Julio Tavarez Sworn-In As Paterson, NJ Councilman

[Dolores]

On 1 July 2008, Julio Tavarez was sworn into office as 5th Ward councilman for the city of Paterson, NJ. He took the oath of office at the Passaic County Community College. This makes him the second Dominican ever elected in Paterson, NJ and it increases the number of Dominican elected officials in New Jersey to eight, which is equal to the number of Dominican elected officials in the state of New York.

Tavarez was a community activist who decided to run for Council against a 2-term incumbent. He won his race by nearly a 2-to-1 margin primarily due to a unified turnout of Dominican voters. The state of New Jersey allows cities the option of hosting traditional partisan elections in June (Primary Election) and November (General Election).

Some cities take the option of declaring themselves as a “non-partisan” city and thus are required to have their elections in May. Paterson, NJ is a non-partisan city.

Tavarez inaugural as a Paterson councilman means that he will serve at the same time as Councilman-At-Large Rigo Rodriguez, who is the first Dominican elected in Paterson, NJ.

As a matter of trivia, five other U.S. cities have had a history of electing multiple Dominican to public office to serve simultaneously: New York, NY; Haverstraw, NY; Providence, RI; Lawrence, MA, and Carolina, PR (source: Dominican American National Roundtable). Approximately 25% of the estimated 150,000 residents of Paterson are Dominican making it the city with the largest overall population of Dominicans in New Jersey.