Meet Jessica Ramos
Jessica Ramos is running for Mayor of New York City to bring the voice of working families, immigrants, and everyday New Yorkers to City Hall. She currently represents New York's 13th District in the State Senate, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and parts of Rego Park and Forest Hills.
Jessica Ramos currently chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, where she's fought to pass historic legislation to grant farm workers basic rights, tackle child poverty, and secured $2.1B to create a fund for workers who have been excluded from pandemic-related relief.
Ramos has spent her life fighting for working families, advocating for labor, and organizing her local community. Born in Elmhurst to an undocumented seamstress and a printing pressman, Jessica was raised in Astoria, attended Queens public schools, and now lives in Jackson Heights with her two sons.
A strong union advocate, Ramos worked with Build Up NYC to fight for construction, building, and hotel maintenance workers in New York City. Ramos also worked with SSEU Local 371 and 32BJ SEIU, where she helped building maintenance workers, office cleaners and public schools cleaners win contracts that protected their rights, wages, and benefits. Worked in the City Council during the Bloomberg administration.
Jessica was a member of Queens Community Board 3 and served as Democratic District Leader in the 39th Assembly District. Jessica sat on the boards of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group and Farmspot, Jackson Heights’ community-supported agriculture (CSA) program.
As the first American-born in her family, Jessica feels a deep sense of responsibility in bridging the gap between immigrant and non-immigrant communities. Jessica’s mother crossed the Mexican border by herself at 24, and her father was arrested in a workplace immigration raid in the 1980s and spent days held in a detention center.
As the city’s chief Latina spokesperson, Jessica helped keep our city’s millions Spanish-speaking residents, and the community and ethnic media at large, informed about government services and initiatives.
Jessica credits her love for activism and public service to her parents, Colombian immigrants who fought for and won the right to dual citizenship for Colombian-Americans and founded Siempre Colombia, a not-for-profit organization in Jackson Heights.
Jessica does not have a driver’s license—she rides the subway every day.