Candidate Profile: Jordan Grossman For Ward 2 Seat On DC Council

WASHINGTON, DC — There are 29 candidates running for the D.C. City Council in the June 2 primary. In addition, candidates will be facing off in a June 16 special election to fill the vacant Ward 2 seat.

Patch asked the candidates to describe their qualifications and visions for the District.

Jordan Grossman, 34, is a Democrat running in the June 2 Primary and the June 16 Special Election for the vacant Ward 2 seat.

Family

Married, Infant son

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

My wife works in Congress

Education

J.D., with honors, Harvard Law School; B.A. with honors, University of Pennsylvania

Occupation

Attorney and Public Servant (10 years)

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

-Program Manager, DC Access System, DC Department of Health Care Finance (2018-2019)
-Acting Legislative Director/Deputy Legislative Director, Office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (2017-2018)
-Chief of Staff (Obama Administration Political Appointee), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2015-2017)
-Law Clerk, Judge Christopher R. Cooper, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (2014-2015)
-Special Advisor (Obama Administration Political Appointee), Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2009-2011)
-Special Assistant, Obama Presidential Transition Team (2008-2009)
-Field Organizer, Obama for America (2008)

Campaign website

JordanForWard2.com

What makes you the best candidate for this office?

I'm a fifth generation DC resident and I have dedicated my life to public service, working for President Obama, DC's Medicaid agency, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and a DC federal judge. I know that working in government is a privilege, not a business opportunity. But for far too long, we residents of Ward 2 have had to compete for the attention of our councilmember with paying special interest clients who could afford his price. After nearly three decades, enough is enough and it's time for a clean break from corrupt Jack Evans and his political machine. As Ward 2's councilmember, I will be focused on fighting corruption and making it possible for residents to afford to live and thrive here in the neighborhoods that they love.

I'm very proud to have received the highest rating of any candidate from DC’s Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance and to be endorsed by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and DC's labor, environmental and progressive leaders. Specifically, this includes At-Large DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman; the DC Chapter of the National Organization for Women; the unions representing teachers, health care workers, grocery workers, custodians, bus drivers, hotel and hospitality workers, construction workers, and nonprofit workers; Jews United for Justice Campaign Fund; Sunrise Movement DC and 350 DC, two leading environmental organizations; the DC Working Families Party; DC for Democracy, and others.

How will you help the city recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus?

I believe that our response to the coronavirus must prioritize the basic needs of DC residents and small businesses and protecting our most vulnerable, including those living in poverty. Specifically, we need to take further action to support residents experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity; frontline health care personnel; restaurant, retail, and other workers who have lost their jobs; grocery and delivery workers who have always been the backbones of our communities and have become essential personnel in this crisis; educators who have quickly become experts in distance learning and who are trying to address inequitable access to online tools among students; families and small businesses who will struggle to make upcoming rent and mortgage payments; and all DC residents who — as this crisis shows more than ever — deserve affordable health and child care, paid family, medical, and sick leave, and real enforcement of wage and workplace protections.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Muriel Bowser has talked about the longstanding inequities that have been exposed by the coronavirus. She also has talked about this being an opportunity for the city to address those inequities. What are your thoughts on this?

We must address the health, economic, and racial disparities that have existed since long before COVID-19 shined an even brighter light on them. It is more important than ever to ensure every DC resident can afford a place to live; has access to paid family, medical, and sick leave and affordable health and child care; and benefits from real and proactive enforcement of wage and workplace protections.

Our leaders have a choice in the wake of the coronavirus: they can choose to impose an austerity budget that would hurt those already suffering the most from the pandemic, or they can invest in working families and build a more equitable economy in the long run. They can choose to reject the fiction that DC can’t afford programs and services, that we cannot help our neighbors in need, or that the road to recovery runs through trickle down tax breaks for those with the most well-connected lobbyists. None of that is true. In fact, by ending ineffective corporate tax giveaways, utilizing a portion of the FY19 surplus and our rainy day reserves, and conducting vigorous oversight to pare back wasteful spending, we can close our budget shortfalls without making deep cuts to essential services and programs. I believe that what we truly can’t afford at this critical moment is to forgo investments in jobs, affordable housing, schools, child care and more.

The District is at an inflection point. With black and brown communities bearing the brunt of deaths and job loss from the coronavirus crisis, DC’s leaders must ensure our actions lift up and protect those most in need. Doing so is not only the right thing to do, it’s also the best path toward rebuilding our communities, making our economy stronger than ever, and addressing the inequities in housing, health care, education, and transportation that have only grown starker as a result of this crisis.

What do you see as the biggest issue besides the coronavirus recovery facing D.C.?

