People to Watch 2024: Tim Hernández, the Capitol’s Newest Firebrand

Amid resignations, infighting and an overload of vitriol at the Colorado Capitol, a new contender is preparing to enter the ring next session: Representative Tim Hernández.

Before he was even sworn into office, Hernández’s appointment to the Colorado House of Representatives had inspired ire from national pundits over his calls for a “forceful cultural revolution” against white supremacy. Weeks later, a video of Hernández attending a pro-Palestine rally the day Hamas attacked Israel went viral, bringing criticism from legislative colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

Only one month into his year-long term, the controversy led fifteen Republican legislators to sign a letter calling for Hernández to be expelled. Now, approaching the start of his first regular legislative session on January 10, Hernández is undeterred.

“I’m here because I’m trying to work against oppression," Hernández tells Westword. “It’s very hard and quite unpopular to confront oppression head-on. But I’m okay with that.”

Hernández first came into public view in 2022, when he lost his job teaching at North High School, prompting student protests about the lack of diversity among educators. He soon became a major progressive activist in Denver, and when the legislature's House District 4 seat became vacant this summer, he vied for it against two opponents. He got 39 of 68 votes from the vacancy committee, winning the seat.

At 26 years old, Hernández is the state’s youngest legislator and the first belonging to Generation Z. He is also Chicano, adding to the legislature’s underrepresented Latino caucus.

A lifelong resident of north Denver, Hernández says he wants to address issues that matter to his community, such as improving housing access, education funding and gun violence. He plans to shift the 69-31 majority Democratic legislature further left, calling the Statehouse, media and culture at large “unprepared” to be pushed on their progressive values.

“I know that I’m prepared, because my neighborhood prepared me,” he says. “It’s an honor to be entrusted with the will of the folks that I grew up around.”
Hernández joins the House at a historic moment, when the chamber has its largest Democratic advantage in 85 years. But with this dominance, the party has begun to fracture between its moderate leadership and progressive young guns like Hernández. Discord broke out during the 2023 session and the special session in November. Six House Democrats resigned this year, with many citing the tension as a reason for their departure.

But Hernández isn’t concerned about pressures in the building. “I’ve always experienced baptism by fire, so I’m all right under the heat,” he says.

Republicans may still try to remove Hernández from office when the legislature reconvenes on January 10. He says he isn’t too worried: “They should be focused on passing a bill. As far as I’m concerned, they’re wasting their time.”

So far, he's signed on to sponsor legislation to allow cultural regalia at graduation ceremonies, create a Chicano license plate to fund Chicano youth leadership programs, and restrict “captive audience” meetings in the workplace, when employers force employees to listen to their religious or political views. On Sundays during the session, he will teach critical digital literacy and socially just education classes at Urban Peak.

Hernández says he intends to prepare the legislature for more members of his generation as they begin to enter politics and lead a progressively more diverse society.

“There’s nothing controversial about me or what I believe,” he says. “I represent a perspective in politics they may have never heard before. Folks in the state Capitol are fundamentally unequipped to handle young people in our political capacity.”

Hernández says he wants to create a democracy that works for them, and there’s “a lot of work to do.”

Other People to Watch in 2024:

Dede de Percin, CEO of Colorado Village Collaborative
JR Payne, Head Coach of CU Women's Basketball
Thoa and An Nguyen, Chefs Doing It Their Way
Andrea Gibson, Colorado's New Poet Laureate
Mario Nocifera and Robert Champion, Nightlife Kings