My name is Ashwin Madia and I'm running for Congress in Minnesota-3. I wanted to write in to introduce myself and tell you who I am and why I'm running.
I'm the son of Indian immigrants. My parents came to this country over thirty years ago and had $19 between them when they first got to Boston. Their first purchase was an $11 bottle of champagne, so I guess they really started with just $8. People in this country were very kind to them: they helped them find winter clothes (my parents had never seen snow before); baby sat me for nothing when I was young and my parents were working; and even gave them furniture. My parents are hard-working and talented; they ended up doing very well and living their own version of the American Dream. We moved all around the country as I was growing up, and we eventually came to Minnesota when I was in high-school.
After high-school, I went to the University of Minnesota and served as student-body president and worked hard to keep tuition costs low so that higher education remained accessible. I moved to New York for law school after graduation and had the opportunity to do pro bono work for immigrants, battered women, and children with disabilities.
After I graduated from law school, I joined the Marine Corps. I wanted action and adventure; travel; the opportunity to give something back to our country; and to be a Marine. I did my basic training in Quantico, VA, and then moved to Okinawa, Japan for my first duty station. I loved Japan and Asia in general (I deployed to Korea and Thailand and traveled to Taiwan and India while there).
In September 2005, I deployed to Iraq. I was stationed in Baghdad, though I spent some time in Basra as well. While there, I helped run the military's Rule of Law mission. I worked with Iraqi judicial officers, the State Department, the Justice Department, the UN, and the EU to help establish the rule of law in Iraq. I left in March 2006 and went back to Oki - my last day in the Corps was July 4, 2006.
I moved back home to Minnesota and started working for some local Democrats running for office, including Wendy Wilde, who was running in my home district against Jim Ramstad. We lost that race pretty badly, but it wasn't surprising: Ramstad had held the seat for about 16 years and has the reputation of a moderate Republican who fits the district well (MN-3 is basically the suburbs of Minneapolis - fiscal conservatives, social moderates). I started working at a local law firm that October.
Ramstad announced in September that he's retiring and therefore, the seat will be open. Local Dems are excited because this is the first real chance we've had in 20 years to take the seat. I went to a meeting a couple days after Ramstad's announcement and the Democrats that were thinking of running were there and made speeches. Then, however, one by one, the Dems started dropping out until there was one candidate left. She's a state senator and had done an effective job of clearing the field. I was disappointed because when I heard her speak, she hadn't said a word about any of the issues that are important to me: the war in Iraq, civil liberties, global warming, and balancing the budget. Shortly thereafter, I made the decision to get in the race for the Democratic endorsement (here, we call it the DFL): I announced on October 23.
My message has been that we, as Democrats, need to show some guts and backbone and stand up for our principles, instead of being pushed around by a president with 30% approval ratings. It floors me that we caved on the FISA bill, for instance - it's like we don't want to do anything remotely controversial for fear of being called weak or whatever. I think that's dumb, and I think most Americans are with us (and elected Democrats) because they want us to stand up for civil liberties, end the war in Iraq, balance our budget, and generally bring competence back to government.
So, I've been running for 5 weeks now and it's going well. You can see some of the media we've been getting (and an interview with me) on my website, Madia for Congress. I've been generating a lot of support amongst Democratic activists both locally and nationally (I’ve been endorsed by VoteVets.org) and I've been raising substantial amounts of money (though I need to raise more by the end of the year). I think it's an exciting candidacy in some ways: it's someone that's a little younger, the son of immigrants, an attorney, a Marine, an Iraq war veteran, and most importantly, someone who's speaking strongly and unashamedly about issues and values that Democrats (and most Americans) care about. I think that I'll have appeal to my more conservative district, too: I think a moderate Democrat with a military background who's talking about ending the war and balancing the budget would have a great shot of taking swing voters and Republican moderates disgusted with Bush.
So, that's who I am and why I'm running; please visit my website, Madia for Congress to learn more. I'll try to stick around and respond to your comments or questions, but please go easy on me. . .this is my first post here on Daily Kos!
Tip Jar
Thanks again for taking the time to read through this whole thing. If you’d like to contribute to my campaign, you may do so at either my website, Madia for Congress, or on my ActBlue page.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you all here on Daily Kos as my campaign moves forward!
Sincerely,
Ashwin Madia