2006 New Member Profiles
New Jersey's 13th District: Albio Sires (D)
The Almanac of American Politics
© National Journal Group Inc.
| Albio Sires |
| Born: |
January 26, 1951 |
| Family: |
Wife, Adrienne; one child |
| Religion: |
Catholic |
| Education: |
St. Peter's College, B.A. 1974; Middlebury College, M.A. 1985 |
| Career: |
High school Spanish teacher; special assistant, New Jersey Community Affairs Department; part-owner, A.M. Title Agency |
Elected
Office: |
West New York mayor, 1995-2006; New Jersey House, 1999-2006; New Jersey House speaker, 2002-05
|
Twenty years after his first unsuccessful bid for Congress,
Albio Sires won the seat left vacant when Democratic Rep.
Robert Menendez was appointed to the Senate in January 2006.
Sires, a former New Jersey House speaker, was born in Cuba and arrived in the United States after his family fled Fidel Castro's regime in 1962. He succeeds Menendez as the only Cuban-American House member from a state other than Florida.
Sires ran two simultaneous campaigns this year, one to fill the remaining two months in Menendez's unexpired House term and the other for a full two-year term in the 110th Congress. The election to complete Menendez's term was essentially uncontested -- Sires had only token opposition in the June 6 special Democratic primary, and no Republican even bothered to file in this heavily Democratic district. That same day, though, in the concurrent Democratic primary for a full term, Sires faced a fierce challenge from Joe Vas.
Like Sires, Vas is both a state House member and a mayor (New Jersey is a rare state where politicians can hold both offices at the same time). Sires is mayor of West New York in Hudson County; Vas is mayor of Perth Amboy in Middlesex County.
Vas assailed Sires as a puppet of the powerful Hudson County Democratic machine. He also questioned whether Sires -- who began his political career as a Democrat, ran for Congress in 1986 as a Republican, and was later elected to local office as an independent before rejoining the Democratic Party -- is a true Democrat. Sires responded with harsh attacks that depicted Vas as soft on crime.
The shrill tenor of the campaign made little difference. Vas carried his home base in the primary, but Sires crushed him in the more populous Hudson County portion of the district on his way to a 72 percent to 28 percent win.
Republicans nominated John Guarini, a cousin of former Democratic Rep. Frank Guarini -- who defeated Sires in 1986 -- to run for the full House term. Guarini didn't raise money, however, and posed no threat in a district that delivered 69 percent of its vote to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004.
