NJ-02: He (D) worked at USAID before Trump dismantled it. Now he's running for Congress in New Jersey.
In the year and a half before Donald Trump retook control of the White House, Bayly Winder worked at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the arm of the U.S. government responsible for distributing foreign aid around the world. Shortly after he left the agency at the beginning of this year, President Donald Trump took a hatchet to USAID, and the work Winder and his colleagues did became the first casualty of the Trump administration’s “government efficiency” efforts.
Now Winder, a New Jersey native, is back in his home state and running for Congress. A Democrat, Winder is announcing a campaign today against Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), who represents the Republican-leaning southern reaches of the state where Winder once spent his summers; the conservative congressman, Winder says, has lost touch with the voters of the 2nd congressional district.
“People across this district are really sick and tired of partisan games, political theater, and establishment politicians,” Winder told the New Jersey Globe. “When you look at Jeff Van Drew and the way that he’s conducted himself recently – not holding in-person town halls, being more focused on providing tax breaks for the elite than for the middle class, and doing things like slashing Medicaid after saying he would protect it – I think that adds up to a picture that people are not comfortable with.”
One other Democrat, Terri Reese, is already running in the Democratic primary to take on Van Drew, and several others are looking at the race, including previous Democratic nominees for the seat. But the 33-year-old Winder could bring more national connections to the race – potentially following in the footsteps of other New Jersey Democrats like Andy Kim and Tom Malinowski who successfully made the leap from national security positions into Congress.
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/he-worked-at-usaid-before-trump-dismantled-it-now-hes-running-for-congress-in-new-jersey/