South Jersey Progressive Dems & NJ Democratic Senate Candidates 2024
Senate Candidate Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina
SJPD has invited all four democratic New Jersey Senate candidates to come talk with us during our monthly public meetings. On Monday February 8th, we welcomed senate candidate Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina to our monthly public meeting.
Dr. Campos-Medina is currently the Executive Director of The Worker Institute, Industrial Labor Relations at Cornell University. She has served several presidents in different capacities including as a member of the Labor Advisory Committee for the office of U.S. Trade Relations In NJ, she is a prominent labor and immigrant workers rights advocate and has advanced the Fight for $15, paid family leave, paid sick leave and the creation of union jobs. Dr. Campos-Medina serves as the President of Latina Civic Action, an organization that trains pro-choice Latinas to run for public office. She has supported women to run for office as an advisor of Ready to Run, a program of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers. She is the Host and Executive Producer of Activista Rise Up, a forum for community and labor activists to promote social and economic justice. She is a board member of Our Revolution, and former PAC Chair of NJ Citizen Action. Patricia is a longtime Democrat, served as co-Chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 Presidential campaign, served as a convention delegate to Barack Obama in 2008 and for President Biden in 2020. She lives with her husband Bob and two sons in Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County.
We covered many topics during our zoom meeting. We had some prepared questions and then opened it up to folks who joined the call. Dr. Campos-Medina was able to comfortably address the questions and the wide variety of topics which ranged from the environment to ceasefire to abolishing the line.
On the environment, Campos-Medina discussed mass transit in NJ, emphasizing that improving mass transit would help address our climate change crisis, create green jobs and in partnership with the federal and state government she would work to support mass transit. She emphasized listening to young people in their demands for a green planet.
Campos-Medina supports a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, condemns the attack by Hamas but also noted that as a young child she lived through wartime with her family in Central America and realizes the horrors of war and feels we must work for peace.
On the topic of the senate filibuster, Campos-Medina said it’s not working, she would use all the tools in her toolbox to work with and perhaps change it.
SCOTUS: Campos-Medina supports age limits in the court, does not agree with judges being wined and dined by billionaires and wants the court to be held accountable for their code of ethics.
Dark money: the candidate discussed public funding for campaigns and getting dark money out of politics.
Immigration: the wall will not solve the problem, the crisis doesn’t start at the border, she wants to expedite the process and adjudication; give work permits so migrants who are waiting can work rather than being assigned to federal housing, there is a funding crisis in immigration and we need to invest in the problem in order to solve it, trade policies with Central America need to be a priority, the US needs to be a partner in the region; finally she wants to provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented who are currently living and working here.
Progressive: we have watered down what it means to be a progressive, it means jobs, working people, democracy. LGBTQ, women, healthcare. PCM would call out the abuses by the elite and corporations.
The New Jersey Line: PCM believes in abolishing the line, the line is voter suppression, the ballot needs to be opened up to include women and people of color.
Democrats: invest in Democratic turnout in order to win.
