Becky Grossman is an at-large Newton city councilor, representing Ward 7. Prior to her election, she served as an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County. Her endorsements include four fellow Newton City Councilors, the Newton Firefighters Association and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense.
What should high school students know about your platform?
I’m currently a Newton city councilor, but the job I cherish most is being a mom to my two young kids. Madeline, my daughter, just turned nine, and my son Jack is going to turn six this weekend. I am running for Congress with the fierce urgency of a mom who is upset by what’s going on in this country and determined to make change. I wake up every day thinking about the world we’re leaving for all of our kids and for the generations to come. When I think about the NRA, continuing to threaten our kids safety at school and on our streets and households, when I think about how our planet is in serious peril and when I think about how drug companies are charging thousands of dollars a year in prescription drug costs that people like my own mom need to stay alive, as a mom to two young kids, I can’t accept that. I believe that if there was ever a time to step up and get in the fight, it’s now.
How has your campaign been impacted by the coronavirus? What challenges and opportunities have you encountered?
My heart is really with everybody as we all find our way through this deeply troubling time. Our campaign was very quick to respond to the challenges that the coronavirus has posed, and we went very quickly into an online model and a telephone model. We have done a wide variety of town halls, whether it’s through Facebook or Zoom, as well as small group sessions, using both of those mediums as well. We have been communicating regularly on all of our social media channels, and we’ve been using the phone, and I think we’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest from young people, particularly high school and college students, who are really excited about our campaign.
In a crowded field of candidates, what makes you stand out?
Out of 435 members of Congress, we only have 25 who are mothers of school-aged children. I believe that if we had 100 or 250 moms of young kids in Congress, you would change the conversation in Washington from combating the climate emergency to tackling gun violence to implementing policies like universal pre-K that we know families need to get their kids on the right track. If we’re going to make real progress on our most urgent issues, we need to be sending new and different types of people to Washington who aren’t afraid to stand up to powerful special interests.
To learn more about Becky Grossman, visit https://beckygrossman.com/.