Cameron Kasky, a Jewish survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting and co-founder of the March for Our Lives gun control advocacy group, announced Tuesday that he is running for Congress in New York’s heavily Jewish 12th District.
The 25-year-old activist, who helped organize nationwide protests calling for stricter gun laws after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre that killed 17 people, is seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
In a statement on his campaign website, Kasky linked his activism against American-made firearms to his opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel, writing: “As a school shooting survivor, I began my life calling for an end to the mass murder of innocent children and adults using weapons manufactured by the United States. Witnessing the ongoing genocide in Gaza has served as a haunting, serious reminder that it is my life’s purpose to advocate against violence everywhere.”
Kasky has also called for Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and measures to regulate artificial intelligence.
Nadler, the longest-serving Jewish member of Congress and a staunch supporter of Israel, announced in September that he would not seek re-election in 2026.
The open seat, which stretches across Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Upper East Side and Midtown, has drawn a crowded Democratic field that includes Jack Schlossberg — grandson of President John F. Kennedy — New York City Councilman Erik Bottcher, state Assemblyman Micah Lasher, journalist Jami Floyd and several others.
Kasky, who describes himself as a “Democratic socialist,” moved to New York to attend Columbia University but later dropped out. He now resides in the district.
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