Meet Paul Ruiz
Paul is a lifelong Democrat, a dedicated organizer, and the current Deputy Chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee. He's running for Chair of the Arlington Democrats to lead with clarity, compassion, and a focus on organizing that delivers real results.
Paul has served at every level of Arlington Democrats—from volunteer to precinct captain to Communications Chair and ultimately Deputy Chair—building a strategy that helps define the party’s voice today. Over the last five election cycles, he has led or played a leadership role in the Joint Campaign, helping elect Democrats up and down the ballot. As Deputy Chair, he has helped guide the committee through a period of extraordinary national challenge, organizing town halls and legal aid workshops for federal workers facing layoffs and communities threatened by deportation. He is currently serving a full-term as Arlington’s representative on the 8th Congressional District Democratic Committee.
Paul comes from a proud, working-class family. His mother and grandmother were both school bus drivers—his mom a single parent who knew every student she drove by name and treated her route as a way to care for the community. His grandmother supported students with disabilities, helping each one on the bus with patience and care. Paul rode along with them every day to school, watching their quiet dedication and the relationships they built through consistency and compassion. That early exposure to service continues to guide Paul’s approach to organizing, leadership, and inclusion.
Paul was the first in his family to go to college and holds degrees from the University of Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the school’s policy journal.
Paul’s path in politics began in college, when he served as a student organizer for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and was selected to attend its first-ever organizing bootcamp in Chicago. At the University of Delaware, he was President of the Delaware College Democrats and helped lead a campus-wide effort that filled a quarter of West Philadelphia's Election Day shifts in 2008. In 2020, after organizing for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, Paul received a personal phone call from then–former Vice President Biden thanking him for his work, shortly before being elected as a national delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Professionally, Paul is a policy strategist with more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of energy, transportation, and national security across government, industry, and the nonprofit sector. He brings the same clarity, discipline, and collaborative spirit to his organizing work—whether it’s building coalitions, managing budgets, or growing the party’s reach through targeted communications and sustained outreach. Paul also lives with a visual impairment, and his commitment to inclusion, especially for people with disabilities, is not just a value, but a lived perspective that shapes the way he leads.
In the Biden-Harris Administration, Paul served as a Senior Advisor at the Department of Defense, working alongside the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and the Environment. In that role, he helped lead the Department’s efforts to expand renewable energy projects, improve energy resilience at critical military installations, and support infrastructure for U.S. space launch operations. His work contributed to both national security and climate goals, reinforcing the Air and Space Forces’ ability to operate in an increasingly complex and contested global environment.
Paul lives in North Arlington with his newlywed wife, Amanda. If elected, Paul would be the first Latino Chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.
