La Riva was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 13, 1954. She graduated from high school and began attending Brandeis University in 1972. She was a third-party candidate for President of the United States in the 1992 presidential election, representing the Workers World Party. She had also been the Workers World Party vice-presidential candidate in the elections of 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000. She joined the Party for Socialism and Liberation in its split from the Workers World Party. La Riva was also the Peace and Freedom Party candidate for Governor of California in 1994, receiving 72,774 votes. She ran again in the 1998 gubernatorial election, capturing 59,218 votes. She also ran for San Francisco Mayor in 1983, coming in third overall, and second in the working class wards of the city, and 1991, and for Congress in 2010. In the 2008 Presidential election, La Riva received 6,821 votes, the 10th highest vote total. La Riva has also been the director of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, and president of the typographical sector of the Northern California Media Workers Union. In 2010, La Riva was the Peace and Freedom Party's candidate for U.S. Congress in California's 8th Congressional District. Running against Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she came in third, receiving 5,161 votes, 3% of the overall vote. In 2012, La Riva was a presidential stand-in for Peta Lindsay, the PSL nominee for President who was not allowed on the ballot in some states due to her age. La Riva was on the ballot in Iowa, Utah and Wisconsin. In July 2015, she was announced as the PSL's 2016 presidential nominee, with Eugene Puryear as her running mate. As of July 24, 2016 La Riva and her campaign had raised $25,234 and spent $10,092. She attained ballot access in eight states: Vermont, New Mexico, Iowa, Louisiana, Colorado, Washington, New Jersey, and California. La Riva was a candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination for Governor of California in 2018. She received the PSL nomination for the 2020 presidential election, with Leonard Peltier as her running mate. She won the Peace & Freedom Party primary in California for the 2020 United States Presidential Election, beating Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.
Other activities
La Riva has translated Fidel Castro's book Cuba at the Crossroads , and produced the documentary videos NATO Targets,Workers' Democracy in Cuba, Genocide by Sanctions: The Case of Iraq and Let Iraq Live!
