Meet The Candidate: Jones For Congress In NY17

HUDSON VALLEY, NY - New Yorkers will choose their representatives to Congress Nov. 3 in the 2020 general election.

In anticipation of the election, Patch asked candidates in the contested races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Mondaire Jones is the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's 17th Congressional District. Longtime Rep. Nita Lowey is retiring. Having defeated six opponents in the primary, Jones faces four opponents in the general election: Maureen McArdle-Schulman on the Republican line, Yehudis Gottesfeld on the Conservative line, Josh Eisen as an Independent and Michael Parietti on the Save America Movement party line.

The district covers Rockland County and most of central and northwest Westchester County.

Jones, 33, is a former litigator in the Westchester County Law Department and former Department of Justice staffer during the Obama Administration. He has degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Law School.

Campaign website: mondaireforcongress.com

Check out Patch's full Q&A with Mondaire Jones:

Why are you seeking elective office?

I'm running for Congress because, for me, policy is personal. I know what it is like for a working family to struggle and rely on government assistance to survive, and I am going to bring those lived experiences with me to Congress.

My story, quintessentially, is that of the American Dream. I grew up in the working-class Village of Spring Valley, where I was raised by a young, single mom who, like so many women throughout my district, and all throughout this country, worked multiple jobs just to provide for our family—even as we relied on Section 8 housing and food stamps. When we talk about the fight for a $15 minimum wage at the federal level, that fight is personal for me.

My mom got help from my grandparents. My grandfather was a janitor at our local middle school, and later, he was a small business owner. My grandmother cleaned homes, and when day care was too expensive, she took me to work with her. Now, I get to run to represent the same people whose homes I watched my grandmother clean growing up. And when we talk about the need for universal child care, that's a fight I'm invested in based on not wanting any kid to have to experience what I did growing up.

After my grandfather died of cancer, I watched helplessly as my grandmother had to work well past the age of retirement just to pay for the high cost of prescription drugs and medical procedures not fully covered by Medicare as we know it. I believe health care should be a human right in the richest nation on Earth, not tied to employment status or how much money one possesses.

I'm 33 years old. I remember what it's like to be a broke college student, because for me, that wasn't so long ago. The fact is, this country has failed its young people. Thousands of people in my district, my age and younger, despite having college degrees, are still living at home with their parents because they can't afford to pay rent or own a home. We were told that if we just went to college and graduated like our parents may have, things would work out. But we know that that's not true. Part of that is due to low wages in this broken economy -- wages that have been stagnant for decades as the cost of living has soared -- but it's also due to a student debt crisis to the tune of $1.7 trillion. I propose tuition-free public colleges and universities and forgiving college debt to liberate an entire generation of people to meaningfully participate in our economy.

Saving the planet from climate change is personal for me. My generation is inheriting a planet that stands to be devastated by climate catastrophe because people who have been in office for a really long time have failed to act with the kind of urgency the issue requires.

We have never been at a moment in American history when we have more urgently needed people in office for whom policy is personal. I think we get better policy outcomes when people are able to bring their lived experiences to inform the policymaking process. Moreover, representatives like me can be trusted to always fight for the best interests of their constituents, even when the doors are closed in the halls of Congress and those constituents can't see what we are doing. That’s also why, unlike my opponents, I refuse to accept money from corporations.

The fact is, I've been fighting my whole life. First, it was against the odds of my upbringing, to the point where I was able to make it to Stanford University, work in the Obama Administration at the Department of Justice (vetting candidates for federal judgeships and working on criminal justice reform), and then attend Harvard Law School. More recently, after co-founding a nonprofit that teaches professional skills to underserved middle-school students, I have served as a lawyer in government, fighting in the courtrooms of Westchester County on behalf of the people of Westchester. Now, I'm running to fight for all of the people in this district in the halls of Congress.

The single most pressing issue facing our nation/state/community is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing our nation is the failure of our democracy, and my first order of business will be to fix it.

Who would have thought we would be approaching a time when the President of the United States would refuse to concede his loss in an election and attempt to thwart the peaceful transfer of power? That is precisely what Donald Trump has threatened, and given what we know about him, we must take his threat seriously.

There’s no question that our democracy is thoroughly broken. In many states, gerrymandering produces uncompetitive campaigns and results that do not reflect the will of the people. Our campaign finance system operates so that, overwhelmingly, the candidates who make it onto the ballot and win elections are captured by corporate interests and wealthy donors. Tens of millions of eligible voters are unable to meet overly restrictive registration deadlines.

That’s why I support the For the People Act (H.R. 1) to counteract a decades-long, undemocratic, right-wing assault on our democracy. The legislation includes measures like automatic voter registration to add nearly 50 million voters to the rolls, campaign finance reform to reduce the outsize influence of big money, independent redistricting to end partisan gerrymandering, and prohibitions on voter suppression.

