Mondaire Jones for Congress NY-17 – The Progressive Wing

Mondaire for Congress

Mondaire was born to a young, single mother at Nyack Hospital and raised in the working-class Village of Spring Valley, which is in Rockland County. Life wasn’t easy, but the Jones family managed. And Mondaire’s mother always encouraged him to dream big in spite of their circumstances.
After Mondaire was born, his mother dropped out of college. She worked multiple jobs just to make ends meet—even with the aid of a Section 8 housing voucher from the federal government. Mondaire learned early on that, in a low-wage economy that doesn’t work for the average American, government assistance is necessary to fill in the gaps. When he was two years old, Mondaire’s mother was diagnosed with a devastating mental illness.
Like many single moms, Mondaire’s mother leaned heavily on her parents for help raising her kid. Both grandparents had left Jim Crow in Virginia to start a family in New York, where their community in Rockland County embraced them. Mondaire’s grandfather was a janitor at Pomona Middle School. His grandmother cleaned homes in the hamlets of Congers and Hillcrest. When daycare was too expensive, as it is for millions of parents in the United States, she took her grandson to work. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, people should not have to make this absurd choice. Later, Mondaire’s grandmother served lunch in East Ramapo public schools. She did this well into her 70s, on bad knees, just to cover the costs of over-priced medical procedures and prescription drugs. This showed Mondaire the immorality of our nation’s healthcare system.
In addition to being born and raised in Rockland County, which is in New York’s 17th congressional district, Mondaire has lived in the district for most of his life. He attended public schools in East Ramapo throughout his childhood, and remains proud of the education he received. He is also a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church of Spring Valley.
Mondaire realized at a young age that, to improve his community, he should not wait on others to take action. Faced with the constant threat of defeat of the East Ramapo public school budget, while in high school, Mondaire revived the Spring Valley NAACP Youth Council and led that organization in registering and mobilizing voters. When he was 19, Mondaire was elected chair of a committee on the NAACP’s National Board of Directors. Mondaire took his activism to Stanford University, where as a student leader he championed progressive causes, from faculty and graduate student diversity to a living wage for dining hall and maintenance workers. When the Palo Alto Police Chief made public statements endorsing racial profiling, Mondaire organized his fellow students. Their efforts helped lead to the police chief’s resignation and reforms within the department.
After college, Mondaire served in the Obama Administration. In the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice, Mondaire worked on judicial nominations for the White House, including that of future Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. The slow pace of judicial confirmations, in those early years, showed him what can happen when Democrats in Congress allow Republicans to block progress instead of fighting tooth-and-nail for the American people. At DOJ, Mondaire also co-authored a report to Attorney General Eric Holder on reducing the recidivism of people leaving federal prisons and helping them rejoin society.
In order to win justice for vulnerable communities through litigation and public policy, Mondaire decided to become an attorney. While a student at Harvard Law School, Mondaire represented defendants who could not afford counsel in criminal proceedings. He saw up close how this country perpetuates a system of mass incarceration by over-arresting, over-charging, and over-prosecuting poor people and people of color. Following graduation, he worked at a law firm and was honored by the Legal Aid Society for his hundreds of hours of pro bono legal work. Namely, he investigated claims of discrimination under federal and local laws, and helped victims of mortgage modification fraud get compensated for what happened to them during the Financial Crisis. Mondaire worked at the law firm long enough to pay off most of his student loan debt, which liberated him to pursue public service full-time in his next job. Most recently, Mondaire was an attorney in Westchester County’s Law Department. There, he litigated Westchester County’s biggest cases and served as a legal advisor to the County Executive, the Board of Legislators, and the Human Rights Commission. His role included drafting and advising on legislation. Mondaire is the co-founder of the non-profit Rising Leaders, Inc., which teaches leadership skills to underserved middle-school students in three cities. In 2018, the organization received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Additionally, Mondaire serves on the board of Yonkers Partners in Education.

