Meet The Candidates: Jackie Gordon For Congress

LONG ISLAND, NY — This November, Long Island residents will be hitting the polls to exercise their right to vote. While voters will be electing the president this Election Day, they will also be choosing their local representatives. In New York, state and federal races will also be on the ballot.

Democrat Jackie Gordon, 55, of Copiague, is running for New York's 2nd Congressional District. The seat was occupied by longtime Rep. Pete King, who announced last year he will not be seeking re-election this year.

The district covers Levittown, North Wantagh, Seaford, South Farmingdale and Massapequa. Suffolk County communities include Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, Gilgo, West Babylon, Wyandanch, North Babylon, Babylon, Baywood, Brentwood, Brightwaters, Central Islip, Islip, Great River, Ocean Beach, Oakdale, West Sayville, Bohemia, West Islip and Ronkonkoma.

She is running against Republican Andrew Garbarino.

Gordon received her BS in Health Education at Hunter College, her MS in Counselor Education at Queens College and a Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership from Queens College.

She was Army Reservist starting in 1984 until she retired at rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2014. She worked as an educator in New York Public Schools from 1986 until 2020 and also served as a Babylon Town Councilwoman from 2007 to 2020.

She has two children: Augustus, who lives on Long Island and works as a public servant in Suffolk County, and Kerrianne, who is a Captain in the US Air Force serving on a NATO base in Germany.

Check out the full Q&A below:

Why are you seeking elective office?

I’m running for Congress for the same reason I joined the Army when I was 20 years old. I saw a commercial that said, “we do more before 9am than most people do all day,” and I was sold. That’s how I’ve lived my entire life— working hard and doing more for my community. The fact is that all of us on Long Island are doing more every day to get by, and we need a change; Washington needs to serve the people. I’m running for Congress to make health care and prescription drugs more affordable so no one has to worry about their pocketbook when they are sick. To rebuild our economy by supporting small businesses and expanding access to career and technical training. And to take care of our veterans who have served our country to protect our freedoms.

The single most pressing issue facing our nation/state/community is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing our community is access to quality, affordable health care. Too often, career politicians advance the agendas of the corporate special interests that fund their campaigns, even when it hurts the rest of us here on Long Island. Even as we face the COVID-19 pandemic, politicians in Washington are attempting to take away health care from thousands of Long Islanders with preexisting conditions. In Congress, I will fight to preserve protections for Long Islanders with preexisting conditions, expand access to affordable health care plans, and bring down the cost of prescription drugs. And I’ll stand up to the big insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and the career politicians who have been bought and paid for.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am unique among the candidates in this race because I have dedicated my life to service at every level, and I have demonstrated my commitment to putting country over party. As a combat veteran, public school educator, local elected official, single mom, and immigrant, I understand the challenges facing working families on Long Island. I’m also unique in this race because I believe that the position of Congressperson should be approached as an act of public service, not a resume-builder, and I’m rejecting corporate PAC donations because I will be accountable to Long Islanders, not corporate donors. As a member of Congress, I will make it one of my first priorities to pass comprehensive democracy reform to get corporate money out of politics, increase transparency, and rein in corporate influence in Washington.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Too many politicians are listening to their corporate donors instead of the people they were elected to serve, and Long Islanders are getting left behind. I was an educator in New York public schools for 32 years, most recently as a guidance counselor at Wilson Technological Center in Farmingdale, so I understand that we have to build educational and economic opportunities for every young person on Long Island. That includes expanding career and technical training in sectors like biotech and manufacturing, and reining in the costs of college so kids aren’t graduating with tens of thousands in debt. We need to provide tax relief to working families and small businesses, not big corporations, and repeal the disastrous SALT cap. We need to fight climate change, which has devastated our South Shore, by investing in renewable energy sources and stopping the dangerous rollback of environmental protections in Washington. This is the Long Island agenda that I will take with me to Congress.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I spent 29 years as an officer in the Army Reserve, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. I deployed four times in service to our country, the last time as Commander of the 310th Military Police Battalion in Afghanistan in 2012. I spent three decades working in New York public schools, mentoring and advising thousands of young people on Long Island and guiding them into productive lives. And I served on the Babylon Town Council for 13 years, where I supported economic development programs and directed resources to veterans and military families as Chair of the Veterans Advisory Council. Just as I have served in these roles, I will continue to serve my community in Congress.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

When I was growing up, my father always used to share this quote: “ Heights of great men [and women] reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upwards through the night."

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I’m a veteran, former Military Police Officer, public school educator, a single mom, and a public servant. I understand the challenges that Long Islanders are facing today because I’ve faced many of them myself. The fact is that Washington isn’t working for us-- it’s working for politicians and the corporations that line their bank accounts. It’s time for that to change. I’m running for Congress to expand access to health care, rebuild our infrastructure, take care of our veterans, grow educational and economic opportunity, and protect our environment. When I was in the Army, I didn’t ask the soldiers I served with if they were Republicans or Democrats because it didn’t matter. What mattered was that we had each other’s backs and we accomplished the mission. I’ll take that same approach to Congress, working with both parties to do more for Long Island.

This article originally appeared on the Lindenhurst Patch