As long as our democracy remains rigged, real change -- health care for everyone, environmental reforms, gun safety legislation, dismantling systemic racism, and strengthening reproductive justice -- will remain out of reach.

It’s time to take our democracy back from billionaires and special interests, and I am ready to lead that fight.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am the only candidate in this race who believes that health care is a human right, and that we should be insuring more people, not less. I am the only candidate in this race who has serious proposals to stop climate change while creating millions of good-paying jobs. I am the only candidate who would protect a woman’s right to choose by codifying Roe v. Wade, and who supports universal child care, an issue that is deeply personal for me and which would help so many families throughout our district. And I am the only candidate who wants to bring down the cost of living in Rockland and Westchester, to make this a more sustainable place to live for people of all ages.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

A Green New Deal, as outlined in H.R. 109, to tackle climate change at the scale that it requires. That would allow us to meet the goals of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and avert the worst of climate catastrophe -- while providing millions of good-paying jobs that undo generations of environmental injustice.

Universal child care, including co-sponsoring the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act (H.R. 3315), and supporting paid parental leave.

A major investment in affordable housing, including co-sponsoring the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act (H.R. 1737) and repealing the Faircloth Amendment.

A $15 minimum wage, and raising the federal poverty line.

Fully funding our public schools, including increasing Title I funding for our most impoverished schools, as well as increasing funding under Titles II and IV and fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

LGBTQ+ rights and equity, including co-sponsoring the Equality Act (H.R. 5).

College debt relief and tuition-free public college, in order to liberate an entire generation of young people to meaningfully participate in our economy through homeownership or renting.

A suite of criminal justice reforms to redress racial inequalities and harms in our justice system, including repealing the 1994 crime bill that fueled mass incarceration, eliminating mandatory minimums in sentencing, legalizing cannabis, and banning the box in employment applications.
Reproductive justice, which includes a constitutional amendment and federal statute to codify Roe v. Wade, repealing the Hyde Amendment, and ensuring comprehensive sex education.

Comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for our undocumented community, as well as co-sponsoring the DREAM Act (H.R. 6) and ending family separation.
Disability rights, including expanding Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income to end the backlog of 800,000 cases, and ending the sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities.

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

My time in the Obama Administration, where I worked in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice on criminal justice reform and judicial nominations (including now-Supreme Court Justice Kagan), helped me engage with and learn the inner-workings of our federal government and gives me a keen understanding of how to make policy at the federal level. As a lawyer in the Westchester County Law Department, I worked on and won some of the County's biggest cases, and am also proud of drafting legislation and helping the Westchester County Human Rights Commission respond to the uptick in acts of hate in Westchester. My work co-founding a national nonprofit called Rising Leaders, which teaches professional skills to underserved middle-school students and has gotten two grants from the Gates Foundation, has given me hands-on experience in improving the lives of our most vulnerable young people, and insight into what interventions will work best. My activism with the Spring Valley NAACP Youth Council to pass a public school budget in the East Ramapo Central School District while I was in high school, and as a former committee chair on the NAACP's National Board of Directors, has given me invaluable experience organizing residents at the local level for important causes, in addition to substantive policy experience nationally.

And I have already demonstrated an ability to organize my community to stand up to systemic racism: as a senior in college, after the Palo Alto Police Chief made comments embracing racial profiling, I successfully organized my fellow students and Palo Alto residents to pressure the department until she resigned and we obtained policing reforms.

I also believe that governing is a moral endeavor as much as it is a technical one, and that your personal experiences inform how hard you fight, and what you fight for. We need more elected officials for whom policy is personal - people who share the lived experiences of so many regular Americans who have to struggle to make ends meet, who have crippling student debt, who have experienced daily the realities of structural racism and inequality. As an attorney, I understand the laws that govern our society - and as a black, gay man and young person, I understand on a personal level how unjust laws affect people's lives. I am running for Congress to fight for a better world for everyone.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Growing up in the Village of Spring Valley, my mother told me that I could be anything I wanted. It was a radical idea. My mom, who struggled with mental illness, had dropped out of college and was working multiple jobs just to make ends meet — even as we relied on Section 8 housing and food stamps. But I took her advice, and I dreamed big. She opened my world to a universe of possibilities that would have been unthinkable for most people born into my circumstances. That's why I am drawn to public service: because every kid in this district should be able to dream big. My story should not be the exception.

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

You can see a list of endorsements on my website at mondaireforcongress.com/endorsements. I'm also proud to be supported President Barack Obama, the New York Times, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Sierra Club, Black Economic Alliance, League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, American Federation of Teachers, NYSUT, NYSNA, SEIU 32BJ, 1199 SEIU, Public Employees Federation, CWA District 1, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sec. Julián Castro, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Barbara Lee, the Working Families Party, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the Congressional Black Caucus.