45 Weeks Ago I was on a mission to revamp New York’s Congressional Delegation so that it would be made up of candidates from every race, gender, and political ideology. I followed Mondaire Jones on Twitter, I knew very little about him, only that he was a progressive who planned to challenge an incumbent (my representative) who has been in the seat for 16 terms. From there, I sent a twitter message and said, “How can I help with your campaign in any way possible!”
When my Aunt was running for Stony Point Town Clerk, Mondaire dropped everything to come to support her in every way he could, he canvassed for her, attended her fundraisers, and more. He did that all without campaigning for himself. When canvassing with my Aunt, he never carried his campaign material and most times never even introduced himself as “Candidate for NY-17”. It’s that kind of selflessness that I am ready to see in Congress.
Over the last 45 weeks, I’ve helped any way I could with his campaign, and never once have I regretted it. Did I think it was a long shot to take out an Incumbent like Nita Lowey, of course, but now look where we are, he is a major leader in independent contributions, he has one of the largest grassroots movement in the race, and he is hosting events that are always full, every single day!
I am a Centrist, politically, I align with almost every other candidate more than I align with Mondaire. But Mondaire knows what it truly feels like to be a working-class family, he knows what it’s like to hold two jobs with just your mom (and in his case, Grandmother too) around. It’s for those reasons why I’m supporting him because he knows how others struggle, just like how he did growing up, and I know he will never stop fighting for those people until they are given an equal chance in America.
Mondaire is a selfless person, someone who will ALWAYS put others’ needs above his. Mondaire will be an independent voice in Congress for the working class of America. He will ALWAYS fight until the last second for the betterment of this nation.
Together, United, join me in supporting Mondaire Jones for NY-17!
Hunter Petro
15 Year Old Youth Activist from Stony Point
