Mike Hernandez (born December 4, 1952) is an American politician and activist, who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 1st district from 1991 to 2001, despite an arrest for cocaine possession in 1997 that led to a guilty plea.

He organized students to participate in the Chicano Moratorium, helped register over 25,000 new Latino voters in one year, and was the Founding Chair of Plaza de la Raza Head Start Inc. Hernandez was a bail bondsman before entering politics.

While drawing much of his early electoral support from voters of the Northeast Los Angeles communities that made up much of his district, Hernandez represented some of the poorest areas of the city including MacArthur Park, Westlake and Pico Union.

In order to do this, Hernandez turned to the most recent census data and created a series of maps he deemed “the Zones of Need” that he released in the fall of 1992.

[3] The investigation found he had been sued for failure to pay debts and nearly lost his house due to financial troubles from his addiction.