The 25-year-old Jew who plans to unseat Jerry Nadler
WASHINGTON – A Jewish Democrat, a son of Israeli immigrants to the US who was born and raised in New York, is now eyeing an ambitious target: unseating the incumbent representative of New York’s 10th congressional district, Jerry Nadler. His platform: universal basic income of $1,000 a month for every American, 18 years old and older.
The man’s name: Jonathan Herzog. His age: 25, and he says he thinks he can be the next Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Our prospects by the numbers are pretty good,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “In New York, the turnout for congressional primaries is very, very low, to the tune of 3% to 4% of the entire population in the district. So, if we can get just 15,000 votes, then we have won the congressional seat.”
New York’s 10th congressional district represents the West Side of Manhattan and South Brooklyn.
“As we saw in the 14th district with AOC in 2018, by her getting just 4,000 more votes, with central-low participation, she was essentially guaranteed the seat because whoever has the ‘D’ next to their name in the general elections is expected to win,” Herzog said.
Herzog attended the Ramaz Jewish school in New York, before going to Hunter College High School, and said he does speak Hebrew. He went to Harvard for undergrad, where he studied psychology, and continued on to NYU Stern School of Business for his MBA, before returning to Harvard for law school. He took an indefinite leave from Harvard Law School to join Andrew Yang’s 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. He moved to Iowa and worked to build a grassroots movement there.
“In early 2018 when his presidential campaign launched, I read the New York Times headline, ‘The robots are coming,’” he recalled. “It laid out Andrew’s vision, his diagnosis of the problems with the fourth industrial revolution and the automation ways and the effects it’s having on our economy and our politics and his solutions. So it was really after reading that headline in particular that I said, ‘This guy has to be president, and I have to do all I can to make sure that happens.’ That’s how I eventually ended up moving out to Iowa to build a campaign.”
Yang brought to the public sphere the idea of universal basic income as a way to compensate Americans for job losses for robots. Since both Republicans and Democrats agreed on Tuesday night to send checks directly to Americans who are struggling financially, Herzog believes that now is the time for this radical idea to shine.
“What is politically impossible becomes inevitable only in times of crisis,” he said. “And unfortunately, our historical reality is that only in times of massive structural failure or war, or in this case a global pandemic, [does it hold true] that suddenly whatever ideas are out there [that] have risen to the forefront of the conversation, get brought to the table.”
His first introduction with universal basic income was as a kid in Alaska, where he spent a couple of formative years.
“My dad got a job out there, and so we moved there,” he recalled. ”I didn’t know it back then, but it was my first somewhat exposure to the idea of a universal basic income, which I only dove into later, after hearing about Andrew Yang’s campaign and moving out to Iowa for him. Alaska has a petroleum dividend for all of its residents, using the state natural petroleum reserves and giving every citizen $1,000 to $2,000 unconditionally every year.
He said that in large part the idea of universal cash is gaining momentum because of the coronavirus crisis.
According to Herzog, there are “hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue left on the table,” especially from large tech companies. “The public sees very little to none of that revenue, because many of these firms, like Facebook and Amazon, for example, pay zero to near zero in federal taxes,” he said. “So that’s the script we have to flip. And that’s the primary financing mechanism. In many ways, the question is, how can we not afford to have a universal basic income?”
His strategy to take on one of the most powerful men in Congress is straightforward: to make people turn out in record numbers. But how do you engage with people at times of social distancing?
“It’s unprecedented in so many ways and so much more challenging,” he admits. “But in terms of the nitty-gritty of how the campaign operates, we do have the great fortune of being part of the “Yang Gang,” And so we’re a very digitally savvy and already online group of folks and very committed and passionate volunteers,” Herzog added.
“This is entirely happening now online over the coming weeks,” he continued. “It’s certainly a challenge to make those connections when you’re only engaging online. But this is what we’re working with, and we’re going to lean into our strengths to make the most of it.”