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jcitybone

NY-17, which is located In the northern NYC suburbs (northen Westchester County and Rockland County across the Hudson River, is an open seat. The incumbent Nita Lowey is not running for election. NY17”s partisan index is D+7 and it is 70% white, 11% black, and 6% Asian—21% Hispanic. There are 8 Democratic primary candidates. Jones is the only candidate supporting M4A. The leading fundraiser is wealthy Adam Schleifer who is a former assistant US district attorney and NY state consumer protection regulator. Jones actually has done pretty well with fundraising. Though far behind Schleiffer, he has the next most cash in hand. The other leading candidate is Evelyn Farkas who is a national security Democrat. She served as a deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.

NY-17 is one of the three contiguous NY districts that have strong progressives running (NY-15 and NY-16 also)

Jones would be the first black openly gay candidate elected to Congress

The Issues

https://mondaireforcongress.com/platform/#green-new-deal

Medicare for All
The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that we are all adversely impacted when 87 million Americans are either uninsured or underinsured, preventing them from getting necessary medical care. In the richest nation in the history of the world, health care should be a right, not a privilege.
137 million Americans — almost half of our nation — have faced financial hardship this year solely due to the cost of medical treatments.
We spend more money on health care than any other developed country; 61% of that money spent is public money. 30,000 people die every year from a lack of health insurance. Many more skip necessary treatments that their insurance company refuses to cover, or that are still too expensive to pay for out-of-pocket.
Unlike my opponents, I support the Medicare for All Act (H.R. 1384), co-sponsored by our current Representative, Nita Lowey, that would guarantee health care — including mental health care, dental care, and at-home care — to all Americans as a human right, without premiums, deductibles, or co-pays, and while capping the annual cost of prescription drugs at $200 per person.
This is the only proposal that would bring down our ridiculously high systemic costs, eliminate barriers to treatment like premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, and ensure that everyone is covered and can see their doctor even when they lose their job.

Green New Deal
Our planet is in peril. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, we have 10 years remaining to prevent irreversible damage to Earth due to global warming. We must take swift action to decarbonize our economy, which includes:
Enacting a Green New Deal, which would transition America to 100% renewable energy and avert climate catastrophe, creating 20 million good-paying jobs in the process. A Green New Deal would also ensure that there is a just transition to green jobs for fossil fuel workers who are displaced, hold fossil fuel companies accountable, provide dedicated support to the communities most at risk, and invest in new, sustainable infrastructure across the country.

Student Debt Relief & Tuition-Free Public College
America faces a crippling student debt crisis. Thousands of people in New York’s 17th Congressional District, despite having college degrees, must live at home with their parents because they can’t afford to be out on their own as renters or homeowners. We must forgive student debt to liberate an entire generation to fully participate in our economy, such as through homeownership, the single biggest generator of wealth in the United States. This will also provide relief to property owners in New York’s 17th Congressional District, where property taxes are the highest in the country, by expanding the population that forms our tax base. In order to have a lasting impact, student debt forgiveness must be accompanied by tuition-free public college.

Restoring Democracy
For our entire lives, the government has served the interests of corporations and the super rich at the expense of working people. Until we fix the root of the problem, nothing else worthwhile will get done. That’s why, unlike my opponents, I refuse to take corporate PAC money. It’s also why I pledge to fix democracy by fighting to:
Reduce the influence of big money in politics by enacting public campaign financing and supporting a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, which treats corporations like people, and Buckley v. Valeo, which allowed unlimited self-funding and expenditures by outside groups.
Make voter registration easier by passing Automatic Voter Registration.
Remove barriers to voting by making Election Day a national holiday and opening more polling places.

orlbucfan

Is this district a wealthy one? It is northern NYC and Westchester County?

Not all wealthy, but it is the NY suburbs so wealthier than most.

