LI United Steering Committee Member, Nassau County DSA Organizer Jeremy Joseph Launches Campaign for State Senate
Sunday, March 6, 2022
WILLISTON PARK, NY — Scientist and activist Jeremy Joseph, a steering committee member of LI United to Transform Policing & Community Safety and the Nassau County Democratic Socialists of America, held a press conference at the Thomas Muldoon Gazebo on Saturday with dozens of supporters to announce his candidacy for New York's 7th State Senate district. Joseph, a progressive Democrat, is running to represent the needs of working families that have been ignored in the district.
“In 2018, when State Sen. Kaplan was elected, I think we were all excited to finally have representation in Albany. But we soon realized that was not the case— whether it was her lack of support for immigrant protections, including voting against the green light bill and failing to get behind the excluded worker fund or the fact that her name is consistently absent from bills aimed at reforming our broken criminal legal system,” Joseph said at Saturday’s event. “Even just recently, after Republicans were using racist dog whistles to decry a statewide affordable housing proposal, Kaplan took credit publicly for working to kill the proposal. She did their work for them.”
“We voted for a Democrat,” he added. “But she’s a Democrat in name only, and this district deserves so much better.”
Joseph on Saturday decried the state’s inhumane health care system that is designed to make profits for the insurance industry while leaving too many uninsured and saddled with unmanageable medical debt. He pledged to fight for passage of the New York Health Act, which would create a universal publicly-funded healthcare system for all New Yorkers regardless of employment or legal status. He also championed the Universal Child Care Act.
“If you want to raise a family in Nassau County, you almost certainly need to have two incomes, due to the prohibitive costs of childcare. On the flipside, childcare providers receive such low wages that some 65% are eligible for government assistance like food stamps or Medicaid,” Joseph said. “Families need child care services they can’t afford, and childcare providers provide a service they can’t live off of. This is unacceptable and something we need to stop ignoring. This is why I support the Universal Child Care Act.”
Joseph also spoke out about the lack of any meaningful action taken in Albany to address climate change, a threat our elected officials are not taking seriously.
“We're the richest country in the world. We should be leading the fight against climate change, but too often we've been in the backseat,” Joseph said. “It’s been 3 years since we’ve passed any major climate legislation and most of our initiatives remain unfunded.”
“We have many of the solutions available to us, a major one is the Build Public Renewables Act. Right now, in New York only 6% of our energy production comes from renewable sources, like wind and solar. We should move to immediately transition away from fossil fuels to 100% renewables as outlined by the Build Public Renewables Act. As a scientist, I would bring an evidence-based and data-driven urgency that is clearly lacking in Albany.”
