Candidate Profile: Ron Bautista For Hudson County Commissioner

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Ron Bautista has run unsuccessfully for political office in the past, but remained active in Hudson County causes. Now he hopes to get the Democratic nomination next week to represent Hoboken and part of Jersey City on the county Board of Commissioners.

Bautista expected to face longtime Commissioner Anthony Romano, a former Hoboken police officer, but Romano decided last minute not to run again.

After Tuesday's election primaries, Bautista may face Republican and possible third-party candidates in the general election in November.

Patch is posting profiles in certain races this year. Below are Bautista's answers to our questions.

Candidate Profile: Ron Bautista

Age: 39

Current and past government positions: N/A

Job: Community Reinvestment at JPMorganChase

Education: Master's Degree in Political Communications and Governance at the George Washington University. Bachelor's in Marketing and International Business at New Jersey City University. Associates in Accounting at Hudson County Community College.

Volunteer work: I've been proud to organize alongside street safety advocates in Hoboken for expanded access to bike lanes and pedestrian safety infrastructure; alongside tenants and housing justice advocates for rent control and tenant protections in Hoboken; and alongside immigrant justice groups against ICE. Former Board Member at Coalition for Food and Health Equity, Bike Hoboken, the Hoboken Public Library Foundation, as well as the Hudson River Waterfront Conservancy.

Family: We live in Hoboken with my wife Winnie, my 8-year-old daughter Sofia and my two-year-old Aurora. My mother still lives in town at the apartment where I grew up at on 4th and Jackson St.

Questions (answers are verbatim):

1. What do you think are the biggest problems facing your electorate right now, and how do you hope to help solve them?

The biggest problem facing our neighbors right now is affordability.

District 5 is one of the most expensive places in the county to rent right now, and as gas prices and food prices shoot up because of disastrous policies in Washington, local officials have a duty to step up wherever possible to ease that burden. We need a proactive County government who's ready on day one to use all of their power to deliver innovative solutions to our cost of living crisis. That includes building new affordable housing units on publicly-owned land, enacting countywide Right-to-Counsel for tenants, and passing budgets that actually recognize the needs our communities have.

2. Why do you believe you're the most qualified person for the spot, among current and future political opponents?

Among all the candidates running for county government office in Hudson County, I'm the only one who was formerly undocumented — giving me a unique perspective on what it means to be a vulnerable, marginalized member of the community. It's why I'm so viscerally passionate about progressive change: I know firsthand that the only way to truly build a multiracial working-class democracy is by uplifting the most vulnerable among us. That has shaped my decades of organizing in Hoboken and Jersey City on behalf of the most vulnerable people in our county, and everyday neighbors.

See the election calendar and voter information for New Jersey here.