City resident Washington Flores has entered the already crowded 31st District Democratic Assembly race, filing his petitions at the March 30 deadline to run for one of two contested Assembly seats.
The 31st District includes all of Bayonne and part of Jersey City.
Nine candidates have filed petitions to run for the 31st District in the Democratic and Republican primaries on June 2; seven on the Democratic side and two on the Republican side.
The Hudson County Democratic Organization had already announced its candidates: Angela McKnight of Jersey City and Nicholas Chiaravalloti of Bayonne, backed by Bayonne Mayor James Davis.
Flores is running with Bruce Alston of Jersey City under the “Uniting Community & Public Service” banner.
Flores sought Bayonne’s Third Ward City Council seat in Bayonne’s municipal elections last year, but was defeated.
Following last year’s May 13 election, which forced a runoff between Davis and incumbent Mayor Mark Smith on June 10, he had supported Davis. Now Flores is running against Davis’s Assembly pick, Chiaravalloti.
“I still support Jimmy and believe we need to be behind him to move Bayonne forward,” Flores said. “But this is about not having a candidate forced down people’s throats. People need to decide who should be their representative in Trenton.”
Firefighter Pat O’Brien had announced his candidacy for the Bayonne Assembly seat earlier in the campaign, only to retract it the following day.
Flores said his Little League coaching and involvement in other community activities were among his qualifications to run.
But on April 1, only two days after Flores’s filing and announcement, his candidacy was met with criticism from two fronts; the county Republican organization and city and county Democrats.
The two sides questioned Flores’s filing as a Democrat, saying that until recently he had still identified himself as a Republican.
“Washington Flores has been a longstanding member of the Republican Party, serving as the sergeant of arms for the party organization in Bayonne, but recently switched parties without explanation,” said Hudson County Republican Chairman Jose Arango in a statement.
Arango expressed disbelief that Flores, who he said was known as “a devoted Republican Party member,” would run as a Democrat.
“I can’t believe that a person that was thinking of running as a Republican can be now part of a liberal, Democratic Party,” Arango said. “Flores was known within the local party for his strong Republican beliefs on social issues.”
Flores told the Bayonne Community News that he had become a Democrat effective March 23.
But a Democratic source said that he doubted that was the case. And another Republican said that Flores was being disingenuous about his political leanings.
“From Tea Party member to Democrat in a week confirms my belief that Flores only cares for himself and not for any of the residents of this district,” Bayonne Republican Vinnie Consigulo said in the statement released by Arango. “I hope the Democratic voters see through this sham and send him packing on June 2.”
“This is about not having a candidate forced down people’s throats.” – Washington Flores
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Flores said that his change in philosophy was not a sudden one, but rather a developing one.
“I just felt that looking at the leadership in the Republican Party, and what the values have been in the last few years and months, I felt that the Republican Party was straying from being the party of the people,” he said on April 6.
Flores said that evolution began shortly after President Barack Obama’s first election victory in 2008.
“Just looking at the (Republican) policy in regard to unions and things of that nature, I just feel that my ideologies over the last few years have leaned more liberal than Republican in my thinking,” he said.
Really a Republican?
Flores takes umbrage with statements criticizing his change in parties.
“People are allowed to change their mindset,” he said. “I’m as much a Democrat as Congressman Albio Sires and [former] Sheriff Juan Perez, who both switched parties in the past.”
A different Democratic source also said that he believed Flores was still a Republican at heart, and referred to messages voicing pro-Republican stances tweeted from an account with his name. While Flores acknowledged that those tweets were his, he said had not been active on his Twitter account in some time.
Others in the race
Former Jersey City Democratic Organization chairman Joe Conte and his running mate, Jersey City cop Ramon Regalado, also filed to run in the Democratic primary, under the “Hudson County Democrats United” banner. Dejon Morris of Jersey City is running under the “Committed to Restoring the People’s Trust” banner.
On the Republican side, Matthew Kopko of Bayonne and Herminio Mendoza of Jersey City are running as Republican Party candidates.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.