John Avlon, the current Democratic candidate for the congressional seat representing Suffolk County, spoke to the College Democrats in the Student Union on Wednesday, Oct. 9, imploring listeners to “choose community over chaos.”
Avlon began his speech by criticizing the polarized state of American politics and criticizing Congress for being “incapable” of passing a vote that would keep the government running.
“I’ve spent most of my time in my career warning about the dangers of hyper-partisanship and polarization,” Avlon said. “Because those are forces that destroy democratic republics throughout history.”
He also called to “rebuild the middle,” referring to both the economic class and in politics. As a self-described centrist, he said he considers the hyper-partisanship of the current day a symptom of the shrinking of the middle class and that families’ rightful frustration about economic stability fuels the fire for the polarizing politics of today.
“It’s not a coincidence that we’ve hollowed out the middle of our politics the same time we’ve hollowed out the middle of our economy,” he said.
Avlon then went on to condemn the Republican Party for shooting down an immigration reform bill, citing his rival in the race, incumbent House Representative for District 1 Nick LaLota, as one of many Republican congressmen who voted against it.
Avlon also said he is in favor of a comprehensive immigration reform that would include a green card for foreign students who earned a PhD in America, creating a path for “dreamers” to become legal residents and securing the border.
He also railed against the current state of the Republican party, which he said has essentially been hijacked by former President Donald Trump — and that historically, the Republican party was much more reasonable in their policymaking.
“We have to give people hope that we can work together again. And this is basic common sense, America works best when we work together, across all our interesting differences. When we believe fundamentally that there’s more that unites us than divides us,” he said.
One of the attendees asked Avlon whether he supported New York State’s proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Avlon responded that he fully supports the ERA.
“I would argue that the most fundamental American principles are liberty, equality and self-determination,” Avlon said.”By that standard, what proposition one achieves is an enshrining of equality, and protecting individual liberty and self-determination with regards to reproductive freedom.”
Another attendee asked what Avlon’s stance is on the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks and how he might vote if a hypothetical bill to support Israel were to come up.
In his response, Avalon compared the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and said that people should stand with the victims of terrorism.
“I believe that we need broad bipartisan support for the state of Israel that was created after the second World War and the Holocaust for a reason,” he said. “We ultimately need a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state. We [also] need to make sure that Hamas is not treated as a legitimate entity, I think that it was a big mistake to do so. I think we need to make sure that Gaza is rebuilt into something far better.”
Avlon then ended his speech by asking audience members to not walk away from politics, even as more falsehoods are spread about candidates and their political beliefs.
And part of the purpose of that is to make entering the public sphere, [to make] the range of civic debates that citizens are supposed to have and running for office so indecent, so dangerous, so risky to your reputation that no rational person would get involved,” Avlon said. “It’s terrible for your finances, it’s bad for your family, you’re risking your reputation, all these lies and mud are gonna get thrown at you, and what does that do? Good people step away.”
Richard Vatawat, the president of College Democrats and organizer of this event and a senior majoring in political science, said that he primarily wanted to help keep students informed about their local elections.
“It’s election year, it’s the perfect time for them to come talk to students. And I like making sure they know who they’re voting for,” Vatawat said.
Avlon’s rival in the race for Congress, Nick Lalota, will also be speaking in the Student Union on Oct. 23.