Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Alma Hernandez

No. 45 Alma Hernandez

Don’t call it a comeback. But with respect to LL Cool J, what else would you call it? One of ten folks returning to the list after some time away, one-time SEIU Executive Director Alma Hernandez has reinvented herself as one of the top campaign consultants in the Capitol ecosphere. Always a respected coalition builder, she is considered by many to also be a brilliant strategist and negotiator. After starting Experta Strategies LLC in 2023, she quickly leveraged her well known political acumen and trove of solid relationships in the Capitol to earn a pivotal role in a handful of successful election campaigns. She followed up with leading roles in some of this year’s most competitive ballot measure campaigns. Those talents were put to good use as she had a huge role in getting competing Uber ballot measures off the November ballot, and is poised to remain a powerful background player for years to come. A UC Berkeley graduate with degrees in political science and rhetoric, Hernandez also previously spent five years as a legislative staffer.

Updated Aug. 11, 2026