Ex-astronaut Hernández seeks congressional seat
By JORDAN FABIAN
Channel: Politics
José Hernández, a former space shuttle astronaut, announced on Tuesday that he’s running for Congress in California.
A Democrat, Hernández has one of the more interesting back stories in the field of 2012 congressional candidates. He was born in the U.S. to a family of farm workers who came to America from Mexico and settled near Stockton, Calif. He eventually graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton and later received a masters degree from UC Santa Barbara.
In 2009, Hernández flew on the space shuttle Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station and became the first person to tweet in Spanish from outer space. He left NASA this year and is seeking the Democratic nomination for California’s new 10th congressional district.
Hernández, 49, appeared on Univision on Tuesday, saying that he wants to serve in Congress to bring jobs and better education to his Central California district.
“I’m here to run so I can ensure that the American Dream stays alive,” he said.
Hernández, who only learned to speak English at age 12, has relied heavily on his background as the son of immigrants early on in his campaign.
“The son of migrant farm workers, I was able to rise from the fields of California and touch the sky on the Space Shuttle Discovery as an Astronaut, a lifelong goal I was able to achieve thanks to the promise of the American Dream,” he said in his official announcement.
Democrats in Washington are backing Hernández’s candidacy.
“Jose Hernández’s life reminds us that anything is possible in America and that excites folks who want their representative to fight for them,” Amber Moon, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s western regional press secretary, said Tuesday.
Hernández, who’s never served in elected office, will likely face Republican Rep. Jeff Denham (Calif.) should he receive his party’s nomination. Denham currently represents the 19th district, but has said he will run in the 10th district, which was re-drawn during the state’s redistricting process.
