State Representatives Alma Hernandez and her sister Consuelo Hernandez will remain candidates in the upcoming Democratic primary after judicial challenges seeking to remove them from the ballot were dismissed.
The challenge to Alma Hernandez was brought by challenger Roque Perez, a former city council member, who argued that she should be disqualified because of unpaid campaign-finance-related fines and fees. Perez’s filing claimed Hernandez owed more than $20,000, alleging a series of late filings and missing reports covering 2023–25.
On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Cynthia Kuhn rejected that effort. She noted that state law disqualifies a candidate only when they are legally “liable” for at least $1,000 in penalties, but that such liability does not exist until the Attorney General issues an appealable notice of penalty. Because no such notice or penalty was ever issued to Alma Hernandez, the judge concluded she is not legally liable for campaign finance penalties for the purposes of the statute cited in the challenge.
The court also consolidated a separate complaint from a resident into the Perez case; that complaint made similar allegations but was resolved alongside Perez’s suit. With the dismissal, Alma Hernandez will remain on the ballot for the Democratic primary.
Consuelo Hernandez faced a parallel challenge in her own district, where a resident alleged she owed nearly $19,000 in unpaid campaign-finance fines. Judge Kuhn applied the same legal reasoning and likewise ruled in favor of Consuelo Hernandez, finding no appealable penalty had been issued and therefore no disqualifying liability under the law.
Beyond these ballot disputes, other local developments were highlighted in the morning round-up: two new affordable housing projects have broken ground on the city’s south side, city leaders are considering cuts across departments to close a fiscal-year budget gap, and voters will see a proposed franchise agreement on the November ballot that includes dedicated funding for climate-related initiatives.
These rulings leave both Hernandez sisters eligible for the primary ballot and resolve the immediate legal challenges to their candidacies, while the community continues to follow broader municipal decisions on housing, budgeting, and voter measures.
