The congressman from the 13th District is Democrat Albio Sires (SEAR-eez), who replaced Robert Menendez, also a Democrat, after he was appointed to the Senate in January 2006. Sires, who was born in Cuba, remembers the book burning following the Communist revolution there. His family fled Fidel Castro’s regime in 1962 when he was 10. He attended St. Peter’s College on a four-year basketball scholarship—he is 6-foot-4-inches—and then earned a master’s degree from Middlebury College. He became a high school Spanish teacher. On his fourth try, he was elected mayor of West New York as a Republican in 1995, and held that post until 2006. He focused on the creation of more affordable housing in the small but densely populated town and won praise for merging the fire department with three neighboring departments. He switched parties in 1999 and, with the support of party leaders, defeated a veteran Democratic incumbent in the primary to win a state House seat (dual office-holding was then a common practice in New Jersey). With strong support from newly elected Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey in 2002, he became speaker of the Assembly. Read More

The congressman from the 13th District is Democrat Albio Sires (SEAR-eez), who replaced Robert Menendez, also a Democrat, after he was appointed to the Senate in January 2006. Sires, who was born in Cuba, remembers the book burning following the Communist revolution there. His family fled Fidel Castro’s regime in 1962 when he was 10. He attended St. Peter’s College on a four-year basketball scholarship—he is 6-foot-4-inches—and then earned a master’s degree from Middlebury College. He became a high school Spanish teacher. On his fourth try, he was elected mayor of West New York as a Republican in 1995, and held that post until 2006. He focused on the creation of more affordable housing in the small but densely populated town and won praise for merging the fire department with three neighboring departments. He switched parties in 1999 and, with the support of party leaders, defeated a veteran Democratic incumbent in the primary to win a state House seat (dual office-holding was then a common practice in New Jersey). With strong support from newly elected Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey in 2002, he became speaker of the Assembly.

After newly elected Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to replace him in the U.S. Senate, Sires immediately became the front-runner for the House seat. In the primary, Sires faced a fierce challenge from Joe Vas of Perth Amboy, who likewise was a state House member and a mayor. Vas assailed Sires as a puppet of the Hudson County Democratic machine. Sires responded by depicting Vas as soft on crime and won the support of most leading Democrats, except for his longtime rival Menendez, who remained neutral. Although Vas carried his home base of Middlesex County 76%-24%, Sires crushed him 80%-20% in Hudson County, which cast 74% of the total vote. Overall, Sires won 72%-28%. In the general election, Republicans nominated John Guarini, who raised little money and posed no threat. Sires won 78%-19%. He succeeded Menendez as the only Cuban-American House member from a state other than Florida.

In the House, Sires established a liberal voting record that has placed him in the middle of the pack among New Jersey’s House Democrats. He allied himself in 2007 with South Florida members who wanted to keep U.S. sanctions on Cuba in place; he joined them again three years later in opposing the Obama administration’s proposed loosening of restrictions on travel and economic aid. On the Financial Services Committee, Sires got approval in 2007 of his bill to increase penalties, up to $1 million in some cases, for identity theft. He switched to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and prodded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move quickly on solutions to raising the Bayonne Bridge’s height to accommodate larger ships. He also introduced legislation to revitalize urban parks and to help commuters find alternative ways to get to work.

In the 2010 election, Sires was one of the vice chairs of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in charge of member participation and outreach. After Democrats lost their majority, he called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step down, though he subsequently backed her bid to become minority leader. He was re-elected easily in 2008 and 2010.