By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com
State officials last Friday promised to investigate State Senator Jessica Ramos, who represents Queens’ District 13, over allegations that she “double dipped,” pocketing more than $30,000 from the legislature for travel expenses while having her campaign also foot the bill.
Last week, an analysis by the New York Times revealed 57 instances between 2021 and 2025 when Ramos filed overlapping charges for Amtrak train fares. Separately, former aides to Ramos told the Times that she frequently billed her campaign for hotel expenses that were already being reimbursed by the state, with one ex-staffer complaining internally in 2022 that their reelection war chest was rapidly depleting as a result.
During that five-year period, Ramos received $36,767 from the legislature for hotels and train tickets, while allocating $33,049 from her campaign for the same costs.
Both the state Comptroller and the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, the legislature’s watchdog, indicated they would review Ramos’ records. The Times’ report found that at least 130 current and former state legislators filed for reimbursements while also using their campaigns to pay for travel, though officials said these cases could still be legal if the latter covered staffers’ expenses exclusively.
Last week’s bombshell is only the latest controversy to center upon Ramos, a polarizing figure in Queens politics.
Ramos garnered support from local activists as the only elected official in the area to maintain her public opposition to Metropolitan Park, a planned casino next to Citi Field that she successfully blocked until state Sen. John Liu — whose district is adjacent to Ramos’ — bypassed her by introducing his own bill.
But Ramos’ place within the Mamdani-era progressive establishment, increasingly dominated by the DSA, was tenuous from the start.
In 2022, Ramos publicly feuded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media, accusing her of spending too much time in D.C. and ignoring her constituents.
As a mayoral candidate in 2025, Ramos characterized Mamdani as inexperienced during a wide-ranging interview with the Queens Ledger. Hours later, she announced that she would be endorsing the then-Assemblymember’s main competition, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, despite previously highlighting his ongoing sexual harassment scandals.
The decision branded her a pariah among fellow progressives. In the ensuing weeks, Jasmine Gripper, co-director of the influential Working Families Party, went so far as to wryly suggest that Ramos should take a “mental acuity test.”
Ramos ultimately lost her reelection bid this summer to state Sen. Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, a colleague and DSA member who has backed the casino, by an 11-point margin.
This isn’t the first time Ramos has faced questions over her campaign finances. As of this April, Ramos still owed more than $140,000 to employees and consultants she hired for her ill-fated mayoral run. One company, Bartholomew Communications & Strategies, sued Ramos for $40,000, but dropped the case in June after saying it had reached a settlement.
