Welcome back to Congressional Spotlight! This time, we’re going to take a look at Lauren Ashcraft in New York’s 12th District. Let’s dive right in.
Who Is Lauren Ashcraft?
Lauren, like many of us, is a descendant of immigrants. Her grandfather met her mother while serving in the US Air Force in Japan, and moved to the US after giving birth to Lauren’s father. They settled in West Virginia and her grandfather went to work in one of the several coal mines. Tragically, he was a victim of our regulation-avoidant corporatism and lost his life in the Farmington Mine Disaster, leaving his family to pick up the pieces.
Lauren also has had first-hand experience with how our system treats the disabled; her other grandfather experienced an accident and was left quadriplegic. She saw how the system is stacked against people who suffer from disabilities and how brutally unfair our country can be towards those less fortunate.
With these events as a foundation for an interest in social services and equity, Lauren took advantage of an exchange program during high school and studied in Germany. While there, she learned how the Iraq War was viewed abroad and experienced the horrors of the old Nazi concentration camps. It was an experience she could carry with her, and she vowed to do what she could do ensure history would not repeat itself.
Back in the US, Lauren Ashcraft worked her ass off to earn a B.A. in International Relations and then a Master of Public Administration degree. Determined to not go into debt due to schooling, she worked a full-time job for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development while studying. I’m exhausted just typing that. Lauren Ashcraft is a beast.
The Rise of a Powerhouse
Her early career was spent analyzing policy for energy-assistance programs for low-income families. Later, she worked to create affordable housing in Mercer County, PA. This solidified her belief that housing, electricity, and heat are basic human rights.
Lauren moved to New York and became a comedian as a way to meet new people. Along the way, she helped produce comedy shows and continued to be active in various women-focused political activism.
Somewhat paradoxically, Lauren Ashcraft also spent time working in the financial industry, most recently at JP Morgan Chase. This is despite being a staunch proponent of the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall and other banking regulations. Far from being influenced by the capitalism all around her, however, Lauren took her experience as a re-affirmation of her core belief: that the people are being exploited for the benefit of the powerful.
She worked as a project manager helping monitor regulation compliance. Essentially, attempting to bring her ideals to fruition from the inside. She saw every day how the banks attempt to get around regulations (as few as there are) in order to enrich themselves. Her fury grew. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and turned her back on the financial industry to pursue activism and her congressional campaign full-time. Good for you, Lauren!
Great, But What Will She Do?
So many things. In a nutshell, she will help change the system, Bernie-style. Her platform is a greatest hits of progressive policies, and I’ll be looking at a few of them here. For a full list of what Lauren Ashcraft stands for, please do check out her website.
Healthcare
Lauren Ashcraft supports and endorses Medicare For All as put forth by our lord and savior Bernie Sanders. The only additions Lauren would include are free prescription drug coverage and total medical debt forgiveness. This is because, while Medicare For all isn’t perfect (as we saw in my Spotlight on Donna Imam), it is the gold standard for single-payer healthcare.
Green New Deal
Lauren Ashcraft also fully supports the Green New Deal as the only option for addressing the existential threat that is climate change. Her time working in low-income energy research has also led to her being a very vocal and staunch supporter for a stronger EPA. The EPA has been almost completely destroyed by Trump and his Republican cronies. Lauren would reverse the crippling budget cuts on the agency and encourage scientists to come back from their Trump-imposed exile.
Lauren also supports a Single-Use Plastics Ban. Her district, NY12, surrounds New York’s East River and so Lauren knows firsthand the results of our pollution and carelessness.
The last thing I’ll mention here is that like Bernie, Lauren recognizes the importance of the individual. That’s why she supports the Green New Deal and its provision to eliminate subsidies to large, industrial farms. She wants to return an emphasis to smaller, family-owned farms. Factory farming contributes an astonishing amount of greenhouse gasses compared to smaller farms, and so Lauren will work hard to ensure that this source of emissions is reduced.
Disability Rights
Perhaps not surprisingly, given her origin story, Lauren Ashcraft is very passionate about the rights of the disabled. She recognizes, perhaps more than most of us who have never had to experience it, that the system is stacked against the disabled. Yes, even with all of the programs we currently have in place.
That is because these systems are not actually designed to help. They’re designed to kick as many people off as possible to reduce costs. Just like our healthcare in general. For more on this, I urge you to check out James Fauntleroy’s Twitter. James is a very good friend of mine and has been struggling against this rigged system for most of his life.
Lauren would make James and the thousands like him her priority. She would strengthen and enforce the American with Disabilities Act. Recognizing that Social Security Benefits are woefully below the cost of living pretty much everywhere in the country, she would fight to increase and expand them.
People Over Profits
All of Lauren Ashcraft’s stances can be filed under this category (as should any policy of a true progressive) but Lauren has a special plan to make sure corporations stop profiting from pain. She will fight for tighter regulations, not just in the financial industry, but everywhere. She will raise corporate taxes, strengthen governmental agencies responsible for oversight (such as the EPA, mentioned earlier), and make sure that billionaires pay their fair share. No more tax dodging, Jeff Bezos.
Voting Rights
One of Lauren’s more interesting proposals is a dedication to protecting the right to vote, and ensuring that votes matter. This is a huge problem in our country, with the increasing prevalence of unsecured electronic voting machines. Lauren would put a stop to that. She advocates for a return to unhackable paper ballots. I’ll let her explain the rest in her own words. From her website:
This is huge. Data shows us that when turnout is low, Republicans win. It’s why they’ve gone to such lengths like gerrymandering to ensure that as few people vote as possible. The Democrats are also not blameless in this. Nancy Pelosi herself did not vote on a recent piece of legislation designed to help secure our elections. Her silence speaks volumes, as do the donations she takes from one of the two companies who produce the voting machines.
Voting is a right. It should be easy as possible, not difficult. Lauren will help ensure that voting once again matters.
A Voice of Hope
I hope I’ve done enough to get you excited about the spunky comedian seeking to ensure our progressive dreams are made manifest. Her opponent is an incumbent Democrat, Carolyn Maloney. Maloney has been in her seat for far too long, and represents everything Lauren is against: corporate welfare, profits over people, with a dash of casual racism thrown in for flavor.
Lauren has many other issues she is passionate about beyond what I’ve covered here, including gun control. I encourage you to visit her website and read all of her policy positions yourself. And maybe donate a couple of dollars while you’re there!
Until next time, this has been Congressional Spotlight!
The backstory on her was very interesting!