Mondaire Jones is running to become the next Democrat to represent New York State’s 17th Congressional District.
What We Know:
- Jones is a proud lawyer, nonprofit leader, and activist that is running a campaign in his community to create better policies that will benefit them. If elected, he will be the first openly Black gay Congressman.
- According to Jones, his perspective on the world changed after he completed his studies at Stanford University and Harvard Law School and after working at the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama.
- Much of Jones’ views came from his personal life growing up. As he stated in an interview for The Grio, “I thought that when people learned the authentic Mondaire, that wouldn’t be something that they would accept. I’ve been really grateful to see the changes in public opinion and in our society over the past couple of years.”
- There are currently only 698 openly LGBTQ elected officials. Those who identified as Black, African American, and/or Afro-Caribbean rose from 30 to 43.3 percent. In spite of the increase, only ten openly LGBTQ people were sworn into the 116th Congress U.S. in 2019, none of which were Black.
Jones now looks forward to New York’s congressional primary due to take place on June 23, 2020, nearly two months after the state’s voters cast ballots in the presidential primary.
