New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today announced his candidacy for Governor of New York State. The announcement comes after a seven-week exploratory phase, during which Jumaane visited and spoke with communities from Long Island and Brooklyn to Rochester, Buffalo and beyond.
“I’ve spent my life fighting for and creating change on behalf of the people – in the streets and in the halls of government. Public service is about meeting people where they are, and delivering what they need,” said Jumaane D. Williams in announcing his run. “In this moment, I believe we need bold, principled progressive leadership in Albany to move our state forward with justice and equity, no matter the political winds. I’m honored to announce my candidacy to be the next Governor of New York, humbled by this opportunity to empower the people and renew New York, and excited to share my vision of structural change with communities all across the state I love.”
In a video released Tuesday morning, Jumaane spoke about his time growing up in Brooklyn with Tourette Syndrome and ADHD, his time as an organizer, and how he has incorporated that work into a decade of service as an elected official. He highlights the need for creative progressive leadership for New York to move forward, to solve long standing issues faced by New Yorkers and perpetuated by the current entrenched systems.
Jumaane has been Public Advocate, the second-highest ranking elected official in New York City, since 2019. Prior, Jumaane served over nine years in the New York City Council. He mounted a progressive insurgent primary campaign for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 while a City Council Member, winning a majority in New York City and garnering 47% of the vote statewide. He has also served as director of a statewide housing justice organization, and has continued to work to unite communities across the state to solve shared issues and pursue shared goals.
Since becoming Public Advocate, Jumaane has passed more legislation than any of his predecessors throughout their tenure, ranging from protecting affordable housing and promoting racial equity in development to codifying the right to record police activity. In his time in public office, he has passed 68 bills into law, including legislation to curb the abuses of stop and frisk, to ban the box on job applications, to promote sustainable infrastructure, and to protect against discrimination on the basis of reproductive health decisions.
Jumaane is a first generation American of Caribbean heritage who in 2010 became the first elected official in the nation with Tourette Syndrome. His areas of focus throughout his time in public service have included, among others, housing affordability and housing justice, public safety, gun violence prevention, and racial and economic equity.
TRANSCRIPT:
My Tourette’s has never defined me – but it has represented a truth about my life and my work– I’m always moving.
When you’re a kid in school, moving makes you a troublemaker, a problem. When you’re a young Black man under the abuses of stop and frisk, moving makes you a target, a suspect. When you’re an activist, moving is a mantra, a means of creating change. When we organize, we build a movement, a march forward.
Marching is a statement of purpose and of progress. A demonstration. When I was arrested marching in a parade, it demonstrated the human impact of discriminatory policing. When we marched down 5th Avenue, it demonstrated our commitment to end it. When I marched to block a deportation, it demonstrated the obligation we have to do what we can, to move toward justice.
Right now our state needs to move forward. From a pandemic, from an era of scandal, and from old ways of governing that have failed so many for so long.
For over a decade in office I’ve shaken things up while passing nearly seventy laws on behalf of the people and more than any Public Advocate in history. As I move around our state I can see that we all want similar things, face similar obstacles, struggle against the same entrenched systems.
There is a movement building in New York. A courageous progressive movement that challenges the powerful – and helps restore that power to the people. A movement I’m proud to be a part of. Because without courageous progressive leadership, the way things have always been will stand in the way of what they can be.
I’ve never been one to sit still. When I see injustice or inertia, I’m moved to action. My name is Jumaane Williams, and I’m running for Governor of the State of New York.
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