Representative Alma Hernandez Contact information

Alma Hernandez, born on April 11, 1993, is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Arizona House of Representatives for the 20th district. She was elected in 2018 to succeed Macario Saldate, who was term-limited. At the time of her election, she was the youngest woman elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.

Hernandez is a native of Tucson, Arizona, and attended the University of Arizona before becoming involved as the program coordinator of Bridging the Gap, a program that helps women living with HIV/AIDS. At the age of 14, when she was a student at Sunnyside High School, Hernandez was assaulted by two 19-year-old seniors outside the school, and then also assaulted by the School Resource Officer who intervened. This has left her with damage to her spine.

On August 29, 2018, Hernandez finished in second place in the primary election of the Democratic Party for the 3rd Legislative District, which allowed her to advance to the elections to the Arizona House of Representatives. She was elected on November 6, 2018. Her first achievement as an elected official was the approval with bipartisan support of an agreement to initiate mandatory training in crisis intervention and de-escalation for school resource officers in July 2019.

On July 6, 2021, a bill sponsored by Hernandez requiring Holocaust education in public schools in Arizona was passed by the State Legislature. This made Arizona the 16th state of the United States to make Holocaust education mandatory.

In April 2023, Hernandez was one of five House Democrats who voted to override Governor Katie Hobbs ’ veto of HB2509, a bill that would have legalized sales of “cottage foods” and became well-known nationally as the “Tamale Bill.” The veto override failed by 5 votes, with 12 Democrats changing their vote from the original House vote to the override. Alma said that her allegiance was “to Arizonans, not to Hobbs” in an interview with Arizona Mirror.

Hernandez has worked as the coordinator of Tucson’s Jewish Community Relations Council, and has been involved in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. On May 18, 2021, one of the doors of the Congregation Chaverim, which Hernandez belongs to, was smashed with a rock, and on June 7, 2021, a Chabad synagogue was vandalized in Tucson. She denounced both incidents on Twitter.