BUFFALO, N.Y. — Taisha St. Jean Tard has officially announced her candidacy for Erie County Legislator District 2 .
She currently serves as chief of staff for the Buffalo Common Council.
St. Jean Tard told 2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing that she and her husband discussed what kind of environment they would want to raise their kids in, and she decided she needed to serve.
"I know that we need someone to fight in the county, that understands those struggles. I came from a single-parent home. I literally rode the bus, so I understand transportation. I worked two to three jobs to get through college. I get it. I get the everyday struggle, and we need someone in the legislature that actually understands and is willing to fight."
The current legislator for District 2, April Baskin, will leave the position to serve on the New York State Senate. She was elected earlier this month.
District 2 is comprised of the City of Buffalo.
St. Jean Tard was born and raised in the City of Buffalo. She's a graduate of Leonardo da Vinci High School, Medaille College, and St. Bonaventure University.
"Since age 17, I was involved in government, I started working as an unpaid intern and I worked my way up to being the first Afro Latina chief of staff for the Buffalo Common Council," she said.
She has worked with not-for-profit organizations, including serving as executive director of the Miss Buffalo Scholarship organization. She was the main organizer of the University United Festival.
When it comes to the issues, the 29-year-old said, "in the last seven years I've been working with Chairwoman Baskin on different initiatives, and it's really important for me. One of my priorities is to make sure that I'm getting resources as we're looking at building stadiums. Another priority is workforce development. We can have all this economic development throughout our city, throughout the county, but are the residents ready for it? Are the residents trained? These are great jobs we should be involved. We're looking at bigger economic development projects and that we are at the table, but also we are the ones having those jobs."
As the county debates and tackles the sales tax, St. Jean Tard said, "as I go into different decisions, like all those different things that are going on in the county, I'm going to think about the everyday citizen who doesn't have the option of having endless money, that's important to me. As I navigate through that and learning the process and really working with the community."
She is ready for the county position, if elected, and wouldn't mind being appointed to the job to fill the vacancy until the June primary is held.
"I can come into this situations with my government experience, with my nonprofit experience. I was an adjunct professor during the pandemic. I want to be that legislator that listens to the community. Everything I'm going to do is community driven. If I'm elected, the first thing I want to do is to ensure that we have a listening tour. I need to know what their priorities are, because my priorities may be different compared to what they want."
She has reached out for an endorsement from the Erie County Democratic Party. 2 On Your Side has also confirmed that Adam Bojak, an attorney, has also reached out to the party along with former legislator Betty Jean Grant.
The primary is in June.