Ruben Cruz II

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This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Ruben Cruz II
Image of Ruben Cruz II

Common Sense Party, Republican Party, Conservative Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

City University of New York, Queens College, 1999

Personal
Profession
Social services
Contact

Ruben Cruz II (Republican Party, Conservative Party, Common Sense Party) ran for election to the New York State Assembly to represent District 24. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Ruben Cruz II earned a bachelor's degree from City University of New York, Queens College in 1999. His career experience includes working in social services. Cruz has been associated with the Latin American Intercultural Alliance, Central Queens Republican Club, and Queens Libertarians.[1]

Elections

2024

See also: New York State Assembly elections, 2024

General election

General election for New York State Assembly District 24

Incumbent David Weprin defeated Ruben Cruz II and Misbaah Mahmood in the general election for New York State Assembly District 24 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of David Weprin
David Weprin (D)
 
61.1
 
23,300
Image of Ruben Cruz II
Ruben Cruz II (R / Conservative Party / Common Sense Party)
 
35.1
 
13,383
Image of Misbaah Mahmood
Misbaah Mahmood (People First)
 
3.5
 
1,325
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.3
 
131

Total votes: 38,139
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent David Weprin advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 24.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Ruben Cruz II advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Assembly District 24.

Conservative Party primary election

The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Ruben Cruz II advanced from the Conservative Party primary for New York State Assembly District 24.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Cruz in this election.

2022

See also: New York State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for New York State Senate District 16

Incumbent John Liu defeated Ruben Cruz II in the general election for New York State Senate District 16 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of John Liu
John Liu (D / Working Families Party)
 
57.7
 
28,715
Image of Ruben Cruz II
Ruben Cruz II (R / Conservative Party / Independence Party) Candidate Connection
 
42.2
 
21,033
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
50

Total votes: 49,798
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent John Liu advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 16.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Ruben Cruz II advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Senate District 16.

Conservative Party primary election

The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Ruben Cruz II advanced from the Conservative Party primary for New York State Senate District 16.

Working Families Party primary election

The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent John Liu advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Senate District 16.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ruben Cruz II did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

Ruben Cruz II completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cruz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Ruben Cruz (Independent Party, Republican Party, Conservative Party) is a dedicated community leader currently working with Community Agency for Senior Citizens with the State Office of Victim Services for Elder Abuse and Elder Justice.

Ruben created the Queens Pet Pantry in collaboration with the Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare, ASPCA, Humane Society, Department of Parks and Recreation and local police departments to distribute pet supplies in parks throughout Queens during the pandemic.

Since 2006, Ruben has consulted for multiple non-profits to secure funding, provide programs for older adults in Health & Wellness and Arts & Culture at Senior Center throughout the five boroughs. His Pattycake Theatre program provides bi-lingual musical presentations in Schools and Parks throughout the City.

A father of two, Ruben balances family life with his work and passion for community enrichment. He currently serves on four boards. The Latin American Intercultural Alliance an Immigrant and Women's rights organization that has expanded to Arts & Culture. The Cypress Hills - Fulton St Senior Center. The Artists for Collective Theater and the Central Queens Republican Club.
  • Elder Justice is Community Justice. Thousands in our communities fall prey to "Deed Stealing" Taking homes away from unknowing older adults. It's time to create strict rules protecting our communities from these predatory practices
  • Clean Streets means Less Crime. Experts say that garbage-free public spaces can be a part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce crime and violence.
  • Lower Taxes. Our sales tax rate is 8.875%. We should cap our sales tax rate to 8%. This will ease the burden on the shoper and business owner. No-bid contracts are stealing our tax dollars. I want to eliminate No-bid contracts.
Elder Justice, Excessive Taxation and Animal Welfare are the areas of public policy I am most passionate about. Working in Elder Justice, I come across story after story of Older Adults being scammed of their life savings. Banks share a portion of the blame with weak oversight in alerting the authorities of suspicious transactions. I want to better protecting our communities from these scams and make the banks more accountable for the security of our accounts.

The city spends $168,000.00 every minute in our taxpayer money. Yet homelessness runs amok our streets are broken but our 24-hour speed cameras are working just fine. When we received $46.5 BILLION Dollars for the New York Rental Assistance Program, the NO-BID contractor in charge of distributing the funds boasted of making 38% robbing more than a third of the funds from families in need. The firm that hired an ex-Cuomo Aide got that NO-BID contract. We must stop this.

I'm gratified to finally see some action on Ryder the carriage horse's behalf. But as usual, public servants are slow to take real action. I will work with Voters for Animal Rights to make real, permanent change.
There is a principle of "Leading from the Front". It's based on the idea that the most powerful fight in front of the troops, not cheerlead or coach from the sidelines.

I have visited many a public official's office. Each and every official had there office all the way in the back. Is that what you want from your public leader?

My office will be in the front where you can see me with my support staff in the back doing what they are supposed to do. Supporting me.
The original DUNE series by Frank Herbert is one of those series that you have to read over again a few times because you always discover something new. The complexities of government, the business of dwindling resources (water), an addictive spice trade and a sisterhood trying to improve the human condition.

But the core of the story is about a family over the generations that tries to do the right thing. I recommend reading the third book first: GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE. It's a stand alone book that covers several thousand years. I guarantee once you finish this book, you'll have to read the rest of the series. It's like the first STARWARS movie starts at chapter three.
Words like "unicameral" are not part of the nomenclature of common community. "Intersectionality" is another popular word in politics that very few use correctly.

That said, the idea of a unicameral Democratic or Republican only state legislature does not change how the legislature will run. We will have "Progressive" versus "Conservative" Democrats instead of Blue versus Red. So there are no benefits or drawbacks.

What we need are new and real people like me, ready to roll up their sleeves and say "What can we fix today?" and do that everyday.
Previous accomplishments matter. How much did our politicians do for us during and since the pandemic? Previous experience in government or politics has accomplished nothing for us. It's time for new, real leadership.
An independent master with multiple sessions for COMMUNITY input before finalization.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.


Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Ruben Cruz II campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* New York State Assembly District 24Lost general$0 $0
2022New York State Senate District 16Lost general$0 $0
Grand total$0 $0
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 1, 2022


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