Dylan A. Fernandes is a State Representative currently serving in the Massachusetts House representing Martha's Vineyard, the Elizabeth Islands, four precincts of Falmouth, and Nantucket. He has been serving since 2017 and is a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Falmouth, Massachusetts Fernandes graduated from

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

in 2013. He then served as

Maura Healey Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Massachusetts Attorney General since January 2015. She is the governor-elect of Massachusetts, having won the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial electi ...

's political director on her campaign for Attorney General in Massachusetts in 2014. After the election, he worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General's office in civil rights where he worked on cases combatting discrimination. He ran for office in 2016 in a five-way primary and won by 13 percentage points and then faced a three-way general election which he also won by 13 percentage points.

Early life

Fernandes is a fourth-generation resident of Falmouth, Massachusetts, and grew up in

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 ...

. He is the son of Tessa Lineaweaver of Woods Hole who owns Flying Pig Pottery and of Mario Fernandes of Falmouth who owns a small landscaping company. Fernandes's paternal great grandparents came to Massachusetts from the Azores and Puerto Rico.

Other

Fernandes was accused of making sexist and

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

statements as a teenager. He later apologized to a newspaper.

Education

Fernandes first attended school at American University in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He transferred to the

and graduated there, earning 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 ...

degree and majors in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. In 2022, he graduated with a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Career

In 2012, Fernandes worked on Senator Elizabeths Warren's campaign in his native

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

region. Fernandes served as political director for

Attorney General of Massachusetts The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder al ...

in 2014. He then went on to work as digital director in the Attorneys' General office. His work there included founding pro-

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

rights events and women's rights. He also founded the 'Everyone Welcome' campaign to support the bill for transgender rights. In 2017, Fernandes made his maiden speech on combatting climate change and compelled the House of Representatives to vote for his bill signing Massachusetts onto the Paris Climate Agreement. The bill passed 146-10.

2016 State Representative election

In 2016, Fernandes ran for the Massachusetts House representing precincts 1, 2, 5 and 6, of Falmouth, in

Barnstable County Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 228,996. Its shire town is Barnstable. The county consists of Cape Cod and associated islands (some adjacent islands are in Duk ...

; Chilmark, Edgartown, Aquinnah, Gosnold,

Oak Bluffs Oak Bluffs is a town located on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,341 at the 2020 United States Census. It is one of the island's principal points of arrival for summer tourists ...

, Tisbury and West Tisbury, all in

Dukes County Dukes County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,600, making it the second-least populous county in Massachusetts. Its county seat is Edgartown. Dukes County comprises the Viney ...

; Nantucket,

Nantucket County Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

. Fernandes was endorsed by democratic Senator

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

. He was elected on November 8, 2016, running only against independents.

Electoral history

References

External links

Legislative website

Constituent services website

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Dylan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American LGBT rights activists Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Massachusetts Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People from Falmouth, Massachusetts 21st-century American politicians College of Charleston alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni American people of Azorean descent American people of Puerto Rican descent