A WSR Conversation With Candidate Laura Dunn in the Race to Represent the UWS in Congress

Laura Dunn in front of Zabar’s on the Upper West Side. Photo by Robbie Quinn.

By Gus Saltonstall

As we move past the middle of March, we grow ever closer to the much discussed Democratic primary this June for the New York-12 Congressional seat, in the race to replace longtime Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

While multiple candidates have dropped out of the race in recent weeks, including Jami Floyd and Alan Pardee, there are still 10 Democratic challengers vying for the open seat, along with seven Republican candidates, and three Independent candidates, as of March 16.

West Side Rag is looking to profile as many of these candidates as we can. Most recently, we spoke with Laura Dunn, a civil rights and victim rights attorney who is running for political office for her first time, and was a one-time Upper West Sider.

Our interview included questions about her background, time in the neighborhood, and her positions on President Donald Trump, immigration, housing, and why she chose to run.

The interview has been edited lightly for clarity.

WSR: Hi Laura, I wanted to start with why this was the right time and race to run for office for the first time?

Dunn: While I’ve not held legislative office before, I have done significant law and policy work as a civil rights attorney and victim advocate. I know I have the skillset for this job, having drafted and passed the Section 304 Violence Against Women Act in 2013. I did that by partnering with the Senate Judiciary team and a Democratic majority under then Speaker Pelosi. Once passing that law, I was able to work for the Department of Education’s Rule Making Committee, I also advised the Obama White House task force to protect students against sexual assault, which coordinated enforcement and other laws across federal agencies.

After all of that work I was able to spend time at the Senate Judiciary for the entire summer as a law clerk, and worked on pathways to citizenship, ending human trafficking, and addressing militarily sexual assault.

I’ve had extensive experience for this position and the reason I stepped up now is because I truly don’t know if we’ll have another free and fair election. It’s very clear to me that Donald Trump has not been properly addressed by our Congress. They’re letting him abuse his executive authority and put our country at risk with all of these military actions and wars overseas.

WSR: When it comes to President Trump, if elected, you would be joining into a working relationship with the Executive branch. How would you view that relationship? Would it be opposition, or moments of finding common ground?

Dunn: My very strong viewpoint on this is that we have to reclaim our moral center as a country. That requires us to stop working with Donald Trump and insist on his impeachment and removal. I saw that Trump is saying he’s not going to sign anything into law until the SAVE Act is passed. That’s what Congress should be doing, saying that none of the laws are going to get passed until we impeach Donald Trump. We have to fight fire with fire and I’ve seen too much cowardice within the Democratic Party. I don’t think we should cooperate with Donald Trump. As they say, “the emperor has no clothes,” and someone needs to stand up and say this guy is naked — stop following him.

WSR: Returning to your background, can you speak more on how your experience as a civil rights attorney sets you up to succeed as a member of Congress?

Dunn: In addition to Civil Rights, I work in an area called Victim’s Rights. That’s an evolving area of law, so oftentimes what I’ve had to do is first help pass a law and then turn around and enforce it. One example is New York’s Enough is Enough Law, which passed in 2015, and that was making uniform standards across colleges in New York City and state to have the same definition of sexual assault, along with the same definition of consent, and to have uniform procedures for disciplinary actions and reports. I’ve always been part of developing law and policy to then turn around and enforce it. From being in court so often, I can see where the holes and flaws of a law are. I’m able to see it from both ends, both the creation of law and policy, and then the enforcement of it. That’s what we need in a legislator.

WSR: Accountability on the federal level is clearly a cornerstone of your campaign. What does that accountability look like?

Dunn: I specifically want there to be Congressional term limits so that we don’t have apathetic individuals who stay in office decade after decade. I want to end insider trading with Congress members. Right now members are able to trade with insider information. It’s not allowed on Wall Street, but it’s allowed on Capitol Hill? Legislators become millionaires in office now and they become out of touch with working people. I think that’s why we have an affordability crisis in this country. We also need Congress to establish ethical standards for the Supreme Court. I’m a lawyer. I have ethical standards, but the top of my profession does not. We need to investigate justices because there are very clear signs of political corruption with a few of them. I’m running not just because we urgently need someone to stand up to Donald Trump, but because this entire system has become corrupt. People have lost faith in the government and the only way to fix that is to put in accountability measures.

WSR: Why do you think accountability resonates so much with voters?

Dunn: Because we’re all fed up. We’re so tired of sending people to Congress who promise everything and do nothing. It comes down to the party system. I think the MAGA party that empowered Trump is just the other side of the coin with the Democratic party that is serving corporations and not the people. We are seeing a system that is corrupt and broken, and we’re tired of it.

WSR: How would look to balance your work in Washington D.C. on global issues with keeping up with local issues within District 12?

