A year later, the most vivid memory I have of Jan 6 is the moment I returned to the House chamber after the riot had been quelled. I stepped over broken glass to get into the chamber. What ensued over the next hour was the most powerful experience of my career. THREAD
People spoke with hushed whispers. We touched each other’s shoulders gently with comfort as if at a funeral. Everyone still in a daze, swimming in uncertainty of the uncharted moment. I took a seat along the center aisle as the speeches began. 2/18
I glanced around the room. This is the room where our nation united during some of our darkest moments. Where FDR gave his Pearl Harbor “Day of Infamy” speech. Where leaders gathered after 9/11 to show resolve and unity. Where decisions of war and peace were made. 3/18
Could it happen again? Would we finally unite? For a brief moment I thought what happened would be a shock to the system. Like a defibrillator pulling our country back into rhythm. The speeches were raw, talking about the need to pull together. But then something changed… 4/18
When speeches switched back to electoral college debate, I felt something change in the room. I watched people pull out the same speech about election fraud they were going to give before, as if the riot never happened. The prospect of unity lasted only 35min and 53 seconds. 5/18
That was when I knew this would not be the unifying moment we needed. Shock of Jan 6 was not enough to shatter the Big Lie. Many ask me if my colleagues who spout the Big Lie believe what they say. At that moment I knew for certain they did. They believed every single word. 6/18
I started to walk out of the House chamber in disgust. While the riot damaged our Capitol, I felt that the scene I just witnessed would ultimately do more harm. The lasting damage of Jan6 was not the roaring riot, but the selfish silence and purposeful amnesia afterwards.7/18
I walked out the center doors of the House chamber. The same doors that Presidents walk through to give the State of the Union. Just hours earlier they had been smashed and barricaded with guns drawn. Again, guns were drawn on the House floor. 8/18
As I walked the halls away from the chamber I kept thinking, maybe our nation lost its ability to be shocked. After a pandemic and now Jan6, could something actually shock us to the point where we rediscover our shared identity/common good, like our nation has in the past? 9/18
Then I entered the Rotunda. To see that room, the most beautiful room in the most beautiful building in America desecrated, broke my heart. I got on my knees & started to pick up. As I picked up debris, I wandered down a side hall and saw something. 10/18 nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…
I saw a plaque: “Beneath this tablet the cornerstone…was laid by George Washington.” I stood there carrying a bag of torn flags and broken glass, reminded that this building is bigger than all of us. I realized at that moment that I am but a mere caretaker of this building.11/18
This realization of being a caretaker fundamentally changed the way I see my job. Changed how I see the responsibility of being a citizen. Our democracy was handed to us, and on our watch we must do our best to preserve it and then pass it off to those that follow. 12/18
I've been fixated on a singular question: how do we heal this country? But what does it even mean to heal? I spent a year searching for the answer, and came see they it was right above me painted at the center of the ceiling of the Capitol dome. To heal is “E Pluribus Unum.”13/18
E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. Phrase expresses our nation’s goal but doesn’t tell us how. What makes the “many” become “one”? Unity doesn’t just happen on its own. Motto is thought to have been adapted by our founding fathers from a Roman named Cicero over 2000 yrs ago.14/18
Cicero also lived in tumultuous times. In one election, the loser and supporters stormed the Roman Capitol during the ceremonial counting of ballots and “disrupted the vote counting…assembled voters fled in terror before the election could conclude”15/18 zocalopublicsquare.org/2021/01/08/rom…
Cicero learns from political division and teaches “When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many.” The missing verb in E Pluribus Unum is to love. The way to show our love for each other is through acts of service. Healing begins with service.16/18
It’s not too late to unite this country. I was wrong to think unity needed a shock to the system to catalyze. We don’t need a shock. We need service. Today we remember a year ago, but I propose that going forward we make Jan 6 a day of common good. A day of E Pluribus Unum.17/18
That we use Jan6 to renew our understanding and appreciation for our democracy. The goal is not to reset the clock to Jan5, but instead to understand clearly the job in front of us. Our job is to be caretakers. Our job is to heal this country and hand it off to our successors.END
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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
I’ve never experienced a time more unpredictable yet with such generational consequence. So what does this particular moment mean? I remembered a passage in a book I read. “Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent.” 2/10
The deep unease we carry is in part the fact that we witnessed with the shooter one person trying to use the means of violence to impose their will upon a nation of 330 million and subvert the power of people that underlies our very democracy. 3/10
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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…
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