Why I’m Running
The story of how I got here, and where we’re going together
Parsippany, my hometown, contains multitudes. So many different people, from so many different places, living such different lives, that difference itself disappears. I became friends with people before I understood how we were different. That’s still how I see the world.
I always saw Livingston as an extension of my neighborhood, pretty much. It was my mom’s store, my family’s synagogue. It was so many of the kids I grew up with. More people, more perspectives, all becoming part of what I called community.
And I watched that whole community work. Different paths, same destination: a stable, comfortable, dignified life. They lived like they wanted the American Dream. With hope they could achieve it, and with the determination that they would. It’s cyclical, the Dream. Each generation’s belief in it is what keeps it alive.
I’ve never had a dream job. Just a life goal: make a positive impact. When I got to college, I had no clue what career path I’d take. But I love learning. I love learning literally everything, because every subject is a tool, every skill is a way to help. Every path led somewhere worth going.
In everything I do, I do as much as I can, as right as I can. So I went to choose a major and walked away with three. Economics, math, and philosophy.
Each one is a system. And each one feeds into the larger system we all have to build our lives within. The system that fostered the American Dream, but that will pull it out of reach if we don’t keep it working. That system is our institutions. Our government. The law. So I went to law school.
In law school, I chose a non-traditional curriculum focused on public interest. It was more interconnected than I expected, and I loved it. So many paths to helping people.
I got a WTO Certificate in International Trade Law because I wanted to use those rules to fight climate change worldwide. I helped defend organizers arrested during protests because I believe in people’s right to stand up for their beliefs. Then I spent a year at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, contributing to the cases brought on behalf of the public, to protect consumers from predatory utility companies. And there I decided: civil service would be my future.
But nothing ever goes to plan, does it? The Trump administration came in and gave DOGE, a fake agency run by an unelected oligarch, carte blanche to do whatever the hell it wanted. Their first move: freeze all federal hiring. So that road closed for me, and I needed a new path to service.
I found my new path in an unexpected place: I realized I actually know how this system works. The President doesn’t have all the power. Legislation is the only way out of this mess. And our imaginations are far too small in the rooms where it happens. I have a bigger one. So I’m running for Congress.
Trump made things worse, but we can’t fool ourselves into thinking all was fine and dandy before he returned. Government has one job: protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In my adult life, I’ve never seen one that understands what that actually means to people, let alone one that delivers it. It’s no wonder Americans have lost faith in government. It’s no wonder they’re losing faith in the American Dream. The question isn’t whether we need change. It’s whether the people who’ve been in charge are capable of delivering it.
Politics is a game of strategy. And the rules have been written for decades to give politicians every incentive to care more about their relationships with donors, with the powerful, with the elite, than with the people they represent. But rules can be rewritten. People are waking up. People are fed up.
It’s time to change the game. So it’s time to change the players.
I’m not going to pretend I have every answer. But I know how to listen. I know how to learn. And I’m determined to do things differently. A new generation of leaders won’t be bound by the politics of the past. I’m asking for the chance to show you what government could be. What it looks like when the people building it actually have to live with the results.
Join the Movement
I can’t do this alone. Building a government that works for everyone takes all of us working together.