Rafael Fraguela (born June 7, 1955) is an American politician who was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 2001 as a Democrat, where he represented the 33rd Legislative District.
[1] He then re-registered with the Republican Party and ran unsuccessfully for the New Jersey Senate after the Democrats would not support his candidacy for a second term in the Assembly.
Fraguela called the plan "voodoo economics" and supported an effort to have Garcia removed by a recall election.
[4] With Rudy Garcia losing support in Union City, Brian P. Stack announced in October 2000 that he would support Fraguela in the Democratic primary to fill the seat in the Assembly that Garcia had been occupying[5] Together with running mate Albio Sires, Fraguela won election to the Assembly as a Democrat in the November 2001 general election, defeating Republicans Sergio Alonso and Helen Pinoargotty.
[6][7] Assemblymember Fraguela was knocked off the ballot in 2003 by the Hudson County Democratic Party and chose to run for the Senate as a Republican against Bernard Kenny.