Colorado elects Marxist former teacher to state legislature

Hernández based his campaign on the same messages he encouraged in his teaching, "dismantling" what he deemed to be "oppressive" policies and systems in his home state and beyond.

"The people of Denver's Northside and Westside deserve a representative who has lived experiences with our community’s struggles," he told the Denverite, explaining that his three main focuses were education, gun violence, and housing.

In the lead-up to his appointment, Hernández's background was scrutinized, with many digging up statements he'd made in the past.

As Fox News reports, Hernández was not shy about expressing his political ideology inside his classroom at Aurora West Preparatory Academy, where students were greeted with a bevy of posters and flags supporting every far-left cause imaginable. He appeared to be quite popular, with his pupils staging a protest when his contract was not renewed.

"What I think is happening in our schools, what I think is showing up in my classroom is a lot of the things that we get into ideological circles up here," he told a group of union protestors. We like to compete who knows Marx better, who knows these things better, who’s a Leninist. Listen ... kids don't care."

"Your [communist] theory will not save you," he continued. "The revolution … will happen in the hood. It will not be led by who understand Lenin best, it will not be led by the deepest Marxists. The revolution will be led by the people ... and I say all of this because I'm a teacher."

Hernández was also vocal on X. In 2021, for example, he called for a "forceful cultural revolution wherein we assert the dignity of life for all at the expense of white supremacy." He also stated that he was "not interested in teaching students to perform whiteness well."

Shortly before being selected to serve in government, Hernández posted that the United States "will not legislate [its] way out of white supremacy."