Rafael Fraguela (born June 7, 1955) is an American politician who was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 2001 as 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 (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, where he represented the 33rd Legislative District. He then re-registered with the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

and ran unsuccessfully for the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

after the Democrats would not support his candidacy for a second term in the Assembly.Fraguela, Rafael
OurCampaigns.com, December 18, 2003. Accessed June 6, 2010.

Early life and career

Born in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, Fraguela emigrated to the United States with his family. Settling in Union City, he graduated in 1974 from Union Hill High School. Fraguela received his bachelor's degree in social studies from

Montclair State College Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public university in New ...

and his master's degree in secondary education/administration supervision from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...

. He worked as a school principal for the Passaic Board of Education, and as president of the Union City Board of Education from 1988 to 1992.

New Jersey Commissioner

Fraguela's first political appointment was as a commissioner on the Hudson County Board of Taxation, from 1990 to 1993. He joined the Union City, New Jersey Board of Commissioners in 1992. In 2000, Fraguela opposed an effort by then-mayor Rudy Garcia to sell

Roosevelt Stadium Roosevelt Stadium was a baseball stadium at Droyer's Point in Jersey City, New Jersey. It opened in April 1937 and hosted high-minor league baseball, 15 major league baseball games, plus championship boxing matches, top-name musical acts, an a ...

to the Union City Board of Education for $3.5 million as part of an effort to fill a $5 million deficit in the city's budget. Fraguela called the plan "voodoo economics" and supported an effort to have Garcia removed by a

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...

. With Rudy Garcia losing support in Union City,

Brian P. Stack Brian P. Stack (born May 16, 1966) is an American Democratic Party politician who serves in the New Jersey Senate, where he represents the 33rd Legislative District and serves Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has also served as ...

announced in October 2000 that he would support Fraguela in the Democratic primary to fill the seat in the Assembly that Garcia had been occupying Together with running mate Albio Sires, Fraguela won election to the Assembly as a Democrat in the November 2001 general election, defeating Republicans Sergio Alonso and Helen Pinoargotty. Assemblymember Fraguela was knocked off the ballot in 2003 by the Hudson County Democratic Party and chose to run for the Senate as a Republican against Bernard Kenny. Fraguela insisted that the Democrats "have been putting aside all the Hispanic Democratic candidates", while "The GOP has had open arms to the Hispanic community". The Democrats gave the ballot spot for the Assembly to

. Kenny won the general election in November 2003 with an overwhelming majority in the heavily Democratic district, taking 80.9% of the vote to Fraguela's 19.1%

Party switch

Fraguela had been voting with Republicans in the Assembly, but switched back to vote in favor of

Jim McGreevey James Edward McGreevey (born August 6, 1957) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 following the revelation of his extramarital affair w ...

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

research bill, calling his vote "the right thing to do", saying that "I decided to cast my vote for humanity" after listening to the arguments from both sides. He was ejected from the Republican caucus on December 15, 2003 after his vote provided the margin of victory for the stem cell bill.Dowling, Matthew J
"Jersey allows stem cell use in research"
copy of article from ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'', January 5, 2003. Accessed June 6, 2010. He rejoined the Democratic party on December 18, 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraguela, Rafael 1955 births Living people Cuban emigrants to the United States American politicians of Cuban descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New Jersey Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Politicians from Union City, New Jersey Union Hill High School alumni