| Jessie Rodriguez | |
| State: | Wisconsin |
| State Assembly: | Wisconsin |
| District: | 21st |
| Term Start: | December 4, 2013 |
| Predecessor: | Mark Honadel |
| Party: | Republican |
| Birth Date: | 5 July 1977 |
| Birth Place: | Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador |
| Alma Mater: | Marquette University (BA) |
| Occupation: | politician |
| Residence: | Oak Creek, Wisconsin |
| Spouse: | Aaron |
| Children: | 1 |
| Website: | Official website |
Jessie Rodriguez (born July 5, 1977) is a Salvadoran American immigrant and Republican politician. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 21st Assembly district since December 2013. She is the first Hispanic immigrant elected to the Wisconsin Legislature.
Born in El Salvador, Rodriguez moved to the United States in 1984 with her family, eventually settling in Milwaukee.[1] She graduated from Milwaukee's Alexander Hamilton High School in 1996 and went on to attend Milwaukee's Marquette University where she earned her bachelor's degree in communications.[2] After graduating college in 2002, Jessie worked as an analyst for a large supermarket chain, but eventually landed a job as a communications outreach coordinator for Hispanics for School Choice.[3]
On November 19, 2013, Rodriguez became the first Latin American immigrant to be elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature. She was sworn into the Wisconsin State Assembly on December 4, 2013, as a Republican.[4] [5] [6] In 2021, Rodriguez was appointed to the Joint Finance Committee, a powerful 16-member budgeting committee overseeing all of the state's appropriations and revenues.
Rodriguez lives in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, with her husband and son.[1]
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Primary[7] | Republican | 1,513 | 47.82% | Rep. | 866 | 27.37% | 3,164 | 647 | ||||
| Rep. | 536 | 16.94% | |||||||||||
| Rep. | 170 | 5.37% | |||||||||||
| Rep. | 73 | 2.31% | |||||||||||
| Special[8] | Republican | 4,557 | 56.40% | Dem. | 3,523 | 43.60% | 8,080 | 1,034 | |||||
| 2014 | General[9] | Republican | 16,051 | 96.54% | 16,626 | 15,476 | |||||||
| 2016 | General[10] | Republican | 16,589 | 59.30% | Dem. | 11,338 | 40.53% | 27,975 | 5,251 | ||||
| 2018 | General[11] | Republican | 14,280 | 54.66% | Dem. | 11,806 | 45.19% | 26,123 | 2,474 | ||||
| 2020 | General[12] | Republican | 17,729 | 54.61% | Dem. | 14,708 | 45.3% | 32,466 | 3,021 | ||||