Mondaire Jones

Mondaire Lamar Jones (born May 18, 1987 ) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Jones was the U.S. representative for NY's 17th congressional district from 2021 to 2023.

Before his 2022 defeat, Jones was described as a rising star on the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He is an advocate for Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. In June 2020, he supported calls to defund the police, and said that his goal in running for Congress was to "fight systemic racism".

When first elected, he became one of the two first openly gay Black members of Congress in history. After the 2020 redistricting cycle, he sought reelection in 2022 in NY's 10th congressional district losing the Democratic primary to attorney Dan Goldman, who went on to win the seat in the general election. In July 2023, Jones announced that he would again seek election, this time in the 17th district, in 2024.

Early life and career
Jones was born in Nyack, New York, and grew up in Spring Valley, New York, where he was raised by a single mother, who worked multiple jobs to support him, and his grandparents. He graduated from public schools in the East Ramapo Central School District. He earned his bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 2009. After graduating from Stanford, Jones worked in the U.S. Department of Justice during the presidency of Barack Obama. He then earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2013.

After law school, Jones worked as a law clerk for Andrew L. Carter Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He also worked for Davis Polk & Wardwell for four years, and one year with the Westchester County Law Department.

2020
Jones announced his candidacy for the Democratic primary to represent the 17th district, including most of central and northwestern Westchester County and all of Rockland County, against 16-term incumbent Nita Lowey. Three months after he entered the race, Lowey announced that she would not seek reelection. Jones advocated Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Jones expressed support for defunding the police.

In a crowded eight-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—Jones defeated attorney Adam Schleifer, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Evelyn Farkas, State Senator David Carlucci, and State Assemblyman David Buchwald, among others, winning 42% of the vote. The Associated Press called the race for Jones on July 14, 2020, three weeks after the June 23 primary, the vote tabulation having been delayed because of a large number of absentee ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the general election, Jones faced Republican nominee Maureen McArdle Schulman, a former FDNY firefighter, as well as several third-party candidates. The Associated Press called the race for Jones the day after the election. Along with Ritchie Torres from New York's 15th congressional district, Jones was one of the first gay African Americans elected to the United States House of Representatives.

USPS lawsuit
On August 17, 2020, Jones filed suit in the Southern District of New York against President Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to reverse recent changes made to the United States Postal Service (USPS) that affected the agency's ability to deliver mail, including absentee ballots. In an opinion piece, Jones said he sued Trump and DeJoy "for violating the Constitution in their attempts to undermine the United States Postal Service and thwart free and fair elections this November."

On September 21, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero granted an injunction against the USPS that required it to restore overtime and treat all mail-in ballots as First-Class. Jones celebrated the decision.

2022
Following redistricting, the 17th district included the residence of Sean Patrick Maloney, the Democratic incumbent in the neighboring 18th district and chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Mondaire Jones was no longer in the court drawn 17th district. According to The Guardian, "Maloney decided to run in New York's 17th congressional district rather than his longtime, more urban, 18th district, even though that meant booting out the newer Mondaire Jones, his fellow Democrat and the incumbent congressman in the 17th district". According to The Hill, Maloney's decision "infuriated Jones and his allies, particularly those in the Congressional Black Caucus, who accused Maloney of putting his own political survival over the interests of the party".

Jones opted not to challenge Maloney in the redrawn 17th district; instead, on May 20, 2022, Jones announced that he would seek election in New York's 10th congressional district. Jones finished third in the Democratic primary in the 10th district, which was won by attorney Dan Goldman. Jones received 18.2% of the vote.

2024
In July 2023, it was reported that Jones had moved back to Sleepy Hollow in the 17th district. In July 2023, Jones launched his campaign to return to Congress in the 17th district.

After the removal of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Jones tweeted a photo of McCarthy and Lawler meeting with Jewish leaders in Rockland County captioned "Well that was a waste of time." The post was condemned as antisemitic by Democrats Jared Moskowitz and Josh Gottheimer. Jones took down the tweet and apologized for any misunderstanding. Following the removal Moskowitz and Gottheimer took down their response and Moskowitz accepted Jones's apology and emphasized his record of opposing antisemitism.

Jones entrance into the race cleared the field in the primary allowing him to prepare for the general election. As of April 2024, Jones had raised over $3 million for his comeback campaign.

Tenure
Jones voted to certify the 2020 United States presidential election and later voted to impeach during Trump's second impeachment. He and Ted Lieu co-wrote a letter to the Attorney Grievance Committee of the New York State Supreme Court-Appellate Division asking for Rudy Giuliani to be disbarred due to his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

Jones successfully lobbied U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt the deportation of Paul Pierrilus, who was scheduled to be the last person to be deported during the Trump administration. Pierrilus, a constituent of Jones's, was to be deported to Haiti, a country he had never been to, before Jones intervened.

Jones, Senator Ed Markey, Representative Hank Johnson, and House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler pushed for an expansion of the Supreme Court from 9 seats to 13. Around the same time, Jones called for a "Third Reconstruction" in a Washington Post opinion piece. Jones criticized President Obama for supporting the 9 member status quo system of the Supreme Court and opposing the court's expansion.

Committee assignments

 * House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee
 * House Judiciary Committee
 * Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law
 * Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet
 * House Committee on Education and Labor
 * Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
 * Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
 * House Committee on Ethics

Caucus memberships

 * Congressional Progressive Caucus
 * Congressional Black Caucus
 * Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus (co-chair)

After Congress
Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Mondaire to the United States Commission on Civil Rights on January 3, 2023. Later in January 2023, he joined CNN as an on-air contributor.

In August 2023, Jones reported a salaried position with Future Forward USA Action, a left-leaning 501(c)(4) organization that is led by Chauncey Mclean.

Personal life
Jones came out as gay when he was 24. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Spring Valley.

In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first gay Pride parade, Queerty named Jones among the 50 people "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people."