We must take on corruption in DC government. Jack Evans is just the latest and most egregious example of the problem. We need bold actions to stop the revolving door culture in DC Government, where former elected officials so often become lobbyists – sometimes even before their terms are up. We need comprehensive ethics reform to address structural issues that not only undercut public trust, but also distract from what should be our councilmember's central focus: making our ward and our city more affordable for everyone. While Jack Evans was listening to secret clients who paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars who had business before the Council, we're now at risk where only the very wealthy can afford to live. But it doesn't have to be this way. Instead, we can build a more equitable, inclusive, and affordable city and make it easier to afford a place to live, find high-quality schools and child care, walk, bike, and take public transit, and pay off student loan debt.

What is your position on statehood for D.C.?

I strongly support DC statehood because DC residents have a fundamental right to govern ourselves and we deserve full representation in Congress.

It’s unconscionable that right-wing Republicans in Congress have undercut critical local laws and protections – like preventing DC from using local tax dollars for women’s reproductive health care.

Because statehood is closer than ever to becoming a reality, the DC Council should initiate a thoughtful and comprehensive planning process to ensure we are ready and able to transition into statehood as soon as possible.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have dedicated my entire career to public service, working to make government services better and more responsive for residents and families in Ward 2, DC more broadly, and throughout the United States. During the Obama Administration, I was Chief of Staff of an agency dedicated to modernizing the health care system for hospitals, health care providers, and patients across the country, including George Washington University Hospital and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. In that role, I was also awarded the Department of Justice's Perseverance Award for my work on an investigation that recovered $155 million in taxpayer dollars. Previously in the Obama Administration, I helped identify billions of dollars in cost savings at the Department of Homeland Security and worked on policies that led to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. I also served as Senator Amy Klobuchar’s Deputy Legislative Director, where I fought to protect Obamacare from repeated Republican repeal efforts that would have resulted in more than 109,000 DC residents losing their Medicaid coverage. We also successfully fought the Trump Administration for tens of millions of dollars in funds owed to states using a little-known provision of the Affordable Care Act to provide care to lower-income residents. More recently, I oversaw a division of D.C.’s Medicaid agency that’s making it easier for one in every two DC residents to enroll in programs that provide housing, food, health care, and other assistance. Earlier in my career, I worked for a judge on DC’s federal court dealing with cases involving DC Public Schools’ students with disabilities and the constitutional rights of DC residents treated improperly by law enforcement. Finally, I serve on the ANC 2F Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) Policy Committee, where we work closely with neighbors and local businesses to ensure our community remains a dynamic and welcoming place for all – especially new and small business owners.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

If you give a smile, you get a smile (from my 95-year-old grandma who was born in Ward 2!)

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I’m participating in the Fair Elections public financing program to shift power from the wealthy corporations and well-connected insiders that traditionally supported Jack Evans to individual, grassroots members of our community. I also support banning councilmembers from outside employment; prohibiting councilmembers from ever lobbying the DC Council on behalf of for-profit entities, even after they leave office; eliminating councilmember slush funds; and fully funding and implementing the District’s new clean elections law to ban pay-to-play campaign contributions from those seeking large government contracts.

More broadly, I believe our government should involve everyone having a seat at the table and decisions being made in transparent processes with clear rules, not in secretive backroom meetings with just a few wealthy corporations and well-connected insiders. To make that vision a reality, I would establish office policies to ensure that we hear from every constituent who wishes to share their thoughts and concerns; convene regular working sessions for all Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners in Ward 2 to collaborate on issues and hear feedback; and conduct active and persistent outreach to involve Ward 2 residents who work nontraditional hours or to populations whose voices often go unheard – like those experiencing homelessness. Canvassing – or alternatively the virtual meet and greets we are conducting during the coronavirus public health emergency – and other campaign tactics to meet residents where they are should not stop on Election Day. As a councilmember, once it is safe, I will continue to have meet and greets, knock on residents’ doors, and ask for constituent feedback at Metro stations, farmers markets, and other community events. I will also host “office hours” in every neighborhood in the ward. I believe that it’s on us as public servants to find a way to reach as many residents as possible, including those who feel disconnected from the political process or who – due to financial, family, or other obligations – can’t come to the Wilson Building (DC's city hall) on a regular basis.

At the end of the day, I believe that being an effective, ethical councilmember means fighting for inclusion so that we have a government where decisions are based on the policy merits and the lived experiences of all our constituents, not the narrow preferences of those who can cut the biggest checks.

Read Other Ward 2 Candidate Profiles:

• Jack Evans
• John Fanning
• Patrick Kennedy
• Brooke Pinto
• Kishan Putta
• Katherine Venice
• Yilin Zhang