Suraj Patel
Suraj Patel (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 12th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 23, 2022.
Patel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Patel (Democrat) was a candidate for New York's 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House in 2018 and 2020.
Biography
Patel was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He earned a B.A. in political science from Stanford University in 2005. He then received a J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 2009. In 2014, Patel earned his master of philosophy from the University of Cambridge. Patel has served as the president of the Sun Group of Companies since 2011. He has been a founding team member of The Arena since 2016. He was also co-founder of Creative Caucus in 2016. Patel has also served as an adjunct professor of business ethics at the NYU Stern School of Business since 2015.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: New York's 12th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House New York District 12
Incumbent Jerrold Nadler defeated Mike Zumbluskas and Mikhail Itkis in the general election for U.S. House New York District 12 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jerrold Nadler (D / Working Families Party)  | 81.6 | 200,890 |
 | Mike Zumbluskas (R / Conservative Party / Parent Party) | 17.9 | 44,173 | |
 | Mikhail Itkis (Itkis Campaign) | 0.3 | 631 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 411 | ||
| Total votes: 246,105 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Gil Obler (G)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 12
Incumbent Jerrold Nadler defeated incumbent Carolyn B. Maloney, Suraj Patel, and Ashmi Sheth in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 12 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jerrold Nadler | 55.4 | 49,744 |
 | Carolyn B. Maloney | 24.4 | 21,916 | |
 | Suraj Patel | 19.0 | 17,011 | |
 | Ashmi Sheth | 1.0 | 937 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 128 | ||
| Total votes: 89,736 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jesse Cerrotti (D)
- Mike Fitzgerald (D)
- Vladimy Joseph (D)
- Rana Abdelhamid (D)
- Maya Contreras (D)
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Mike Zumbluskas advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 12.
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Mike Zumbluskas advanced from the Conservative Party primary for U.S. House New York District 12.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Jerrold Nadler advanced from the Working Families Party primary for U.S. House New York District 12.
2020
See also: New York's 12th Congressional District election, 2020
New York's 12th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 23 Republican primary)
New York's 12th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 23 Democratic primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House New York District 12
Incumbent Carolyn B. Maloney defeated Carlos Santiago-Cano and Steven Kolln in the general election for U.S. House New York District 12 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Carolyn B. Maloney (D) | 82.1 | 265,172 |
 | Carlos Santiago-Cano (R / Conservative Party) | 16.4 | 53,061 | |
 | Steven Kolln (L) | 1.2 | 4,015 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 773 | ||
| Total votes: 323,021 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 12
Incumbent Carolyn B. Maloney defeated Suraj Patel, Lauren Ashcraft, and Peter Harrison in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 12 on June 23, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Carolyn B. Maloney | 42.7 | 40,362 |
| Suraj Patel | 39.3 | 37,106 | |
 | Lauren Ashcraft | 13.6 | 12,810 | |
 | Peter Harrison | 4.2 | 4,001 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 198 | ||
| Total votes: 94,477 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Erica Vladimer (D)
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Carlos Santiago-Cano advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 12.
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Carlos Santiago-Cano advanced from the Conservative Party primary for U.S. House New York District 12.
Libertarian primary election
The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Steven Kolln advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House New York District 12.
2018
General election
General election for U.S. House New York District 12
Incumbent Carolyn B. Maloney defeated Eliot Rabin and Scott Hutchins in the general election for U.S. House New York District 12 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Carolyn B. Maloney (D) | 86.4 | 217,430 |
 | Eliot Rabin (R) | 12.1 | 30,446 | |
 | Scott Hutchins (G) | 1.5 | 3,728 | |
| Total votes: 251,604 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 12
Incumbent Carolyn B. Maloney defeated Suraj Patel in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 12 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Carolyn B. Maloney | 59.6 | 26,742 |
| Suraj Patel | 40.4 | 18,098 | |
| Total votes: 44,840 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Sander Hicks (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 12
Eliot Rabin advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 12 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Eliot Rabin |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Green primary election
Green primary for U.S. House New York District 12
Scott Hutchins advanced from the Green primary for U.S. House New York District 12 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Hutchins |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Suraj Patel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Patel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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When my parents emigrated from India in the late 1960s in search of economic opportunity, three generations of our family lived in a two-bedroom apartment over the bodega we ran. I grew up bussing tables, filling vending machines, doing motel laundry, and helping out on construction sites. Together as a family, we lived the American Dream, something that's nearly far too difficult today.
I’m running for Congress because Democrats need a new generation of leaders - practical and progressive leaders who can deliver new energy and fresh ideas on how to get things done. Leaders who are always on the side of democracy, not just when it’s politically advantageous.
1990s politicians have lost nearly every major battle to Mitch McConnell - on abortion rights, gun reform, climate action, and our democracy. It’s time for a new approach. New fighters for a new decade. New messengers to make a better case for our values.- 1990s politicians have lost every major battle to Mitch McConnell - from climate action to guns and abortion. Rather than taking on these fights, the incumbents have been busy taking millions in Corporate PAC money and gerrymandering their own districts to maintain their power. To win our country back, we need new messengers to make a new case for our values.
- The political culture of 'No' in Washington has led to a crisis of livability. I’m ready to say ‘yes’ to progress on issues like housing, infrastructure, and childcare.
- I’m the only candidate in this race with comprehensive plans and the experience to make our streets safer, lower costs of living, and win back our fundamental rights.
Democracy reform: Get big money out of politics, ban gerrymandering, abolish the electoral college, expand voting rights, abolish the filibuster.
