Jessie Rodriguez | |
|---|---|
| Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from the21st district | |
| Assumed office December 4, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Honadel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Yesenia Edelmira Garay (1977-07-05)July 5, 1977 (age 48) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Aaron M. Rodriguez |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence | Oak Creek, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | Marquette University (BA) |
| Occupation | Public relations, politician |
| Website | Official website |
Yesenia Edelmira "Jessie" Rodriguez (néeGaray born July 5, 1977) is aSalvadoran Americanimmigrant andRepublican politician fromMilwaukee County, Wisconsin. She is a member of theWisconsin State Assembly, representingWisconsin's 21st Assembly district since December 2013. She is the first Hispanic immigrant elected to theWisconsin Legislature.
Jessie Rodriguez was born Yesenia Edelmira Garay, on July 5, 1977, in theUsulután Department,El Salvador. As a child, in 1984, she emigrated to theUnited States with her family, eventually settling inMilwaukee, Wisconsin.[1] She graduated from Milwaukee'sAlexander Hamilton High School in 1996 and went on to attend Milwaukee'sMarquette University where she earned herbachelor's degree in communications in 2002.[2] After graduating college, Jessie worked as an analyst for a large supermarket chain, but eventually landed a job as a communications outreach coordinator for Hispanics forSchool Choice.[3]
Her prominent role in theschool voucher movement inMilwaukee County made Rodriguez a close political ally of Republican county executive and later governorScott Walker.[4]
When the Republican Legislature drew up theirredistricting plan following the 2010 U.S. census, the21st state Assembly district—then comprising the cities ofOak Creek andSouth Milwaukee—was slightly adjusted, adding just a few blocks of the neighboring city ofFranklin. Those few blocks of Franklin contained the home where Rodriguez then resided.[5][6]
In August 2013, the state representative in Rodriguez's new district,Mark Honadel, announced he would resign in the middle of his term to take a job in the private sector.[7] Governor Walker called a special election in the 21st district seat, to serve out the remainder of the2013–2014 term. Rodriguez won the special Republican primary for the seat in October, taking 48% of the vote against a field of four opponents.[8] In its configuration at that time, the 21st Assembly district was considered competitive but slightly Republican-leaning—Republican presidential nomineeMitt Romney had edged outBarack Obama in the 2012 general election by two percentage points in the district.[4] Rodriguez slightly overperformed that benchmark in her special election, defeating Democrat Elizabeth Coppola with 56% of the vote.[9]
She was sworn in as a member of theWisconsin State Assembly on December 4, 2013.[10][11][12] She was re-elected without opposition at the 2014 general election and joined the Assembly Republican caucus leadership team in the2015–2016 term as majority caucus secretary.[13] She was comfortably re-elected in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022. In the2021–2022 legislative term, Rodriguez stepped down from her caucus leadership position and was appointed to a coveted seat on the Joint Finance Committee; Joint Finance is considered the most powerful committee in the state legislature, whose 16 members oversee all of the state's appropriations and revenues.[14][15][16]
In 2024, Wisconsin underwent a significantredistricting which undid the Republican partisan advantage that had existed in the state since 2011. Rodriguez's district was significantly affected as the more Republican leaning areas ofFranklin were removed from the district and replaced with more Democratic leaning wards from the southern reaches of the city of Milwaukee. The neighboring Democratic-leaning city ofSouth Milwaukee was also removed from the district. Under the new maps, she won re-election for the 21st Assembly district with 51.4% of the vote, making it one of the most politically competitive districts in the State Assembly.[17][18][19][20]
Jessie Garay took the last name Rodriguez when she married Aaron Rodriguez. They have one child and reside inOak Creek, Wisconsin.[1]
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 (special) | Special Primary[8] | Oct. 22 | Jessie Rodriguez | Republican | 1,513 | 47.82% | Chris Kujawa | Rep. | 866 | 27.37% | 3,164 | 647 |
| Ken Gehl | Rep. | 536 | 16.94% | |||||||||
| Larry Gamble | Rep. | 170 | 5.37% | |||||||||
| Jason Red Arnold | Rep. | 73 | 2.31% | |||||||||
| Special[9] | Nov. 19 | Jessie Rodriguez | Republican | 4,557 | 56.40% | Elizabeth Coppola | Dem. | 3,523 | 43.60% | 8,080 | 1,034 | |
| 2014 | General[21] | Nov. 4 | Jessie Rodriguez (inc.) | Republican | 16,051 | 96.54% | --unopposed-- | 16,626 | 15,476 | |||
| 2016 | General[22] | Nov. 8 | Jessie Rodriguez (inc.) | Republican | 16,589 | 59.30% | Jack Redmond | Dem. | 11,338 | 40.53% | 27,975 | 5,251 |
| 2018 | General[23] | Nov. 6 | Jessie Rodriguez (inc.) | Republican | 14,280 | 54.66% | Gabriel A. Gomez | Dem. | 11,806 | 45.19% | 26,123 | 2,474 |
| 2020 | General[24] | Nov. 3 | Jessie Rodriguez (inc.) | Republican | 17,729 | 54.61% | Erik Brooks | Dem. | 14,708 | 45.3% | 32,466 | 3,021 |
| 2022 | General[25] | Nov. 8 | Jessie Rodriguez (inc.) | Republican | 13,712 | 54.18% | Nathan M. Jurowski | Dem. | 11,580 | 45.75% | 25,309 | 2,132 |
| 2024 | General[20] | Nov. 5 | Jessie Rodriguez (inc.) | Republican | 16,923 | 51.27% | David L. Marstellar | Dem. | 15,993 | 48.45% | 33,009 | 930 |
| Wisconsin State Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theWisconsin State Assemblyfrom the21st district December 4, 2013 – present | Incumbent |