Al Santos (mayor)

Alberto (Al) G. Santos (born 1965) is the Mayor of Kearny, New Jersey, and a Democrat. Santos formerly served as councilman of Kearny's Second Ward for one year. Santos was elected Mayor in 2000, and then re-elected in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2009.

Background

The son of a hard working Portuguese, immigrant family, Al was born in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1970, Al along with his family, moved to Kearny. The family originally emigrated from Murtosa, Portugal. The mayor is fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish.

2009 Mayoral Run

Santos was up for reelection in 2009. He had no Democratic opponent(s) during The Primary elections. During the general election, his only opponent was Republican, John Leadbeater. The two fought it out hard and nasty with various local newspaper ads bashing each others' campaign and platform. In the end, Santos walked away victorious with a 57% to 42% win against Leadbeater.