Alixon Collazos-Gill running for 27th District Assembly seat

ESSEX COUNTY – Alixon Collazos-Gill has announced her candidacy for the state Assembly in the 27th District, which includes West Orange, Livingston, Millburn, Montclair, Roseland and Clifton.
If elected, Collazos-Gill — who migrated to the United States from Colombia at age 14 — will make history as the first woman and Latina to represent the district and be possibly one of just three Latinas in the state assembly, according to a press release from her campaign.

“This district has a long, distinguished history of sending strong, Democratic leadership to Trenton, and I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to continue and expand upon that tradition,” Collazos-Gill said.
“As a long-time resident of Montclair, I am very familiar with the communities in this district, but I am eager to get to know them as their potential representative. I look forward to listening to the different and diverse groups within these communities and understanding their priorities and their needs. I think voters will appreciate the perspective I can offer as a woman, a working mother, a small business owner and a Latina.”

Collazos-Gill, who lives in Montclair, serves on the boards of the New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center, housed at the Newark Public Library, BlueWave NJ, and is a former board member of LUPE Fund, a statewide organization whose mission is to educate, empower, and engage Latinas while promoting leadership and civic engagement. She is an alumnus of EmergeNJ, a nationwide organization that trains democratic women to run for public office.

Collazos-Gill is the co-founder, with her husband, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, of The BGill Group, a public affairs and strategic communications firm based in Montclair.

Collazos-Gill served as director of Latino Outreach for Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2017 campaign, where she helped design and execute the campaign’s Latino outreach program. Under her leadership, the campaign established a series of Latino Policy Forums which provided for early input from the Latino community on the campaign’s policy agenda.

Prior to founding The BGill Group, Collazos-Gill served as a grant manager for Millennium Strategies, where she helped secure $900,000 in funding for the firm’s public sector clients. As director of Constituent Services for former Rep. Steven R. Rothman (D-9), she oversaw community outreach and communications, specialized in immigration casework and served as a liaison between the congressional office and community-based leaders and organizations, the release said.

Collazos-Gill has a degree in sociology and Latin American Literature from Rutgers University. She lives in Montclair with her husband, Brendan Gill, and two children, Gabriel and Kristen.