John,

Thanks to your support, we did it. I am thrilled to be the Representative-elect for New York’s 17th Congressional District. It will be the honor of my life to serve the great people of Westchester and Rockland Counties in the U.S. House of Representatives.

We also made history. When I am sworn in on January 4, 2021, I will become the nation’s first openly gay, Black member of Congress.

I am humbled by the trust you’ve placed in me, and grateful for the opportunity to serve the community that raised me.

You may know that I grew up in the working-class Village of Spring Valley. My mom and I didn’t have much. But we did have hope. My mom always told me that I could be whatever I wanted to be, as long as I put my mind to it. Just dream big, she said.

The need to dream big has never been more urgent. New York’s 17th Congressional District, and our nation, face several overlapping crises. Big money and corporations have outsized influence in our democracy. Climate change threatens the very planet on which we live. Labor rights have been eroded, and the strength of our unions has been undermined. Students in vulnerable communities have fallen behind. Our families face skyrocketing costs for education, housing, and child care, even as wages have remained stagnant for decades.

This isn’t new. In fact, we have never known an America that truly works for families like mine. And now we’re grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things are getting worse, not better.

Over the last eight months, we have seen the ties that bind the American social contract come apart at the seams. But our campaign has sent a message to the world.

The big ideas around which we centered our movement are not radical — they are necessary to renew our democracy, save the planet, and create economic opportunity from all. Otherwise, American society will continue to unravel. These ideas are ours to win, if we fight for them.

With this election, we’ve begun that transformational work. But we must see this election as the means, not the end. So many of our institutions failed us, and that can never happen again.

I want us all to be ready to recommit to that fight. But let’s also take a moment to celebrate the movement that brought us here.

This victory is for the people of Westchester and Rockland Counties, whose stories energized me every day of this campaign. It’s for the mother I met in Tarrytown who has to drive to Canada to get insulin for her son, because she can’t afford to buy it here. It’s for the janitors and small business owners like my late grandfather, and the housecleaners like my grandmother, who deserve an economy that works for them. It’s for the little Black boy who couldn’t wait to take my picture at the Black Lives Matter rally in Croton because he had never seen someone who looked like him up on that podium. It’s for the hundreds of thousands of young queer kids from across this district and throughout this country, many of whom have written to tell me that my very presence in the public arena gives them confidence to embrace who they are and live authentic lives.

This victory is also for the many hundreds of volunteers who worked tirelessly for months to elect someone the political establishment counted out. For the hundreds of high school and college students who got involved in politics for the very first time and spent thousands of hours having conversations with people in our district, persuading people through one authentic connection at a time, and refusing to listen when political insiders told them their ideas were “pie in the sky.” Together, we organized our community, in the truest sense of the word, to fight for the better world that we know is possible.

I am so humbled to have earned your trust, and I do not take it lightly. We’ve got so many more fights to win. Let’s get to work.

Thank you,
Mondaire

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