Throughout this crisis, @PramilaJayapal has been a champion for working families and has continuously advocated for more relief for everyday people. She is also the lead sponsor of #MedicareForAll. It’s an honor to receive her endorsement. pic.twitter.com/FOjPk1P8IX
— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) May 19, 2020

He’s also endorsed by Warren, Pocan, Pressley, and Cicillione

https://mondaireforcongress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/01.28.20-Warren-Release.pdf

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/congressional-progressive-caucus-endorses-mondaire-jones-primary_n_5eab5530c5b6995f13fe4e13

The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ political action committee has endorsed attorney Mondaire Jones in the hotly contested Democratic primary for New York’s 17th Congressional District, a safe Democratic seat in the suburbs north of New York City.
The group’s blessing is a boost for Jones, who would be Congress’ first openly gay Black person if elected. He’s facing a crowded field of contenders to succeed Rep. Nita Lowey (D), who declared in October that she planned to retire after serving in Congress since 1989.
In a statement announcing Friday’s endorsement, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a co-chair of the progressive caucus, cited Jones’ upbringing as the son of a single mother who overcame childhood poverty to graduate from Harvard Law School.
“Especially during this crisis, we need more leaders like Mondaire in Congress who understand first-hand the economic struggles that so many Americans face,” Pocan said.

It sounds like Pocan and Jayapal are turning up the volume for M4A. 😊😊😊👍

I think Jones has one of the best chances to win of any of the progressives running this cycle.

https://theintercept.com/2020/04/23/evelyn-farkas-congress-donors/

IN THE crowded race in New York’s 17th Congressional District, the top Democratic fundraiser — an alum of former President Barack Obama’s Defense Department — is receiving financial support from the defense industry; prominent Republicans, including a controversial diplomat who played a key role in the Iraq War; and lobbyists who have represented foreign dictatorships that are known human rights abusers.
Evelyn Farkas, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia under Obama, has received campaign contributions of at least $100,000 from defense contractors and employees of lobbying firms, as well as government affairs professionals, according to her latest Federal Election Commission filings. Donors include executives at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman; John Negroponte, the former director of national intelligence and ambassador to Iraq under George W. Bush, who helped make the case for the invasion of Iraq while U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; and Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan’s former chief of staff. In addition to the defense industry, Farkas has also received contributions from companies and lobbyists representing the pharmaceutical, gun, health insurance, tobacco, and fossil fuel industries — despite her pledge in February to refuse money from fossil fuel lobbyists.
Farkas had raised a total of $924,610 by the end of March, according to FEC disclosures. Her top competitor in the field of at least eight Democrats is Mondaire Jones, another Obama alum from the Department of Justice. Jones, whose campaign is reliant on small-dollar donors and has raised $830,701, has the backing of high-profile progressives like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the Working Families Party.
Jones is the least wealthy candidate in the race to replace Rep. Nita Lowey, who announced her retirement in October, and is the only one who had no assets to disclose. Adam Schleifer, the son of a pharmaceutical billionaire who opposes a wealth tax, is worth at least $31 million and would be the 10th richest member of Congress. He’s reported $2.3 million in fundraising, including $1.7 million of his own money. Schleifer represented big banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase as a private practice litigator at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a New York-based law firm. More recently, as a federal prosecutor, he helped prosecute actor Felicity Huffman in the 2019 case of college admissions scams.
David Buchwald, a current state assembly member, is worth between $2.9 million and $4.2 million, according to disclosures. He has loaned his campaign $250,000 and contributed an additional $5,600. Farkas is worth somewhere between $565,000 and $1.5 million, and she has donated $2,800 to her own campaign. New York state Sen. David Carlucci, who was part of the Independent Democratic Caucus, a yearslong power-sharing scheme with Republicans that dissolved under pressure from progressives in 2018, has disclosed assets of between $518,000 and $1.1 million, is also in the race, having raised $277,399.
The primary in a safe blue district, which covers parts of New York’s Rockland and Westchester counties, is scheduled for June 23. While the coronavirus pandemic has drastically altered how all political candidates are running their campaigns, it presents particular challenges for candidates without deep pockets or industry backers who depend on in-person grassroots organizing to elevate their profiles.

Thanks for these OTs, jcb!! 😊🕊

It’s an honor to receive the endorsement of @RoKhanna. In Congress, he’s been a leader in the fight for #MedicareForAll and a passionate advocate for working families. pic.twitter.com/jeChm86Fs0
— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) May 26, 2020

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