Progressive Mondaire Jones Wins New York House Primary to Replace Lowey

(Bloomberg) -- Progressive Mondaire Jones won the New York Democratic primary to run for the seat being vacated by longtime Representative Nita Lowey, all but assuring his election in November and setting the stage for him to become the first openly gay Black member in Congress.

“Growing up poor, black, and gay, I never imagined someone like me could run for Congress, let alone win,” Jones said in a statement. “That changes this year, thanks to the great people of New York’s 17th Congressional District.”

The call in the race came three weeks after the vote, as elections officials tallied thousands of mail-in ballots that were cast as voters sought to avoid public polling places amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Several other New York Democratic races have yet to be settled, including a closely watched contest pitting veteran lawmaker Eliot Engel against a strong challenge from progressive newcomer Jamaal Bowman. Progressive New York City Council member Ritchie Torres, another openly gay Black candidate, was leading a multi-candidate field in the party primary for Bronx-based 15th District, another safely Democratic seat.

Like Bowman, Jones was endorsed by progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who set a template for younger, more liberal candidates with her 2018 surprise primary win against a seemingly entrenched Democratic incumbent.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Jones’ career has included a stint in the Obama administration, in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice. More recently, he was an attorney in Westchester County’s Law Department. He was also the co-founder of the non-profit, Rising Leaders, Inc., which teaches leadership skills to under-served middle-school students.

Jones initially entered the race for Lowey’s congressional seat ready to challenge the entrenched incumbent first elected to Congress in 1988 from a district that spans Rockland and northern Westchester counties just north of New York City.

After Lowey announced her retirement in October, the race attracted a scrum of other candidates, including a local state senator and a member of the Assembly. Jones won the race, despite being heavily outspent by some of his foes.

Jones embraced the agenda of Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives, including calling for cancellation of student debt, Medicare for all, universal health care, the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage.

The Republican nominee for Lowey’s congressional seat is Maureen McArdle Schulman of Yorktown, a grandmother, retired New York City firefighter and a political newcomer.

Jones has lived in the district most of his life, brought up in Spring Valley, in Rockland. He talks often about how he was raised by his mother, a single working parent who struggled with mental illness, and how they relied on Section 8 housing and food stamps, and his grandparents, who helped to bring him up.

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