Eloy J. Delgado was born and raised in Elizabeth.
JERSEY CITY -- As Rep. Albio Sires prepares to enter his 10th year representing Hudson County in the House of Representatives, a 27-year-old public school teacher from Elizabeth is hoping Democrats will change course.
Eloy J. Delgado, who teaches English as a second language at School 6 in Linden, is a newcomer in politics compared to Sires, who was first elected to Congress in June 2006 and was previously a state assemblyman and West New York's mayor. Delgado's only brush with local politics has been as board trustee president for Elizabeth's library system.
Still, Delgado, who is challenging Sires in next week's Democratic primary, said he's passionate about federal issues and thinks they impact the urban voter more so than state or local policies.
"When we're talking about the trade deals that emptied out the manufacturing jobs, when we're talking about the disparities between certain neighborhoods ... that has a federal overview," Delgado said during a recent interview at Tops Diner in East Newark. "I feel like I could do the most effective change there."
Delgado, whose father hails from Cuba (Sires, 65, was born there) and his mother from the Dominican Republic, is an enthusiastic supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in next week's Democratic presidential primary, and his challenge of Sires resembles the liberal vs. Democratic establishment flavor of the Sanders-Clinton race. Sires has endorsed Clinton.
Delgado said his big issues are jobs and income inequality. He wants to renegotiate trade deals that he said have put the nation's foreign policy interests ahead of its economic interests; get "big money out of politics;" and make college more affordable.
Delgado grew up in public housing, his father was a manufacturing worker. He attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, where as an educator in his fraternity he discovered his love of teaching. After graduating, he also learned the devastating effects school-related debt can have on a young person struggling to break into the middle class.
Keeping college affordable is not about "making college free," Delgado said.
"Allow students to work off the debt ... or else we're going to see the middle-class shrink dramatically," he said. "Economically it's the only way for us to move forward unless we want two classes, the rich and the poor."
The 8th Congressional District is a boomerang-shaped area that includes parts of Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties. Here in Hudson County, Sires represents East Newark, Guttenberg, Harrison, Hoboken, Kearny, North Bergen, Union City, West New York and parts of Bayonne and Jersey City.
"We need a fierce progressive advocate in that seat talking about income inequality, talking about minimum wage, talking about the jobs that went overseas," Delgado said. "That's what I don't feel that we have in this congressional district."
The primary is Tuesday, June 7. Republican Agha Khan is running unopposed.
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
