Four candidates are running for New York’s 7th Congressional District, including City Council Member Julie Won, a Korean-American immigrant and mother of two.
Won is looking to represent a congressional district that includes Bushwick, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, East New York, East Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Greenpoint and Williamsburg. She was elected to represent City Council District 26, which covers Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and Astoria in 2021 and made history as one of the first Korean-Americans to be elected as a council member.
“I'm really proud to be the first mom and immigrant to represent this district,” Won said. “My lived experiences of becoming a naturalized citizen is reflected in my work directly.”
During the pandemic, Won ran on an accessible-tech-for-all platform, as it was a time when it was crucial for students and stay-at-home workers to have WiFi access.
“Down from me is Queensbridge Houses, and kids were sitting outside for 5 to 6 hours trying to go to school using Link NYC, because that was their only choice,” she said.
Won said she was able to get free internet and cable television for public housing in her district six months after she was elected.
With a background in tech, this issue is still at the forefront of Won’s fight. Currently, she is working on a bill against artificial intelligence.
“We're looking at bills to figure out if there are ways that we can have some sort of AI tax,” she said. “If you fail to prove that you try to retrain and repurpose your employees strategically, then you should pay a tax on what you just did.”
Won is running against three other Democratic candidates, two of whom are politicians, Antonio Reynoso and Claire Valdez, and public defender Vichal Kumar.
The council member's policy tagline is “A lifetime of care,” and as a mother and caregiver to her parents, Won said she is running on issues that are affecting her everyday life.
Her father “only qualifies for $300 for Social Security every single month. You can't even pay rent,” she said.
During the pandemic, when death was all around Won’s neighborhood, she saw how hard funeral costs impacted families.
“We had a family [member] who died, a grandmother who was a caregiver of two children,” she said. “And when she died, those underage children had no financing to bury her.”
Won is hoping to pass a bill that would ensure families can get a grant or a tax write-off for burial expenses.
Through her lived experience, Won said she understands that immigrants need language access, so, she created a language access co-op.
“For immigrants like myself that grew up translating for my uncle when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, which is completely inappropriate for a child to be doing, but I was the only one that spoke fluent English,” she said. “To have to deliver that news to my uncle, who brought me to this country.”
If elected, she will push to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pass the Safe School Act, so that no one can be arrested in hospitals, churches and schools, and restore funding to sanctuary cities.
Other major issues for Won include providing better postpartum care, universal healthcare and childcare.
“I look forward to doing a lot of great things for the city of New York, no matter who's elected in any position,” Won said.
