Thank you for your support!
Thank you to all of our supporters in June's Primary Election. With your help, we achieved a landslide victory on June 6th. Visit our website often for updates on the General Election campaign, and thank you again for your continued support.
Text of Albio Sires Victory Speech
Thank you.
Well, this has certainly been a hard fought campaign but I cannot be happier about the outcome of this election – the first step towards going to Washington, DC this November to clean up Congress and help Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.
There are so many people I would like to thank but first and foremost, I would like to thank my wife Adrienne and my daughter, Tara – not just for standing with me during this election but for all the support they have given me over the past twenty years.
Governor Corzine, Governor Codey, Senator Kenny, Congressmen Rothman, Andrews, Payne and Pascrell and the many elected officials, labor leaders and community activists throughout Hudson, Union, Essex and Middlesex Counties and the rest of the state who helped me so tremendously during the past several years.
The many people who worked on my campaign and especially the volunteers who came in every single day to stuff envelopes, walk door to door and make phone calls.
I thank you.
My friends, tonight is the first day of an epic journey – not just for me, but for the people of the 13th Congressional District and the state as a whole.
Yes, I will be going to Washington this November but next January, I will be joined by many new members of Congress – members who will be part of a new Democratic majority that will take this country back from those who have put Wall Street ahead of Main Street, put executive wages ahead of the minimum wage, put nonsense over common sense and put our nation’s soldiers in harm’s way based on false information and false ideology.
The tasks that face our nation are great:
We must end this war of choice in Iraq and bring back our troops as soon as possible – so that one more soldier does not die in a war based on false ideology, false intelligence and false promises.
We must reform the No Child Left Behind law so that schools get more support and no children – regardless of income or race – really are left behind.
We must provide tax breaks to the middle class – not to the wealthiest one percent who don’t need them.
We must provide greater access to health care – for children, for seniors, and for working families.
Most importantly, we must protect our homeland and the areas that need it most.
The residents of this district saw airplanes take off from Newark Airport and slam into the World Trade Center less than five short years ago.
This district is home to tunnels, chemical facilities, ports and airports that are among the greatest targets for another terrorist attack.
And yet, last week, this Administration gave homeland security dollars to places like northwestern Alaska – while leaving our region woefully shortchanged.
This Administration cares more about helping itself – instead of helping regular people.
THAT is why I am going to Congress and THAT is why I thank you tonight for your support:
For giving me the opportunity to work on your behalf in Washington.
For giving me the opportunity to continue helping my community – which has given me so much in return.
For giving me the opportunity to be a part of turning this country around and making sure that the interests of every single resident in this district are represented.
It is an honor and a privilege to accept this opportunity and one that I am truly humbled to accept on behalf of all the residents of this district.
Thank You.
UNITEHERE Endorses Sires for Congress
May 25, 2006 -- (Union City, NJ): After careful deliberation, members of the NJ state Council of UNITEHERE decided this week to endorse the candidacy of Albio Sires for Congress. The NJ State Council of UNITEHERE represents one of the fastest growing private sector unions in New Jersey with more than 30,000 workers employed in the school cafeterias, airports and food concession stands, casinos, hotels, restaurants, industrial laundries, distribution centers, and light manufacturing facilities.
From The New York Times, March 26th 2006
Mr. Sires has lined up the support of nearly every major Democratic player in the state, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine, former Gov. Richard J. Codey who is still the Senate president and the formidable and well-financed Hudson County machine. Of more than 20 people interviewed for this article, including professors, politicians, lobbyists and lawyers, the only one who said Mr. Vas was going to win was Mr. Vas.
An Excerpt From Albio Sires Announcement Speech
Today, I am announcing my candidacy to succeed Congressman Bob Menendez in the United States House of Representatives.
I am running for Congress because it is time to change the direction of our country. It is time to create educational opportunities for our children, time to bring job and health security to those who work hard, and time to keep our promise of a dignified retirement to our parents. It is time for a plan to bring our troops home from Iraq and, most of all, it is time for the Republicans in Washington to be sent packing.
These are bold challenges. They demand new leadership that knows how to get things done. I have that vision, I've built that experience. I am ready to make a difference in the Congress of the United States of America because I have made a difference in my hometown as mayor and for my state as the third highest ranking elected Democrat- the Speaker of the Assembly.
I know where I want to lead, because I know where I come from.
You see, in every life, there are events that determine the future course of our actions. For me, the event that shaped my life took place when I was ten years old and my parents fled a Communist dictatorship to settle in West New York right here in Hudson County .The challenges for us were enormous. We had to learn a new language, build a new life and adjust to a new society.
But my parents saw the same thing for our family that so many other immigrants have seen for theirs over the course of so many generations: They saw the opportunity to succeed.
They worked tirelessly so that my brothers and I could have all the advantages this country has to offer. And in return, they expected us to work just as hard to succeed.
I am so proud to be the first in my family to go to college but I am just as proud to be the son of parents who sacrificed everything so that their children could grow up in freedom.
Most importantly, my parents taught me that this is the only country in the world where hard work, education and perseverance count more than the circumstances of your birth. And though I did not come from privilege, no one in life has been more privileged.
But I know the old adage that says: To whom much is given, much is expected.
And that's why after graduation, I came back to Memorial High School in West New York to become a teacher and a basketball coach.
As mayor of West New York, as an Assemblyman and finally as the first Hispanic Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, I have always fought to give back to my community, which had given me so much.
My public record is one of providing new ideas and a new vision to expand opportunities for New Jerseyans.
It is a vision that exists not just in theory but that I have worked for decades to see enacted.
It is a vision of hope, of opportunity and of delivering for the people who have honored me by allowing me to represent them as their mayor, as their assemblyman and as their speaker.
And that is why I am running for Congress.