WHY I’M RUNNING

I am excited and humbled to announce that I am running as a Democrat for the Third Congressional District of New Jersey.

I am running for Congress because the Third Congressional District needs a representative with a proven track record of meaningfully improving the lives of everyone, instead of scoring points against “the other team.”                                     

Throughout my career I have worked to advance the rights of all people. As a lawyer at the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania I fought to keep roofs over the heads of people with HIV and AIDS. In private practice I fought for victims of employment discrimination and for families with loved ones killed by shocking negligence in nursing homes. As a volunteer lawyer, I represented asylum seekers looking to America for a life free from political violence. At the ACLU I defended the rights of environmental activists, street performers, Occupy Salt Lake City activists, LGBTQ students, and prisoners who were gassed in their cells. And, for the last dozen years I’ve worked at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), where I have defended the free speech rights of people on every part of the political spectrum.

At FIRE, I worked closely with lawmakers at the state and federal level to enact over 20 laws protecting students’ free speech rights. Many of those bills passed with near unanimous bipartisan support.  

If I am elected to represent the Third Congressional District, I won’t serve Democrats or Republicans, I will serve on behalf of all of my friends and neighbors who share a vision of a stronger New Jersey and better America. I will focus on defending civil liberties for ALL, protecting our democracy, and providing greater economic stability for our families through policies that open access to childcare, reduce health care costs, improve our ability to save for retirement, and remove barriers to higher education and vocational training.

I am passionate about defending civil rights, so the decision to step away from FIRE to run for Congress was not easy. But the horrific events in the Middle East, the unwillingness of the courts to protect key constitutional rights, the dysfunction in Washington, attacks on the free press, and the endless conspiracies against the right to vote that threaten the viability of our democracy, compelled me to launch this campaign.

Together we can protect our democracy and ensure our government works for all of us.