Dunn: Part of why people serving on the Hill lose touch with their community is because they don’t come home enough. They stay in D.C., which is a bubble, and I know because I’ve lived there before. I live and work in District 12, I have a law firm here, I have a home here, and my dog lives here with me.

I’m going to be around in the community and can keep that commitment. There’s no place I’d rather be. Too often part of why politicians go way too far into the international realm is because of their own future ambitions. Mayor Mamdani has given the best example that while we have to talk about the whole world, since it’s part of our duties, it doesn’t mean he’s decided to leave the city. He is going to prioritize being here day in and day out, and there are going to be times, like when all the violence was happening in Minneapolis, I wanted to go visit, but it felt more important to be here with the people that are going to be voting for me. I have time and time again chosen to be in the city with my community.

WSR: One of those national issues that has an affect on New York City is immigration. What would you look to do on the immigration front if elected?

Dunn: Everyone keeps doing the talking point of we should defund ICE, but then they don’t seem to say much more. We need to review Customs and Border Patrol’s jurisdiction; right now it’s 100 miles, and that why it’s able to abuse citizens and residents in places like New York City. That should be limited down to 10 miles. With ICE itself, I do believe it’s a fully corrupt organization that has intentionally recruited people involved in January 6, and other anti-American and [anti-]constitutional efforts, so I do think it needs to be reformed. Whatever we put in place must be based in a human rights model, where we honor that everyone has rights and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

WSR: Affordability is another one of those driving topics within the campaign. How would you look to improve affordability in District 12, especially as related to housing?

Dunn: I know that NYCHA housing is consistently being funded less and less, and it’s resulting in really horrific conditions where repairs aren’t happening or entire housing complexes are being pushed to demolition, including the Chelsea Elliot Housing. It’s obvious we need pretty significant reform in this area.

What I’ve proposed is a one-to-one match for every dollar that New York puts into this housing, I want the federal government to match it. What’s nice about that approach is that it allows the local to drive the federal because it is hard for people in NY-12 to lobby the Hill and Congress. Whereas most people in NY-12 are pretty civically engaged, and know how to find the mayor. So, I really want to tie local funding to federal funding.

We also know that rent-controlled units, if they’re rehabilitated, they can’t charge more rent, so lots of landlords are choosing to leave them unoccupied. We have to allow people to update their units to have a reasonable assessment of the values that they can keep renting them, but rents are getting out of control because of the artificial shortage of stock being created.

WSR: And would your first bill relate to one of these issues we’ve spoken about?

Dunn: There are so many fires that need to be put out immediately. My first action, though, would be trying to work toward the impeachment of Donald Trump. That is the priority on Day 1. It is not just the disruption that is happening to the United States with his chaotic approach, it’s the fact that the entire world is losing faith in our country.

WSR: Focusing on the local. Do you or have you lived on the Upper West Side?

Dunn: I lived on West 71st Street and Amsterdam for four years. My dog was raised on off-leash hours in Central Park. I very much love the Upper West Side. I go to one of the local farmer markets every Sunday with my dog and it’s the community I feel the closest too.

WSR: Any favorite spots in the neighborhood?

Dunn: I’m in Central Park all of the time. I walk up from Hell’s Kitchen twice a week with my dog. There’s no place like it. My goal is to get lost in the park, which is becoming harder and harder as I continue to map it. I really like TAP for the smoothies.

Truly, why I like the Upper West Side so much is the dog culture. I have met so many neighbors from having a dog, and everybody is so lovely. I’ll give an example, I got shingles two summers ago and I was very stressed selling a part of my law office. A neighbor who knew me from the dog park was texting me to meet up, and I said ‘I can’t go, I have shingles’ and she said, ‘do you want me to buy you groceries and bring them to you?’ That to me is the Upper West Side in a nutshell. People who care and are neighborly, and bond with you over something as simple as your love for dogs.

WSR: Finally, let’s say someone walks up to you on the street and says, ‘All I know about the District 12 race is that there are a ton of candidates. In 30 seconds, what makes you stand out from the rest of the field and why should I vote for you’? What do you say?

Dunn: I’m the only candidate who drafted and passed federal laws. I know what it’s like to work on the Hill. I’m a sexual assault survivor who got involved in politics, not because I wanted to, but because I had to. The laws weren’t serving survivors, justice was not coming, so I stepped up to lead. That matters because this is personal, this isn’t just a career goal, I know what it’s like to need an institution to care about you and for it to fail. And, because of that life experience, I look at every single issue that is harming Americans with a deep connection to the pain that they are feeling and a deep drive to make it better for all of them.

You can find out more about Dunn’s campaign on her candidate website — HERE.

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