Climate change: Deploy a multipronged strategy to decarbonize and reach net-zero by 2035 including a clean energy moonshot to make fossil fuels economically unviable over the next decade, fund a Green Infrastructure Bank, and a Blue New Deal to save our oceans + wetlands.
Abortion and Civil rights: Codify abortion, gay marriage, contraception, and interracial marriage into federal law; expand the Supreme Court and installl term limits for Supreme Court Justices; increase Title X funding; and pass the Equal Rights Ammendment. Expand access to medication abortion and open up abortion clinics on federal land.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Patel's campaign website stated the following:[2]
| “ |
PUBLIC SAFETY Families should feel comfortable walking to their local parks, running errands in their neighborhoods, and sitting on their stoops at night. Everyone deserves the right to public safety. ABORTION RIGHTS Abortion care is a fundamental right. We all must be able to control our own bodily autonomy in order to have true equality in our democracy and society. IMMIGRATION We must view immigration as a source of strength and power for our country. We must welcome immigrants and refugees with open arms and restore humanity to our immigration system. CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND POLICING We must fight mass incarceration and repair the broken relationship between police and the communities they are charged with serving and protecting. HOUSING We must increase not only the number, but also the quality of all affordable housing accommodations including rent-controlled and subsidized housing, NYCHA housing, senior housing, and supportive housing. MENTAL HEALTH Everyone should have access to affordable mental health treatment. Mental health must be taken just as seriously as their physical health by providers and insurance companies. DISABILITY RIGHTS We must defend the rights of Americans with disabilities, and expand them to include greater agency in their own lives, better education options, and improved access to the political process. THE ABUNDANT SOCIETY We must get the cost of living under control and make it easier to live, raise a family, and start a business. FAMILY OPPORTUNITY GUARANTEE We must eradicate child poverty and increase economic security for families. CLIMATE CHANGE We must leave our climate in better condition for the next generation by aggressively deploying a multipronged strategy to decarbonize our economy and reach net-zero before 2050. We must pass a Green New Deal and K-14+ EDUCATION FOR ALL Everyone should have access to quality, affordable education. We must restructure and increase investment in our post-secondary education and workforce training systems, provide student debt relief, and invest in the future of our academic institutions. WOMEN’S RIGHTS We must fight for economic equality, access to affordable reproductive care, and combat domestic violence and sexual assault. OPEN STREETS Open streets mitigate environmental damage, improve public health, encourage economic growth, make the streets safer, and raise the quality of life for all. It’s time to put people over cars. THE DYNAMIC SOCIETY We must enact national policy to snap us out of our technological Great Stagnation, and recreate a Dynamic Society – one that catalyzes American ingenuity to innovate through our most pressing social challenges, and to realize a more imaginative and exhilarating future. DISCOVERY PROJECT We must invest in research and science. It’s time to get America to discover again to solve existential issues like climate change, pandemics, biodiversity loss and to find the unknown unknowns that can change the course of humanity. GUN VIOLENCE We need to pass comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation, and put an end to this national epidemic of gun violence. LGBTQ RIGHTS LGBTQ mistreatment is an epidemic that requires a systemic political change to remedy. MARIJUANA It’s time to legalize marijuana and end the failed war on drugs. MEDICARE FOR ALL America’s broken healthcare system is a dangerous drain on our economy. Our high-priced healthcare system leaves millions uncovered, unable to afford treatment, and cut off from access to care. DEMOCRACY REFORM We must end the control of money over politics, end partisan gerrymandering, and end voter suppression. |
” |
2020
Suraj Patel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Patel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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He worked on both of President Obama's campaigns and as an Associate on the White House Advance Team. He serves as a visiting fellow at The Century Foundation writing on progressive policy, and serves on the Adjunct Faculty of New York University's Stern School of Business teaching business ethics. He serves on the Board of Urban Upbound and was a long time board member of Atlas:DIY.
- Over the last three decades, the promise of New York - education, economic opportunity, and social mobility - has been broken. We deserve representation with a vision that is bold and progressive. I am running for congress to restore the promise of New York and create an American Dream that works for all.
- This is an ethics challenge. I am challenging a 28 year incumbent on the basis that you cannot accept millions of dollars ion corporate PAC money and be impartial in your legislative duty on Capitol Hill. If we want change, we can't keep reelecting representatives who embody the worst parts of a system we've all come to detest.
- The COVID-19 Pandemic is a crisis that's laying threadbare, how broken our government is, how broken our political system has been, how short term thinking has been. It is time to elect a new generation of leadership with bold ideas to rebuild our nation.
Two of my favorite policies are the Family Opportunity Guarantee, which would reduce child poverty by over half in one year alone: https://medium.com/@surajpatelnyc/family-opportunity-guarantee-127f84f2d188 and The Discovery Project, which calls for space race-scale mobilization and investment to discover, cure, alleviate and better the greatest challenges and opportunities facing humanity: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-pandemic-shows-why-the-us-must-invest-in-public-research/
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2018
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
Congress needs a new generation of leadership. Congress needs #NewBlood. [3] |
” |
| —Suraj Patel[1] | ||
Noteworthy events
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| Coronavirus pandemic |
| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.
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On March 30, 2020, Suraj Patel announced that he tested positive for COVID-19.[4] COVID-19, also known as coronavirus disease 2019, is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first confirmed case of the disease in the United States was announced on January 21, 2020. For more on responses to the coronavirus outbreak, click here.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House New York District 12 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form on May 31, 2018
- ↑ Suraj Patel 2022 campaign website, "Platform," accessed August 3, 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Hill, "Maloney primary challenger tests positive for coronavirus," March 30, 2020
