Chris Hernandez is the political and City Hall reporter for NBC Action News. He has a special touch for putting political coverage in perspective.
Chris has covered political campaigns for nearly two decades. He first interviewed President Barack Obama while working in Chicago when Obama was an Illinois state senator.
Chris joined NBC Action News as a reporter in 2004 and is thrilled to be back in his hometown. You may remember seeing him on the air at WDAF-TV for seven years in the 90's. Chris then gained more journalism experience working in bigger markets.
Chris last worked in the third largest TV market in the country, at the CBS station in Chicago, WBBM-TV. While there, he filed reports internationally after a nightclub stampede that killed more than 20 people. He also reported on a meteor that crashed to the earth and reported when a fan attacked a Kansas City Royals coach during a White Sox game.
Before Chicago, Chris worked in Cleveland from '99 through '01 as a reporter at WEWS-TV, a sister station to NBC Action News.
Just before returning home, Chris took some time off and spent four months backpacking through Mexico and Central America. He found the church near Leon, Mexico where his grandparents were married, hiked up volcanoes in Guatemala, toured rainforests in Costa Rica and learned to scuba dive in Honduras.
Now Chris is happy to be reporting again on issues that affect his family and friends, and to be able to watch Jayhawk basketball. He currently lives in the Brookside neighborhood in Kansas City with his partner. His extended family lives in Shawnee and Lee's Summit.
Chris spends some of his free time helping with community events and has served as the 2006 Honorary Chairman for the AIDS Bicycle Challenge.
Chris sings with the Heartland Men's Chorus and has volunteered with the Mattie Rhodes Center, which provides social services in the Latino community. He also serves as Honorary Chairman of the "Faces of Diabetes" public awareness campaign for the Kansas City chapter of the American Diabetes Association.
E-mail Chris at hernandez@nbcactionnews.com.
