Note: You can read more about this race and the new poll in today’s Daily Kos election digest.
We are in desperate need of change, and it’s now clear that to make it happen, we need a new generation of leaders who actually experience the stakes in their own lives. And like Alex Morse a few weeks ago, New York congressional candidate Mondaire Jones certainly fits the bill.
Jones is running in the Democratic Primary for Congress in New York’s 17th district, just north of NYC, and has been endorsed by Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others. He’s one of five Democrats seeking the seat that the retiring Nita Lowey has held since 1989, when Jones was just two years old, underscoring the need for change. The welfare of the 17th district is personal to him, as Jones grew up in Lowey’s district, and understands what it’s like to have the odds stacked up against you — he is an openly gay black man who grew up poor in a starkly divided community he likens to a Tale of Two Cities.
His resume at 32 years old is impeccable: Jones attended Harvard Law and worked in Barack Obama’s Department of Justice. He’s also long been an activist; Jones became a national NAACP leader in high school and organized against racist police while an undergrad at Stanford. After a short stint in corporate law, he returned home to work for the Westchester County Attorney’s office, where he’s served ever since.
During our conversation last week, he not only expressed support for progressive policies — including Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and a massive investment in public housing — but also displayed the fighting spirit that it’s going to require to actually get any of those things passed.
And in a district that is guaranteed to elect a Democrat — a Republican didn’t even run in 2018 — having a progressive with a backbone in office is essential. Jones is running in the primary against a number of candidates, and his top rival is David Carlucci a state senator who was a member of the turncoat IDC, which caucused with Republicans and gave them virtual control of New York for nearly a decade.
From today’s digest:
However, Carlucci and the rest of the IDC, which at this point included a total of five members, worked out a deal to keep the GOP minority in power. Among other things, that arrangement gave the IDC and GOP "joint and equal authority" over bills; IDC members also got committee chairmanships and vice chairmanships and the perks and increased salaries that came with them. The GOP, in turn, used its power to block progressive legislation in one of the nation's bluest states, including bills to expand gun safety, access to abortion, and voting rights.
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Carlucci, though, remains someone we very much do not want in the House, but according to this poll, none of the other candidates has emerged as his main rival. Jones, however, did earn a high-profile endorsement on Friday, two days after this survey was complete, from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Jones’ progressivism and willingness to fight distinguish him from so many of the terrified Democrats kowtowing to barbaric police right now, ordering and enabling the brutality ricocheting around Twitter and cable news. Jones rattles off a host of important reforms that are urgently required: A repeal of the 1994 crime bill that enabled mass incarceration, demilitarizing law enforcement by ending the transfer of military-grade weapons to local police departments, and ending the qualified immunity that so often lets cops off the hook for their crimes, among other items.
“I’m not someone who is still traumatized by Democratic losses in the ‘80s,” Jones said, winning me over in just one sentence. “We need to recognize that public opinion has shifted dramatically. Progressive policies are overwhelmingly supported by the American people. And now we need champions who can message it and who can fight for us without being afraid of their own shadow.”
At the DOJ, in addition to working on criminal justice reform policy, Jones vetted and prepped federal judges for Senate confirmation and grew immensely frustrated by the GOP’s refusal to allow them fair hearings. It took years of obstruction for Sen. Harry Reid to invoke the nuclear option and end the filibuster for those nominees, breaking a logjam but never fully undoing the damage. Now Republicans have made confirming judges their central focus, ensuring years of conservative domination of the courts.
“We should never have trusted the Republican Party, with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan as the House Speaker,” he says. “From the onset, they said that their primary purpose was to oppose anything President Obama did. I think that we could have been using our majorities in the Senate more effectively, to really serve the best interests of the American people. That was a huge learning experience.”
That also distinguishes him from so many of the terrified Democrats kowtowing to barbaric police right now, ordering and enabling the brutality ricocheting around Twitter and cable news. Jones rattles off a host of important reforms that are urgently required: A repeal of the 1994 crime bill that enabled mass incarceration, demilitarizing law enforcement by ending the transfer of military-grade weapons to local police departments, and ending the qualified immunity that so often lets cops off the hook for their crimes, among other items.
That all being said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Lowey hadn’t yet announced that she would be retiring when Jones declared his candidacy last summer. At the time, he was planning to run as a primary challenger, motivated by Lowey’s seeming unwillingness to support impeachment and her record as Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which included giving even more funding to ICE in 2019.
He also points to Lowey’s failure to repeal the SALT cap for homeowners, a major issue in his district, as it jacks up the cost of living in what is already one of the most expensive places to live in the country. One of his key issues is a massive expansion of mixed-income housing so that opportunity can be spread more equally, as well as green energy in the district that is home to the infamous Indian Point nuclear plant.
These are all lofty goals, but again, this is a deep blue seat that should be occupied by a progressive — especially given the alternatives this year. Jones is running in the primary against the IDC alum as well as a multi-millionaire pharmaceutical heir trying to buy the election while refusing to divest his pharmaceutical stock, making Jones that much more of a clear choice. It’s a neck-and-neck race ahead of the June 23rd primary, so any and all help will go a long way right now.
“If you can’t get a progressive victory in a seat like this, then then you’re going to be out of luck,” he says. Because this is where the action is in a gerrymandered society. In blue states like this, we can afford to challenge ourselves to do better even as we challenge Republicans.”