Friends,
251 days ago, I decided to get in the arena and run for Congress.
Given the stakes of this election for our country and community, just talking about the fate of our democracy on TV felt civically lazy.
As a historian and the grandson of immigrants, I know that we cannot take our democracy for granted.
Running for Congress is the honor of a lifetime. I love listening and learning from people and honestly answering their questions about how we can reunite as a country and community.
One of the most common questions I get is - why? Why are you doing this? Why did you quit your job and take the leap?
I often think back to what I said 251 days ago when I started this journey:
“We need to build the broadest possible coalition to defend our democracy, defeat Donald Trump, and win back the House from his MAGA minions. I know that if we work together, we can flip this seat and finally solve problems for Long Island families.
I’m running for Congress because there’s too much at stake for the country and the community I love. We need to rebuild the middle class, protect women’s reproductive freedom, invest in our infrastructure, transportation and mitigate climate change.
And we can’t ignore the threat to our democracy that Donald Trump and his MAGA minions in Congress pose - including just recently blocking a bipartisan border security bill on Trump’s orders, all to appease their leader. They’re refusing to do their jobs – and that’s a firing offense.
We have to get past this poisonous hyper-partisanship. I believe in a different approach.
Our next member of Congress needs to work with all people of good faith, based on common sense and common facts to solve the common problems we face.”
Even with all the twists and turns of this campaign, I’m proud to say that’s what our campaign has always been about. I’m humbled to see just how many happy warriors we’ve been able to inspire and just how broad of a coalition we’ve been able to build.
251 days ago, I declared that if we work together, we really could flip this seat. Now, we’ve been highlighted as one of the most important battleground races in the country.
New York’s First District - with more registered Independents than nearly every district in America - is going to decide the balance of power in the House. And for it to go our way, all we have to do is vote:
