Zinovia Spezakis
Elections and appointments
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Contact
Zinovia Spezakis (Democratic Party) (also known as Zina) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 9th Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on July 7, 2020.
Spezakis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Spezakis grew up in Queens, New York. She graduated from Stuyvesant High School and earned her B.A. at Cornell University, pursuing a dual degree in economics and government with a concentration in international relations. She also received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in finance and business economics, as well as a master’s degree in international relations.
Spezakis' professional experience includes working on Wall Street. She has worked as an advisor and board member of a startup in the hydrogen economy.
Spezakis is affiliated with Citizens’ Climate Education. She also serves on the Tenafly NJ Environmental Commission and as a board member on The Tenafly Nature Center.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: New Jersey's 9th Congressional District election, 2020
New Jersey's 9th Congressional District election, 2020 (July 7 Democratic primary)
New Jersey's 9th Congressional District election, 2020 (July 7 Republican primary)
General election
Democratic primary election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Zinovia Spezakis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Spezakis' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My name is Zina Spezakis.I am a mom, an activist and an entrepreneur. I want to be the next Congresswomen for New Jersey District 9. I am fighting climate change and changing the status quo to ensure a livable and just planet for my children and all children. My parents are Greek immigrants who owned a deli in NYC. Since the age of 16, I grew up in Englewood Cliffs and I am now raising my children in nearby Tenafly. I have spent nearly two decades working on Wall Street, but when I heard about the irreversible damage that is being done to our globe, I decided to work with a clean tech start-up. But as a single mother of two children growing up on this planet, attacking the problem of climate change from business and activist lenses soon didn't seem effective enough. I'm dedicating the rest of my life to solving the climate crisis.
- Saving our planet should not be a partisan issue.
- Everyone should have healthcare as a human right.
- As an immigrant myself, I will fight for all members of our community.
My number one priority is passing a Green New Deal to address the climate crisis. When I read the 2018 IPCC Report and realized that we have just 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change, I knew that business as usual was putting us on a path to planetary destruction. Working as an activist or in business was not going to do enough fast enough to make the difference that we need. I have had enough of politicians who take corporate and fossil fuel contributions and sit idly by while our children's futures are being destroyed.
My second priority is passing Medicare for All. Healthcare should be a right and not a privilege. No one should have to avoid going to a doctor or refuse an ambulance because they lack insurance. It is time that America joins the rest of the industrialized world and provides insurance to all. The coronavirus pandemic has strengthened the case for Medicare for All because millions of Americans have lost their insurance as they've lost their jobs.
The third top priority is immigration. This president has demonized people who come to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their families. He has called Mexicans "rapists" and has tried to stop Muslims from coming to this country. As an immigrant myself, I will fight for all members of our community. We should secure a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, abolish ICE and provide a safe haven for refugees seeking asylum.
Three people I look up to are AOC, Martin Luther King and Greta Thunberg. AOC's victory showed me that it was possible to run against a well-funded machine. The campaign must be smart, relentless and willing to think creatively.
I have great respect for Martin Luther King's non-violent resistance and interpersonal skills. He showed that even though you may disagree with someone, you can still earn their respect by how you treat them. On that basis, you can work together for the common good. Martin Luther King's message of addressing poverty and racism continues to resonate in 2020, and is made even more important by recent police killings of unarmed black people.
In Greta Thunberg, I see my own daughter. This youngster has shouldered the burden of her generation, a burden that my generation and the generations before me have left our children. As a mother, I am compelled to join her cause.
The most important characteristic that an elected official needs to have is the ability to listen to their constituents. The people of our district have a range of experiences and perspectives and it will be essential to understand the needs of different communities.
An elected official needs to be able to take risks. Sometimes, you have to say things that aren't popular with your colleagues but are necessary to bring attention to important issues.
An elected official has to be flexible but principled. We are not likely to pass everything we want in the first year, but that doesn't mean giving up or accepting half-measures that won't do anything. It's a balancing act, and it's one I think I could do well.
I'm a quick study. Members of Congress deal with every issue under the sun, from agriculture to zero-coupon bond regulation. Over my life, I've had to learn about a lot of different issues, from finance to climate change to being a single mother, and I'll learn what I have to quickly so I can serve my community.
I care for all people, regardless of their race, who they love, where they were born, or who they pray to. I will stand with all members of this community, whether it's black people facing police violence or transgender youth dealing with homelessness.
As an immigrant myself, I know how important it is that we provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. And as a mother, I can't fathom the idea of separating children from their parents.
A member of Congress has to support good policies. You can say all the nicest things in the world but if you're voting with Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry, it's meaningless.
Members of Congress need to pay attention to what's going on in the District. Yes, the job is in Washington, but I would be representing northern New Jersey. I will continue to live in the district, attend community events and be in close contact with my constituents.
A core responsibility of members of Congress is saying "no" to corporate money. Most members spend huge amounts of time just raising money from big donors. But if you're going to take on the billionaire class, you can't accept their donations. We don't take any money from corporate PACs, the fossil fuel industry or real estate interests. And if elected, I will continue to be 100% funded by real people, so that our constituents know I work for them and not special interests.
I'd like to leave a livable world for my children and future generations where people can see a doctor when they're sick, can breathe clean air, aren't murdered by the police and aren't separated from their families.
I was 15 when the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion happened. I remember this vividly. I was a junior at Stuyvesant High School and had just walked out of a physics exam when I heard the news. It really hit me because at the time I thought my interest in science would take me to the space program as an engineer or possibly an astronaut.
My first job right out of college in 1991 was as a portfolio assistant at Chase Private Banking. I assisted in the management and investment of trusts and charitable accounts. I was there until I went to graduate school in 1994.
Redistricting in this country is a disaster, with politicians choosing their voters rather than voters choosing their politicians. Some states have adopted non-partisan independent commissions, which are a good step in the right direction. There are other proposals that could be considered, such as multi-member districts and proportional representation. In no circumstances should politicians and their partisan interests draw district boundaries.
The framers of the Constitution created the House of Representatives to be the branch of government most responsive to the people as a whole. There was no direct voting for the Senate or the president (even through the electoral college), so the House was the only branch of the federal government that citizens themselves selected. The House was supposed to be closer to the people, both through elections and the shorter terms.
As originally designed, the House left most of the population out. Women, black people, and Native Americans couldn't vote. At its worst, the House has passed racist legislation and been an impediment to justice, but at its best, it has been the House, rather than the Senate, which has led the way on many critical issues. For example, for the House passed anti-lynching bills for decades, which the Senate failed to act on.
To do its job well, the House must act based on the best of its original principles by listening to the needs of ordinary people, not wealthy campaign contributors. The House has to pass legislation that benefits ordinary people, whether that's a Green New Deal or a higher minimum wage, and push back when the President takes too much power for himself.
It's important that representatives have previous experience working to improve the lives of ordinary people. That can be in government, but it doesn't have to be. There are a lot of representatives, including my opponent, who have been in government for a long time, but that experience doesn't make them any more effective at serving our community members. I am a climate activist and have worked in clean energy investing. I look forward to using my experience to serve the people of our district.
One of the biggest and most detrimental challenges the United States faces is reversing and stopping the damage we have been causing to the planet. The 2018 IPCC report includes the inconvenient truth that if we do not switch to renewable energy and reduce pollution by 2030 as well as prevent the ocean temperature from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, we will reach a point of no return. Politicians need to stop supporting corporations that continue to harm our planet. Although this issue seems like a lot to tackle, there are ways we can save the earth. We need to focus on transitioning away from fossil fuels and start adopting renewable energy. This transformation will result in the creation of millions of jobs. We must ensure justice for our most vulnerable communities such as Native Americans, the elderly, children, people with disabilities and communities of color, who are often negatively affected by pollutants of the current energy system. The United States can solve climate change if we stop looking at it as a partisan issue and start electing officials that are readying to take this imminent threat seriously.
As the Green New Deal has been the campaign's top priority, I would like to sit on a committee relevant to tackling climate change, particularly the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Given my background in the finance industry, I would bring a unique perspective to the Financial Services Committee as someone who knows Wall Street well and wants to reform it.
The two-year term limit keeps representatives accountable to their constituents, as longer limits allow votes from years before to be forgotten. I have no plans to support a constitutional amendment changing the two year term.
Term limits will not solve the problems in Washington. Term limits would reduce the institutional knowledge of members of Congress, making outside lobbyists the most informed people on Capitol Hill. That's not the direction we should move in.
I would be open to joining the leadership if it was responsive to the needs of progressive legislators. I plan on working with progressive members of Congress such as AOC in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Senator Bernie Sanders has been a steadfast leader in Congress since his election to the House in 1990. Bernie is right on the issues, from Medicare for All and student debt to the Green New Deal. But more importantly than just being right, Bernie is effective at taking his message to different types of people across the country. Bernie won over thousands of voters in every state, of every race, of every age. Bernie has also been an effective Senator and has been able to work with Republicans on issues such as the War Powers Act.
Near the start of my campaign, I spoke to a college student who relayed to me a healthcare story about her mother. Her mother was a truck driver and her eye was injured. She did not have any health insurance because it was unaffordable. She therefore could not access any medical help and as a result, she couldn't do her job driving large trucks and had to go on disability. In addition to the physical injury, the fact that her livelihood had been taken away from her also affected her mental health through a downward spiral.
Healthcare is a human right. It should not be tied to a job. It should be available to everyone, just like in every other industrialized country.
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See also
External links
- ↑ Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on June 18, 2019
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