combatting racism and building political power for California’s large Latino communities.

She died in a year that both chambers of the California Legislature are helmed by politicians with roots in those communities: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and Senate President pro Tem Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara.

“California mourns a giant,” Rivas said in a statement. “Dolores Huerta gave voice to the voiceless, dignity to the fields and hope to generations. One of the greatest civil rights leaders in history, she showed us that even in the face of injustice, together we can. Sí, se puede.”

State Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton, who brought legislation in 2018 to mark April 10 as Dolores Huerta Day in California, described the activist as a “pioneering organizer” and one who helped shaped other women into leaders.

“Today, we mourn the loss of a woman who changed the course of history, and I mourn the loss of someone who profoundly shaped my own life,” Reyes said in a statement. “Dolores Huerta taught generations of us that we did not have to accept the world as it was. That ordinary people, working together, could challenge powerful institutions, overcome injustice, and build something better. She didn’t simply open doors for women like me. She taught us that we had the power to open them for others.”

Huerta died just seven months after The New York Times published extensively documented allegations of sexual assault and rape against women and girls, including one as young as 12, by her co-founder of the United Farm Workers, Cesar Chavez. During the course of their reporting, Huerta told the Times reporters Chavez had raped her as well. That revelation, for many California leaders who looked to Huerta as a mentor, elevated her status even further at a moment that has tarnished the institutional legacy of the UFW.

As leaders at all levels of California government moved to rename parks, schools and other civic institutions designated in Chavez’s honor, people often suggested naming them after Huerta instead.

On Wednesday, the steady flow of statements from elected officials and labor movement leaders praising Huerta’s life and work omitted Chavez’s name.

“A tireless advocate for farm workers, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and all marginalized people, Dolores was also a friend and mentor to generations of UFW organizers, members, volunteers and staff,” said UFW President Teresa Romero. “Our greatest monument to her memory is for the union she helped found to continue to grow. Dolores fought for farm workers to the very end of her life. The union she helped found will always continue that work. We know that wherever farm workers gather to organize, we can count on her presence.”

Romero called on people to remember Huerta’s “commitment to civic engagment and bringing political power to disenfranchised people” as they cast votes for the midterm election next week.

Huerta stayed involved in California politics until the very end of her life, campaigning on environmental and social justice issues alongside her labor activism.

“Dolores Huerta represented the best of us,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “California — and the United States — would not be what we are today without her resolute spirit, her passion for justice and fairness, and her commitment to those overlooked and forgotten.”

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