Albio Sires

Albio B. Sires (born January 26, 1951) is a Cuban-born American businessman and politician serving as the mayor of West New York, New Jersey, since 2023 and previously from 1995 to 2006.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Sires was born on January 26, 1951, in Bejucal, Cuba.

Sires was an active Democrat in the 1970s and 1980s.

He received a B.A. in 1974 in Spanish and marketing.

He received an M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College in 1985.

Sires worked at Memorial High School as a teacher and coach.

He is the owner of A.M. Title Agency Inc.

He switched to the Republican Party in 1985 and ran for Congress in 1986 against Frank Guarini.

Sires lost that election, 71% to 26%.

Sires left the Republican Party in 1994 and became a registered independent.

Sires was the mayor of West New York, New Jersey, from 1995 to 2006.

He was succeeded by Vega, who will retain his mayoral seat while he simultaneously serves in the Assembly, joining three fellow Hudson County mayors—Brian Stack of Union City in the Assembly and Nicholas Sacco of North Bergen and Joseph Doria of Bayonne in the New Jersey Senate—who serve as both mayors and in the New Jersey Legislature.

Sires rejoined the Democratic Party in 1998.

Three years later, he became speaker.

During his tenure as speaker, Sires served as acting governor of New Jersey on several occasions, when McGreevey and Richard Codey left the state.

He was the first Hispanic person to serve as an acting governor of New Jersey.

As acting governor, Sires signed several bills into law and performed routine duties of the office.

Sires represented district 33 in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2000 to 2006, serving as Speaker of the New Jersey House from 2002 to 2006.

Sires served as the Speaker of the Assembly from 2002 to 2006 and was the first Hispanic person to serve as New Jersey's Assembly Speaker.

He was considered a surprise pick for speaker, since he had only served one term in the Assembly before taking the position.

It has been reported that he was elected as speaker after Governor-elect Jim McGreevey decided he did not want then Assembly Minority Leader Joseph Doria, a former speaker, to serve as speaker during his governorship.

Sires was the first Hispanic mayor of West New York and in 2004 was elected mayor of the year by his fellow mayors.

He then served as the U.S. representative for NJ's 8th congressional district from 2006 to 2023.

The district, numbered as the NJ's 13th congressional district from 2006 to 2013, included most of northern and eastern Jersey City, as well as most of Newark's Latino neighborhoods.

He did not seek reelection in 2022.

For the 2006–08 legislative session, Sires was given the largely honorary title of Speaker Emeritus.

He is a former chair of the Legislative Services Commission.

Sires stepped down from his seat in the Assembly, and was replaced by Silverio Vega, whom the Democratic district committee chose to replace Sires.

Vega was sworn into office on December 11, 2006.

For many years, it was common for New Jersey mayors to serve in the legislature; this practice of "double dipping" was abolished in 2006, but who had been in both positions before the February 1, 2008, cutoff date were grandfathered in and could retain both jobs.

During the time that Sires served in the Assembly, he was paid $49,000 for his state legislative position and $15,000 annually as mayor.

Sires had voted with the Democratic Party 93% of the time since joining Congress.

Sires was a member of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus.

Sires is seen as a "champion of mass transit".

He supports federal funding for public transportation projects, believing they will help his constituents.

He immigrated to the United States with his family at age 11 with the help of relatives in the U.S. He eventually settled in West New York, New Jersey; he still lives there, in a town that was 78.08% Hispanic according to the 2010 census.

He attended Public School 4, where he and his brother were two of only three Latinos in the school.

Sires learned English from a teacher who used flashcards and phonetics, and subsequently attended Memorial High School, where he was a star basketball player, whose skills on the court helped him obtain a basketball scholarship to Saint Peter's College.

Sires first ran for office as the Republican nominee for New Jersey's 14th congressional district.