Jenniffer González

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This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is González and the second or maternal family name is Colón.
Jenniffer González
Official portrait of Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez.jpg
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Preceded byPedro Pierluisi
Chair of the Puerto Rico Republican Party
Assumed office
November 15, 2015
DeputyAbel Nazario
Preceded byCarlos Méndez
Minority Leader of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
In office
January 12, 2013 – January 2, 2017
Preceded byLuis Raúl Torres
Succeeded byTatito Hernández
29th Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
In office
January 2, 2009 – January 2, 2013
Preceded byJosé Aponte Hernández
Succeeded byJaime Perelló
Member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
from the at-large district
In office
January 2, 2005 – January 2, 2017
Member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
from the 4th district
In office
February 28, 2002 – January 2, 2005
Preceded byEdison Misla Aldarondo
Succeeded byLiza Fernández Rodríguez
Personal details
Born
Jenniffer Aydin González Colón

(1976-08-05) August 5, 1976 (age 43)
San Juan, Puerto Rico, US
Political partyNew Progressive
Other political
affiliations		Republican
EducationUniversity of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (B.A.)
Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, San Juan (J.D., L.L.M.)
WebsiteHouse website

Jenniffer Aydin González Colón (born August 5, 1976) is a Puerto Rican politician and the current and 20th resident commissioner of Puerto Rico.[1] González has served in leadership positions in the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (PNP) and in the Republican Party of the United States. These positions included being the chairwoman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, minority leader of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, and vice-chair of the PNP.[2][3][4][5]

González is the youngest person to be Resident Commissioner and the first woman to occupy the role.[6]

Early life and education[edit]

González was born in San Juan to Jorge González and Nydia Colón, both lifelong public servants. She graduated from University Gardens High School [es] and then studied her bachelor's degree in Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico. Although she obtained both a juris doctor and an LL.M. from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law[7] she has yet to be admitted to the Bar of any jurisdiction. [8]

Career[edit]

Representative[edit]

González was first elected to the House of Representatives in a special election held on February 24, 2002, to fill the vacancy left by former House Speaker Edison Misla Aldarondo, after his resignation as Representative from San Juan's 4th District. She was the first female elected representative of San Juan's Fourth District, the youngest member of the 14th Legislative Assembly, and the youngest woman ever to be elected to the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly. Before being elected as Representative, González served as Chairwoman of the San Juan New Progressive Party Youth Organization and was very active in the Pro-Statehood Students movement while attending college.

González was re-elected in the 2004 Puerto Rico general elections, this time as an At-Large Representative. She served as Chairwoman of the House Government Affairs Committee, and as ranking member of the Budget, San Juan Development, Women's Affairs, and Internal Affairs Committees, as well as the Joint Commission for the Revision of the Civil Code of Puerto Rico.

Speaker of the House[edit]

González was re-elected for another term at the 2008 Puerto Rico general elections obtaining the most votes from her party, and the second most votes overall.[9] At the age of 32, she was elected House Speaker by members of her New Party for Progress delegation during a caucus held on November 7, 2008. González defeated incumbent House Speaker José Aponte Hernández in his bid for re-election to that post, becoming the youngest person in Puerto Rican history to be elected Speaker of the House, and the third woman to hold that seat.

Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico[edit]

In November 2015, González was unanimously elected as Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico after being the party's Vice-Chair for eight years. She succeeded Aguadilla mayor Carlos Méndez in the position that once was held by former Governor Don Luis A. Ferré, founder of the New Progressive Party and Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa the founder of both the Republican Party and the statehood movement in Puerto Rico.[10][11]

House minority leader[edit]

In 2012, González was again re-elected this time gathering the most votes overall, despite the fact that her party lost the majority of seats.[12] The same night of the election, she was selected as Minority Leader of her party.[13]

Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico[edit]

See also: United States House of Representatives election in Puerto Rico, 2016

On September 14, 2015, González announced her candidacy to succeed Pedro Pierluisi as Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. Six days later, one of Pierluisi's rivals for the gubernatorial nomination, Ricardo Rosselló, chose her as his running mate for June 5, 2016, primary and the November 8, 2016, general election. During the ten months the primary race lasted, various public opinion polls consistently showed González to have over 70% approval ratings of the electorate, making her the most popular politician of any political party on the Island.[citation needed]

On June 5, 2016 González won the NPP primary by a landslide margin of 70.54% of the vote[14] over her opponent Carlos Pesquera. She thus became the first woman in the history of the New Progressive Party to be nominated to the Resident Commissioner seat in Congress for the November general election.

On November 8, 2016, González was elected Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, with 48.77% of the vote, over her main opponent Hector Ferrer of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico,[15] thus becoming the first woman and youngest person to represent Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress since the creation of the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico seat 116 years prior in 1900.

