Legislature elections

Hernández ran for the California State Assembly's 57th district in the 2006 elections, winning with 63% of the vote against Republican Holly Carver. In 2008, he was reelected with 66.3% against Republican challenger Victor Saldana.

In 2010, Hernández chose to not run for a third term in the Assembly and instead ran for the California Senate, to represent the 24th Senatorial district. He ran unopposed in the 2010 general election, succeeding former Majority Leader of the California Senate Gloria Romero. Following redistricting in 2014, he ran for the 22nd district in the 2014 elections, garnering 64.8% of the voteagainst Republican challenger Marc Rodriguez.

State Senate

Hernández chaired the Senate Health Committee between 2011 and 2017.^[1] He was the primary author for various laws affecting healthcare which were passed and codified in the California Health and Safety Code. An optometrist, he served as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health.^[2]

He was also involved in implementing the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In 2012, Hernández authored and introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment No.5 (SCA5),^[3] which would have asked voters to consider eliminating California Proposition 209's ban on the use of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in recruitment, admissions, and retention programs at California's public universities and colleges. It was passed in the California Senate on Jan. 30, 2014.^[4] Opponents of Proposition 209 say that the proposition has resulted in low minority enrollment in the state's public colleges^[5] and to have been driven by racial divisions.^[6] However, following resistance from various citizen groups, including Asian American groups, Senator Hernandez withdrew his measure from consideration.

2018 Lieutenant Governor election

In 2016, Hernández announced that he would run to replace Gavin Newsom as lieutenant governor in 2018. Hernandez was term-limited from running in the State Senate in the 2018 Senate elections, as he was elected prior to the extension of term limits enacted in 2012.

In the blanket primary, Hernández won 20.6% of the vote, coming in second to former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Kounalakis. He only carried a majority of two counties: Imperial County and Los Angeles County.

In the general election, Hernández was defeated by Eleni Kounalakis, after he won 43.45% of the vote. He only carried five counties in the state: Glenn, Kings, Madera, Merced, and Imperial counties.