Representative Albio Sires

Albio B. Sires (AL-bee-oh SIRR-iss; born January 26, 1951) is a Cuban-born American businessman and Democratic politician who served as a Representative from New Jersey in the United States Congress from 2006 to 2023 and has served as mayor of West New York, New Jersey, from 1995 to 2006 and again beginning in 2023. He was born in Bejucal, Cuba, and immigrated to the United States with his family at age 11, aided by relatives already living in the country. The family settled in West New York, New Jersey, where Sires has remained a resident in a community that was more than three-quarters Hispanic according to the 2010 census. As a child, he attended Public School 4, where he and his brother were two of only three Latino students, and he learned English through a teacher’s use of flashcards and phonetics.

Sires attended Memorial High School in West New York, where he distinguished himself as a star basketball player. His athletic ability earned him a basketball scholarship to Saint Peter’s College (now Saint Peter’s University) in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and marketing. He later pursued graduate studies and received a Master of Arts degree in Spanish from Middlebury College in 1985. After college, Sires returned to Memorial High School as a teacher and coach, beginning a professional life closely tied to his local community. In addition to his work in education, he entered the private sector and became the owner of A.M. Title Agency Inc., establishing himself as a businessman before and during his political career.

Politically active from the 1970s onward, Sires initially aligned with the Democratic Party but switched to the Republican Party in 1985. That year he became the Republican nominee for New Jersey’s 14th congressional district and in 1986 ran against Democratic incumbent Frank Guarini, losing by a margin of 71% to 26%. He left the Republican Party in 1994, became a registered independent, and then rejoined the Democratic Party in 1998. His local political ascent began in West New York, where he was elected mayor in 1995, becoming the town’s first Hispanic mayor. He served as mayor until 2006 and was recognized by his peers when he was named “mayor of the year” in 2004. During this period, it was common in New Jersey for local officials to hold multiple offices, and while serving as mayor he also held state legislative responsibilities, receiving $49,000 annually for his Assembly service and $15,000 as mayor.

In 2000, Sires was elected to represent the 33rd Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly. After only one term, he was selected as Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, serving from 2002 to 2006. He was the first Hispanic person to serve as Speaker and was widely regarded as a surprise choice, reportedly emerging as the consensus candidate after Governor-elect Jim McGreevey declined to support then–Assembly Minority Leader and former Speaker Joseph Doria for the post. During his tenure as Speaker, Sires also served on several occasions as acting governor of New Jersey when Governors McGreevey and Richard Codey were out of state, making him the first Hispanic person to serve as acting governor. In that capacity, he signed bills into law and performed the routine functions of the office. For the 2006–2008 legislative session, after his speakership ended, he was given the honorary title of Speaker Emeritus and served as chair of the Legislative Services Commission. He stepped down from the Assembly in December 2006 and was succeeded by Silverio Vega, who was sworn in on December 11, 2006. Vega also succeeded Sires as mayor of West New York and, like several other Hudson County officials at the time, held both municipal and legislative offices until New Jersey’s 2006 “double dipping” reform, which grandfathered in officials who already held dual posts before a February 1, 2008, cutoff.

Sires’s congressional career began when 13-year Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez vacated New Jersey’s 13th congressional district seat in 2006 to enter the United States Senate, filling the vacancy created when Senator Jon Corzine became governor. Sires ran in two Democratic primaries on June 6, 2006: a special primary to complete the final two months of Menendez’s term and a regular primary for the full two-year term beginning in January 2007. In the special primary, he won about 90% of the vote against James Geron, effectively assuring his election in the heavily Democratic, Latino-majority district. In the regular primary, he defeated Assemblyman and Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas with 68% of the vote, carrying Union, Hudson, and Essex Counties while Vas prevailed in Middlesex County. No Republican filed for the full-term race, underscoring the district’s strong Democratic tilt. For the unexpired term, Sires faced Republican John Guarini, a salesman and second cousin of former Congressman Frank J. Guarini, and won the November 7, 2006, general election with 78% of the vote. He was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on November 13, 2006, to serve the remainder of Menendez’s term. Observers noted that this victory capped a two-decade quest for a House seat that began with his 1986 run as a Republican challenger to Guarini, when he received only about 27% of the vote.

In Congress, Sires represented what was initially designated as New Jersey’s 13th congressional district from 2006 to 2013 and then renumbered as the 8th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. The district included most of northern and eastern Jersey City and many of Newark’s Latino neighborhoods, as well as other urban and suburban communities in northern New Jersey. Over nine terms in office, he participated actively in the legislative process and consistently supported the Democratic Party’s agenda, voting with his party approximately 93% of the time. He was a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and was part of a small group of Cuban American lawmakers in the House; aside from the single term served by Florida Democrat Joe Garcia from 2013 to 2015, Sires was the only Cuban-born Democrat in the chamber during much of his tenure. He also belonged to the Congressional Arts Caucus and served as a co-chair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, reflecting his engagement with both cultural and foreign policy issues.

Sires’s committee assignments underscored his focus on foreign affairs, transportation, and fiscal policy. He served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he sat on the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia and chaired the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, giving him a prominent role in shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America and other regions. He also served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, including the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, as well as on the Committee on the Budget. He gained a reputation as a “champion of mass transit,” strongly supporting federal investment in public transportation projects that he believed would benefit his densely populated, commuter-heavy district. He advocated for a $9 billion federally, state-, and locally funded rail tunnel project between New Jersey and New York that broke ground in June 2009 and was expected to create thousands of jobs. In March 2012, he pushed for a two-year surface transportation bill to fund highways and mass transit and supported extending existing transportation legislation to allow the House and Senate to reconcile differences with the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).

Domestic policy priorities for Sires also included housing affordability. Representing a district where residents paid comparatively high rents and home prices, he supported legislation aimed at expanding affordable housing options and easing the cost burden on low- and moderate-income families. In foreign policy, he took positions that sometimes diverged from the majority of his party. He opposed the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran, stating that he did not believe the accord would prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. In October 2020, he co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning Azerbaijan’s offensive operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and criticizing Turkey’s role in the hostilities, reflecting his broader engagement with human rights and regional stability issues. He was also a member of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus, aligning himself with efforts to promote democratic reforms and human rights in Cuba.

After serving nine terms in the House of Representatives, Sires chose not to seek reelection in 2022, concluding his congressional service in January 2023. That same year, he returned to municipal leadership as mayor of West New York, resuming the office he had first held nearly three decades earlier. Throughout his career, from his early work as a teacher and coach to his roles as mayor, state assemblyman, Assembly Speaker, acting governor, and U.S. representative, Sires has remained closely tied to the community in which he grew up, representing the interests of his largely Hispanic, urban constituency at the local, state, and national levels.