A graduate of the Justice Democrats’ “Movement School” recently launched a campaign for Minnesota House District 60A, which was left vacant after the passing of Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL-Minneapolis).
“Together, we will achieve: rent control and a homes guarantee, a moratorium on charter schools, a $15 minimum wage statewide, free public transit, Universal Family Care, the decriminalization of marijuana and decarceration for those imprisoned for it, reparations, no new pipelines, and MinnesotaCARE for all,” said Sonia Neculescu in announcing her campaign.
I’ve been organizing in 60A for over five years, fighting alongside students, renters, new immigrants, and people who’ve called this district home for a long time. I look forward to earning your support!
Facebook: https://t.co/0j3mHNJBk4
Donate: https://t.co/WdhS2iqRWY pic.twitter.com/GOeCKtrdRy— sonia (@SoniaNeculescu) December 11, 2019
Neculescu is a 2019 graduate of the Movement School, a sister organization of the Justice Democrats PAC, which was made famous for helping candidates like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) win their elections.
The Movement School trained 71 activists in 2019 as part of its campaign fellows program, as The Minnesota Sun previously reported. The program trained one other activist in Minnesota, Mattias Lehman, who now works as the digital director of the Sunrise Movement.
Neculescu filed her paperwork to run for the District 60A seat on Tuesday and called for more “leaders with lived experience in the struggles families, workers and students face.”
We don’t need more of the same — we need leaders with lived experience in the struggles families, workers and students face.
I look forward to talking with all of you about our shared struggles as we build towards the special primary election on 1/21 (vote early starting 12/17)!
— sonia (@SoniaNeculescu) December 11, 2019
According to her campaign website, Neculescu wants Minnesota to pass a “moratorium on charter schools” and commission a “comprehensive study to look at the impact charters have on our communities.”
She supports educational policies that would replace School Resource Officers with mental health professionals and counselors, and wants to make four-year public colleges in the state tuition-free by “taxing the wealthy.” Neculescu says she supports a “Universal School Lunch Program,” a proposal carried by Omar in the U.S. House to “end lunch shaming and eliminate school lunch debt.”
On the issue of labor, Neculescu would like to “ban union-busting, so-called ‘right to work’” policies and strongly supports “legislation to increase the amount of money welfare recipients receive.” She is also an advocate of a statewide minimum wage of at least $15 an hour.
Like her plan for free college, Neculescu wants to “increase funding for public housing by taxing the rich.”
Her campaign website states that she supports legislation that would put Minnesota on the track to achieving “100 percent renewable energy by 2030.”
“We must invest in a Green New Deal both nationally, and here in Minnesota. This will ensure we invest in clean energy and create jobs for workers in the dirty energy economy, and for workers currently out of the economy,” states her website. “I oppose all new pipelines and mines in this state. We must recognize that we occupy stolen Dakota land and respect Indigenous sovereignty. This includes guaranteeing access to healthy food and fighting pipelines that threaten the Mississippi River and the source of life for Indigenous people.”
Neculescu wants to make MinnesotaCare and MNsure “available to all Minnesota residents” and describes herself as a “champion on unrestricting abortion access to all people who are able to give birth.”
“Comprehensive reproductive healthcare must be available and accessible to trans and gender-nonconforming Minnesotans, including hormonal treatments,” she writes on her website.
Her policy platform on transportation calls for “heavily” investing in Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit, and states that she will “fight for free public transit in our state.”
“Cars should no longer be our long-term transportation plan,” Neculescu claims on her website.
She also believes that “no agency” in Minnesota should be “allowed to cooperate” with ICE, and wants legislators to “immediately pass legislation to ensure that we are a Sanctuary State.” Along those lines, she plans to “fight to ensure that all Minnesotans have access to drivers’ licenses, regardless of citizenship status.”
The special elections to fill House Districts 60A and 30A, which was left open after the retirement of Rep. Nick Zerwas (R-Elk River), are scheduled for February 4.
– – –
Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sonia Neculescu” by Sonia Neculescu.
