Edward Paul Hernández (born October 17, 1957) is an American politician who previously served in the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, he represented the 24th Senate district from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

until he was

redistricted Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

to the 22nd Senate district, which he represented until 2018. Before his election to the State Senate, he served in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

, representing the 57th Assembly district from

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

until 2010. Hernandez was a member of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. Hernandez ran for Lieutenant Governor in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, eventually losing to U.S. Ambassador to Hungary

Eleni Kounalakis Eleni Kounalakis (née Tsakopoulos; born March 3, 1966) is an American politician, businesswoman, and diplomat serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first Greek American ...

Political career

Legislature elections

Hernández ran for the California State Assembly's 57th district in the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...

, winning with 63% of the vote against Republican Holly Carver. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, he was reelected with 66.3% against Republican challenger Victor Saldana. In 2010, Hernández chose to not run for a third term in the Assembly and instead ran for the

California Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. N ...

, to represent the 24th Senatorial district. He ran unopposed in the 2010 general election, succeeding former Majority Leader of the

Gloria Romero Gloria Anne Borrego Galla (December 16, 1933 – January 25, 2025), known professionally as Gloria Romero (), was an American-born Filipino actress. Regarded as the "Queen of Philippine Cinema", she appeared in over 250 motion pictures and t ...

. Following redistricting in 2014, he ran for the 22nd district in the

2014 elections * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presidential election 21 February and 10 April 2014 * 2014 ...

, garnering 64.8% of the voteagainst Republican challenger Marc Rodriguez.

State Senate

Hernández chaired the Senate Health Committee between 2011 and 2017. He was the primary author for various laws affecting healthcare which were passed and codified in the

California Health and Safety Code The California Health and Safety Code is the codification of general statutory law covering the subject areas of health and safety in the state of California. It is one of the 29 California Codes and was originally signed into law by the Governor ...

. An

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

, he served as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health. He was also involved in implementing the federal

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health ...

. In 2012, Hernández authored and introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment No.5 (SCA5), which would have asked voters to consider eliminating

California Proposition 209 Proposition 209 (also known as the California Civil Rights Initiative or CCRI) is a California ballot proposition which, upon approval in November 1996, amended the state constitution to prohibit state governmental institutions from considering ...

's ban on the use of race,

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

, or

national origin National origin is the nation where a person was born, or where that person's ancestors came from. It also includes the diaspora of multi-ethnic states and societies that have a shared sense of common identity identical to that of a nation whil ...

in recruitment, admissions, and retention programs at

California's public universities This is a list of colleges and universities in California. Federal institutions Graduate institutions * Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey) Other academic institutions * Defense Language Institute (Monterey) State institutions Two-year in ...

and colleges. It was passed in the California Senate on Jan. 30, 2014. Opponents of Proposition 209 say that the proposition has resulted in low minority enrollment in the state's public colleges and to have been driven by racial divisions. However, following resistance from various citizen groups, including Asian American groups, Senator Hernandez withdrew his measure from consideration.

2018 Lieutenant Governor election

In 2016, Hernández announced that he would run to replace

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

in 2018. Hernandez was term-limited from running in the State Senate in the 2018 Senate elections, as he was elected prior to the extension of term limits enacted in 2012. In the blanket primary, Hernández won 20.6% of the vote, coming in second to former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary

. He only carried a majority of two counties:

Imperial County Imperial County is a county located on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, ranking as the least populous county in Southern California. The county seat and largest city is ...

and

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

. In the general election, Hernández was defeated by Eleni Kounalakis, after he won 43.45% of the vote. He only carried five counties in the state:

Glenn Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settlement i ...

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Kings: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations. *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persia ...

, Madera,

Merced Merced (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 86,333, up ...

, and Imperial counties.

External links

Campaign website

Twitter

Facebook

Ballotpedia

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Ed 1957 births American optometrists American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California Democratic Party California state senators California State University, Fullerton alumni Indiana State University alumni Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Living people People from Montebello, California People from West Covina, California Politicians from Los Angeles Bassett High School (California) alumni 21st-century members of the California State Legislature