Andy Kim Profile picture
Oct 11, 2021 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Last night @60Minutes did segment on a college I attended that has only 26students doing manual labor on a cattle ranch while studying great books. Deep Springs College. This improbable place is where my journey to Congress began. My story and photos I’ve never shared belowTHREAD
I applied to Deep Springs without my parents knowing. My sister told me about a school next to Death Valley where students ride horses, hire professors, and run admissions to select next class of students. 13 students get accepted a year for 2yrs. Everyone goes for free.2/15
The school is premised on the belief that education isn’t just in the classroom. I learned as much from operating the dairy (milking cows, churning butter, making yogurt/ice cream) and growing our own vegetables as I did studying history, philosophy and literature.3/15
School is run by the students in a democracy. We gather Friday nights in the boarding house to introduce resolutions and proposals to govern our community. We learn to build coalitions and support amongst the students. Been student run for over 100 yrs.4/15
Deep Springs is different from other schools in that it has a clear mission to train students to be of “Service to Humanity.” We as students talked about the idea of “service” all the time. What it meant to be of service. But I learned it in a life changing way on Sept 11. 5/15
Sept 11 2001: I woke up before the sun to harvest late season tomatoes and vegetables from the garden. When I got to the boarding house for breakfast, another student told me about how a plane hit the World Trade Center. We assumed it was small cessna-like plane by accident.6/15
When I learned what happened, I wanted to go home to NJ immediately. I was so angry and being in the middle of the desert on a cattle ranch on the other side of the country was awful. I felt disconnected, and for the first time, the physical isolation finally came down on me.7/15
A few weeks later I took some time to go to NYC and walked around the perimeter of Ground Zero. I snapped this photo as I saw the rubble with my own eyes and the incredible people conducting the recovery. I thought about staying to help and never going back to Deep Springs.8/15
Ultimately, I did return to the desert valley. I realized I needed more training and that it’s better to act out of purpose rather than anger. Deep Springs trained me to use “service to humanity” as my guiding principle and to dedicate my life to stopping preventable deaths.9/15
Deep Springs demonstrates the power of education, but also the need for education to teach more than books. I learned not just knowledge, but how to engage and interact with the people around me. How to communicate effectively and how to work as a team.10/15
I also learned how to solve problems and find solutions creatively. I learned to build a fence with just bailing wire and a leatherman. Fix tractors and irrigation lines. If I didn’t know how to weld, I needed to learn. 11/15
Most importantly, I internalized what it means to be of “service to humanity.” What I learned was that service requires a simple yet profound recognition that we are members of a community. We have responsibilities to each other that require mutual respect in order to work.12/15
But it isn’t just “service to each other” or “service to community”. Service to humanity requires a recognition that we are a part of something bigger, we are connected to one another, and we should never let political identity or other divisions cloud our shared humanity.13/15
Someone once asked me what impact Deep Springs had on my life. I said the highest compliment I could give is that Deep Springs is the only place I’ve ever been in my life where I could say that I would be a completely different person had I not been there.14/15
I arrived at Deep Springs only thinking about what’s best for me, but I left the valley committed to foreign policy and public service. I never would have become a U.S. Congressman were it not for Deep Springs and the beautiful lessons of service I learned in the desert.END

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More from @AndyKimNJ

Jul 14
When Lincoln was shot he wore a coat embroidered with “One Country, One Destiny.” I’ve turned to those 4 words to help me process this moment. This assassination attempt was one of the worst events I’ve seen in our democracy. It feels like we are a country unmoored…THREAD Image
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This month is 20 yrs since I started serving the country, first as an intern and now today I’m on the ballot to be the Dem nominee for Senate. I’ve been blessed to serve, working my way up from a desk in the photocopy room. But I always remembered my 1st lesson in service. THREAD Image
20 yrs ago, arriving at Union Station, I realized I didn’t know anyone else in the entire city of DC. I didn’t come from a political family or had any previous experience in DC except for a family trip or two. I was nervous. I felt out of place. I felt like I didn’t belong. 2/11 Image
Who was I to think I could work in government? I am a son of immigrants, a public school kid. I made my way by metro lugging a big duffel to Foggy Bottom where I had a dorm room in George Washington University for the summer. 3/11 Image
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Apr 29
I first met @YaelBromberg, @bmpugach and Flavio Komuves just 5 months ago. While we talked, the gravity of what we were considering hit me. I asked them point blank, what’s our chance of winning a lawsuit against the political machine? Is this a Hail Mary or do we have a shot?🧵
The three of them didn’t flinch. They each took turns telling me why this was real. They embodied confidence yet humility. They were pragmatic and tactical while maintaining the hopefulness and courage one needs to take on NJ politics. 2/6
I explained to them how this would set off a massive firestorm. In some ways I wanted to make sure they were ready for it. But I realized when I talked that the three of them understood exactly what they were doing as they’ve been fighting this fight for years. 3/6 Image
Read 6 tweets
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Politics in NJ is facing a real crossroads right now between elite control and power of people. The same leaders who gain political control through the county line on ballots are flexing to ram through a bill gutting OPRA and transparency. These problems are interconnected THREAD Image
Of all the things to fast track...leaders are spending time and capital reducing transparency. We have affordability, environmental, infrastructure challenges. It's a real prioritization problem to have a politics more interested in preserving/expanding their own control. 2/10 Image
The actions yesterday of reportedly replacing a state Senator on a committee because he planned to vote against the bill shows how broken this process is. It gives the impression that individual lawmakers are irrelevant, and all that matters is what top leaders want. 3/10 Image
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Feb 26
The broken politics in New Jersey needs to end once and for all. Today I am filing suit and seeking an injunction to stop the corrupt county line system for this June 4 primary and to abolish it permanently going forward. 49 states use fair ballots; it’s time NJ does too. THREAD Image
Right now NJ allows a handful of party elites to give their handpicked candidates preferential placement on the ballot. This is a deeply unfair advantage that disenfranchises voters by applying undue influence and suppressing choice of candidates. Image
Voter disenfranchisement particularly harms candidates and voters of color. We’ve seen leaders from those communities - like NJ State Senators Shirley Turner and Troy Singleton - have the courage to take risk and come out to call for change. I’m grateful for their leadership.
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Read 9 tweets
Jan 19
Last week I was proud to be endorsed by College Democrats of NJ, but I found out the terrible backstory that shows how Jersey politics is broken. The college students were pressured and threatened to not endorse me. Good thing they recorded the call. Here’s what happened…THREAD Image
Prior to the endorsement announcement, someone who works for the state Democratic Party told student leaders that endorsing me could affect their future job prospects and their org’s funding. The student leaders felt threatened and recorded the call. 2/9
nytimes.com/2024/01/14/nyr…
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I read the transcript of the call pressuring @NJCollegeDems to not endorse me. This line stood out to me:

“I also think there’s a very clear candidate here who should be representing the state. However, the powers that be do not want that candidate to be representing.”
3/9
Read 9 tweets

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