Biotech entrepreneur and Cuban American immigrant Joseph Hernandez is running for New York state comptroller in 2026, he announced Thursday.
Hernandez will seek the Republican nomination for the post currently held by Democrat Tom DiNapoli.
“The State Comptroller must be a strong, independent fiscal champion who stands up for taxpayers and restores confidence in New York’s finances,” said Hernandez in a statement. “I’m a business builder, not a career politician, and I have a real plan to transform the Office of State Comptroller and use it to provide tax relief for overburdened New York families, build the state’s innovation economy and manufacturing base, and create high-paying new jobs.”
Hernandez fled Cuba for the U.S. with his family when he was seven years old. He later attended the University of Florida and Yale University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in global health care leadership at the University of Oxford.
Hernandez founded a number of successful companies, including the biotech investment firm he currently runs, Blue Water Venture Partners. He most recently was on the ballot as an independent candidate for New York City mayor.
“As State Comptroller, I will use the extraordinary authority of the office to protect taxpayers, return fiscal responsibility, and expand opportunity for all New Yorkers,” Hernandez said.
DiNapoli is currently the longest serving non-congressional statewide officeholder, having been comptroller since 2007. He is facing two Democratic challengers, Drew Warshaw, a former assistant secretary to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and Raj Goyle, an entrepreneur and attorney.
New York hasn’t elected a Republican as state comptroller since 1990.