Rafael Fraguela

Rafael Fraguela (born 7 June 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. 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 received his bachelor's degree in social studies from Montclair State College and his master's degree in secondary education/administration supervision from Seton Hall University. He worked as a school principal for the Passaic Board of Education, and as president of the Union City Board of Education from 1988-1992.

Fraguela's first political appointment was as a commissioner on the Hudson County Board of Taxation, from 1990-1993. He joined the Union City, New Jersey Board of Commissioners in 1992. In 2000, Fraguela opposed an effort by then-mayor Rudy Garcia to sell Roosevelt Stadium to the Union City Board of Education for $3.5 million as part of an effort to fill a $5 million deficit in the city's budget. Fraguela called the plan "voodoo economics" and supported an effort to have Garcia removed by a recall election. 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

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.

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