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. 

Jessica’s Accomplishments

In her role as State Senator, Jessica has consistently prioritized people over politics. She successfully raised the minimum wage, led efforts to eliminate exploitative work practices, and secured over $2 billion in relief for excluded workers during the pandemic. Jessica knows how to step up in times of crisis and is committed to ensuring that New York City is a place where everyone can thrive.

Expand each item to read more about Jessica’s accomplishments.

    • Farm Labor Fair Labor Standards Act

    • Recognized Domestic Workers under NY Human Rights Law

    • Construction Wage Theft Bill

    • Prevailing Wage Legislation

    • Raised and Indexed the Minimum Wage

    • First-of-its-kind $2.1 Billion Excluded Workers Fund

    • Captive Audience Ban

    • Language Access in Workers Compensation

    • Retail Worker Safety Act

    • Warehouse Worker Protection Act

    • Warehouse Injury Reduction Act

    • Statewide Salary Disclosure Law

    • Held first-ever workers' compensation oversight hearing

    • Ended mandatory overtime for nurses

    • Passed anti-bullying legislation for school staff

    • Brokered a meeting between the Minor Leaguers and Steve Cohen to pave the way for minor league players joining the MLBPA

    • My bill outlining a bailout for taxi medallion holders used to negotiate the final deal

    • Protected an employees right to privacy by barring employers from accessing login information to private social media accounts

    • Tens of millions of dollars in apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship funding

    • Expanded child care subsidy eligibility from 275% of the federal poverty level to 400% of the federal poverty level

    • Funding to expand UPK statewide

    • Cannabis Workforce Initiative

    • Restored funding for the Langston Hughes library

    • MTA Capital Dashboard Open Data Law

    • Killed Cuomo’s boondoggle air train

    • Used bill to restructure taxi medallion loans

    • Killed the NRG peaker plant

    • Prevailing Wage in the Environmental Bond Act

    • Prevailing Wage on Solar

    • Cornell Climate Jobs Institute

    • Helped neighbors repair their homes after Hurricane Ida

    • Secured a drain to help with flooding in East Elmhurst

    • Passed the Child Poverty Reduction Act

    • Opened a food pantry in the district

    • Supplied constituents with food and PPE during the pandemic

  • Passed legislation requiring NYCHA to publish and maintain a public database with status updates on repairs.

Jessica shakes hands with an older woman holding a sign that reads 'USA WITH LIBERTY' at a crowded protest or rally.

Working Hard for NYC

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. She also 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.

Group of four people, two boys and two adults, in sports jerseys, standing against a white background.

Mom. Daughter. Wife.

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. 

A family group portrait of five people, including a man, a woman, and three children, with some of them holding or eating pizza, posed against a plain white background.

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!