Felipe Reinoso

Reinoso was born in Arequipa, Peru,[1][2] one of five sons to parents Cirilo Reinoso and Angelica Cervantes Reinoso.[3] He lived in Peru for nineteen years,[4] before he and his family immigrated to the United States in 1969, settling in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[1][5] He earned a bachelor's degree at Sacred Heart University in 1984, followed by a master's degree from Fairfield University in 1987.[5][6]

Reinoso taught social studies in two languages at Warren Harding High School for fourteen years.[6] Starting in 1989, he served as founding director of the Saturday Hispanic Academy in Science at Sacred Heart University.[7] In 1998, Rachel Allison, Tim Dutton, and Reinoso established in Bridgeport the Bridge Academy High School, a charter high school.[7][8] Reinoso served as the institution's principal at least through 2006.[7][9] In 2005, Reinoso completed a master's degree in public administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.[5]

In the 1970s, Reinoso joined the Puerto Rican Democratic Club. He later worked for politician Americo Santiago.[5] Reinoso contested his first state legislative election in 1995, seeking Santiago's open seat, but was not elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, losing to Héctor A. Díaz.[5][10] Reinoso first won election as a representative of state house district 130 in November 2000,[5][11] unseating Díaz.[10] Upon taking office, Reinoso became the first Peruvian-American to be seated in any U.S. state legislature.[6]

During his third state legislative term in 2004, Reinoso worked to pass a bill that allowed undocumented immigrants to attend Connecticut universities at the in-state tuition rate[12][13] if they had received at least two years of schooling in Connecticut and graduated from a secondary school or equivalent.[14] The bill was voted down in 2005, and Reinoso tried to propose similar bills for discussion in 2007 and 2008.[15] In 2005, Reinoso introduced a bill permitting non-U.S citizens living in Connecticut to obtain a drivers' license.[14][16] In 2005, Reinoso considered running for Ernie Newton's Connecticut Senate seat.[17] Instead, Reinoso remained on the Connecticut House of Representatives, from which he stepped down in 2009 and was succeeded in office by Ezequiel Santiago.[18]

Subsequently, Reinoso returned to Peru, settling in Lima.[3][1] In February 2016, he was named a replacement legislative candidate for Moisés Mieses. Reinoso represented the Popular Force in the 2016 general elections for a seat on the Congress of the Republic of Peru[19] to represent Lima and residents abroad. He was not among the 14 representatives elected,[20] having received the fewest votes from among the 36 candidates.[21]

• Appearances on C-SPAN