So far in her time in Congress, González has focused on sponsoring or cosponsoring bills related to veteran affairs, health relief and tax relief for Puerto Rico.[16][17][18] Congresswoman González is a member of the Republican Conference House Policy Committee. She is also a member of the House Committees on Natural Resources, Veterans’ Affairs, and Small Business, Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs, member of Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and Co-Chair of Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus [19]

For the 116th Congress, González is assigned to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Natural Resources[20]

Committee assignments[edit]

González is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership,[21] the House Baltic Caucus,[22] the Congressional Western Caucus,[23] and the Climate Solutions Caucus.[24] She co-chairs the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus with Barbara Lee.[25]

Political views[edit]

In The Hill's article The Hill's Latina Leaders to Watch, Resident Commissioner González is described as pro-statehood, small government, pro-business conservative.[26] In the first session of the 115th United States Congress, González was ranked the 19th most bipartisan member of the House by the Bipartisan Index, a metric published by The Lugar Center and Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy to assess congressional bipartisanship.[27]

In 2019, González was one of three House Republicans, along with Brian Fitzpatrick and John Katko, to co-sponsor the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[28] Although González could not vote for final passage of the bill due to U.S. House rules, the legislation passed the United States House of Representatives during the 116th Congress.[29]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Laura N. Pérez Sánchez (2016-11-09). "Jenniffer González Makes History | El Nuevo Día". Elnuevodia.com. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  2. ^ "Jenniffer González exige entrega de documentos fiscales". El Nuevo Día. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  3. ^ "ADENDI". Elnuevodia.com. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  4. ^ "ADENDI". El Nuevo Día. Archived from the original on 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  5. ^ "Sólida la dupla de Rosselló y González en el PNP". El Nuevo Día. 2015-09-18. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  6. ^ "Jenniffer Gonzalez, Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico 51st". 30 November 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Biografía – Hon. Jenniffer A. González Colón" (in Spanish). House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  8. ^ "Se gradúa Jenniffer González", El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish), San Juan, PR, June 20, 2014
  9. ^ "Elecciones Generales 2008". CEEPUR. 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  10. ^ "Republicanos escogen a Jenniffer Gónzalez como presidenta". El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). 1 November 2015. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  11. ^ Hon. Jenniffer A. González Colón Portavoz Minoría (2016-11-15). "Biografía – Hon. Jenniffer A. González Colón". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  12. ^ "CEE Event". CEEPUR. 2012-12-29. Archived from the original on 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  13. ^ "Jenniffer González será la portavoz del PNP en la Cámara". El Nuevo Día. 2012-11-08. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  14. ^ "CEE Event". Primarias2016.ceepur.org. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  15. ^ "CEE Event". Elecciones2016.ceepur.org. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  16. ^ "Representative Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon". Congress.gov. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
  17. ^ "Representative Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon". Congress.gov. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
  18. ^ "Jenniffer González repasa sus primeros 100 días en Washington D.C." 13 April 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  19. ^ "House of Congress". Retrieved 2017-04-30.
  20. ^ "Puerto Rico resident commissioner appointed to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee". Caribbean Business. January 17, 2019.
  21. ^ "Members". Republican Mains Street Partnership. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  22. ^ "Members". House Baltic Caucus. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  23. ^ "Members". Congressional Western Caucus. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  24. ^ "90 Current Climate Solutions Caucus Members". Citizen´s Climate Lobby. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  25. ^ "Rep. Jenniffer González Colón joins Rep. Barbara Lee to lead Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus". Seattle Gay News. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  26. ^ "The Hill's Latina Leaders to Watch". thehill.com. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  27. ^ "The Lugar Center – McCourt School Bipartisan Index" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: The Lugar Center. April 24, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  28. ^ Cioffi, Chris. "These 8 Republicans voted for the Equality Act". CQ Roll Call. Fiscal Note. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  29. ^ Cioffi, Chris. "These 8 Republicans voted for the Equality Act". CQ Roll Call. Fiscal Note. Retrieved 19 August 2019.

External links[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by
José Aponte Hernández 		Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
2009–2013 		Succeeded by
Jaime Perelló
House of Representatives of Puerto Rico
Preceded by
Edison Misla Aldarondo 		Member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
from the 4th district
2002–2005 		Succeeded by
Liza Fernández Rodríguez
Preceded by
Luis Raúl Torres 		Minority Leader of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
2013–2017 		Succeeded by
Tatito Hernández
Party political offices
Preceded by
Carlos Méndez 		Chair of the Puerto Rico Republican Party
2015–present 		Incumbent
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Pedro Pierluisi 		Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
2017–present 		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Amata Coleman Radewagen 		United States Delegates by seniority
5th 		Succeeded by
Michael San Nicolas
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