Rafael "Tatito" Hernández Montañez (born April 14, 1972) is a Puerto Rican

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). He is also a Democrat. He has been a member of the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Sen ...

since 2009, representing

District 11 District 11 can refer to: *District 11 (Ho Chi Minh city), Vietnam *District 11 (Zürich), Switzerland * District 11, an electoral district of Malta * Colorado Springs School District 11, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States *District 11 ( ...

, which includes the town of

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

and parts of the towns of Vega Alta and Vega Baja. In the 2020 elections he was re-elected and chosen as speaker of the house in 2021.

Early life and education

Rafael "Tatito" Hernández was born April 14, 1972 in

. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in Surveying and

Cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...

from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

. Hernandez also attended the Mortgage Bankers School of Puerto Rico and the Alberto Hernandez Real Estate School, where he took several courses on the origin, processes and analyses of loans, mortgages, and real estate. He served in the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

for eight years.

Political career

He first ran for the a seat in Puerto Rico's House of Representatives as a member of the Popular Democratic Party in 2008, the year of the opposing New Progressive Party's largest landslide election in history. Even though he was not elected as a district representative, the State Elections Commission certified him as an add-on at-large representative under the provisions of the Puerto Rico Constitution that provide for the certification of add-on legislators when the minority falls short in electing 17 members of the House. Once certified, he enjoyed all the privileges of an elected At-Large representative during that term. In 2012, the Popular Democratic Party renominated Hernández for the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and was elected outright as District 11's representative, winning with 48.83% of the votes in a three-way race. In 2016 Hernández was chosen as leader of the PPD minority. In December 2019, Tatito Hernández endorsed former Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and has served as co-chair on his 2020 presidential campaign's "Puerto Rico for Biden" leadership committee. After being chosen as speaker of the House, Hernández hired a former member of the Biden comitee as an advisor receiving a $9000 monthly salary.

References

External links

Rafael Hernández Profile
on

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language Independent station (North America), independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by :es:Hemisphere Media Group, Hemisphere Media Group, w ...

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Tatito 1972 births Living people People from Dorado, Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party members of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Puerto Rican United States Navy personnel United States Navy reservists