Biography
Justin is the current state chair of the Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party. He is a Vermont attorney working in Killington where he is a “member-owner” of his law firm, instilling principles of worker cooperatives and democratic self-governance in the firm. He graduated Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2022, where he wrote a law review article on legal challenges to electric grid transmission planning, and was an editor of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law.
Before law school and Vermont, he lived in the DC area. He volunteered with the Green Parties of Maryland and Virginia. In the DC area, he attended the George Washington University, where he received a B.A. in International Affairs and an M.A. in European and Eurasian Studies.
In his little spare time, he enjoys taking care of farm animals, including ducks, and taking walks with his cat, Butterscotch.
Candidate occupation
Attorney
Why are you running for office?
I believe we need a new generation of leadership. Young people are unrepresented in our government, and this is clear in our government’s lack of concern for their basic needs. If more young people stood up to represent their interests, and the interests of the poor and working class, our government would be more responsive to their needs.
I am also disturbed at our current senator decrying the “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza, yet still endorsing and supporting our current president for reelection. The president is in charge of foreign policy, and has great influence on Israel. Our president’s active support of this “ethnic cleansing”- in our senator’s words – should justify rescinding his endorsement of the president’s reelection effort. Our senator has not done so, and it makes me question his judgment.
Despite this criticism, I admire our current senator’s work in Washington D.C. for Vermont. However, I believe it is time to pass the torch to a new generation. I believe I could represent a new generation of leadership in Washington, and advocate effectively for the youth, the poor, and the working class in the years to come.
Issues in depth
What is the single most important issue for Congress to address next term?
Providing hope for younger generations. It is no secret Congress is dysfunctional. Currently, Congressmembers seem content to be seat warmers. They infight and bicker over minute issues. They make politics personal. They retain their seats for decades with little to show for their long careers, as wealth gravitates upwards, the poor get poorer, and social services crumble. They are bought and paid for by corporate donors. They represent the needs of the wealthiest few, not the majority of the population.
This must change. Congress needs to give young people hope in our democracy. Hope for providing for their families and kids. Hope that they can retire comfortably some day. Hope that our planet and ecosystem will survive climate change. We need leaders with a vision of a better society and a path to get there. We don’t have that now, so young people don’t have hope that our government can respond to their needs and their future will improve.
What steps, if any, would you take to strengthen American democracy?
A strong democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry, access to the ballot box, and a voice in politics- both in politics as well as the workplace.
We cannot have an informed and engaged citizenry if they are struggling to survive. We must reduce the mandatory work week to allow citizens time to engage in civic life. However, they must have sufficient income so they are not struggling to make ends meet in several jobs. Therefore, every citizen deserves a universal basic income to supplement their wages.
We must also introduce democracy in our workplaces. Workers should have the ability to democratically organize every workplace and run them through worker’s councils. These councils should have the ability to manage their workplace, and get a right-of-first refusal if the business owner wants to sell or end the business. The end goal is for all businesses to be worker-owned and democratically run.
Access to the ballot box means election day should be a national holiday and making it easier to get to the voting booth. It also means we allow more choices to voters by introducing ranked choice voting for federal elections.
Working people cannot be candidates for office or express their views if it is impossible for them to compete with the inflated costs of elections. We need to overturn undemocratic Supreme Court decisions that limit the ability of Congress to regulate money in elections. Congress should pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and regulate money in politics.
How would you seek to work with members of the opposite party, if at all?
I would use my seat strategically to support amendments to bills to improve the lives of working class and poor citizens. Being a small state rural senator would provide me many opportunities to work across the aisle. The Senate has recently been sharply divided, and the use of the filibuster increases the ability of one senator to make a difference. I would act as an independent, separate from the major parties, in order to serve my state and the interests of workers.
What changes to federal tax policy, if any, would you seek to make?
Federal tax policy should reflect our values. We want the wealthy to pay their fair share and the poor to have easier tax burdens. This is not the case currently. If someone dies in 2024, an inheritance is not taxed federally until it hits $13.6 million. In addition, the gift tax allows an individual to give $16k every year as a tax exempt gift. This should be cut or eliminated. These two loopholes represent a massive windfall to the wealthy at the expense of the poor, who can’t take advantage of the tax code for their benefit. Congress should also support efforts with foreign governments to crack down on international tax havens. Finally, we must raise taxes on corporations and prevent them from holding money offshore in foreign countries’ bank accounts.
We must all pay for social services, schools, our defense, and policies to make our children’s lives better. We cannot do this if intergenerational wealth is not taxed, if corporations hoard wealth abroad, and individuals squirrel it away in offshore accounts. The workers and the poor need that wealth to be taxed for the good of our country.
What, if anything, should Congress do to make it more affordable to live in the U.S.?
Congress should adopt policies to reverse the decades long trend to send wealth upward. Congress should provide real support to poor and working people. We need a minimum wage of at least $25 an hour. We should reduce the mandatory workweek lower than the current 40 hours. This would increase demand for workers, and put upward pressure on wages. We should provide a universal basic income for all citizens to supplement any other income they otherwise receive. We should increase childcare affordability by returning to the Covid era earned income tax credit; this served to reduce childhood poverty, but it was taken away. Childcare should be made freely available by providing federal support to childcare providers. We should reduce healthcare costs by making healthcare free through a Medicare-for-all system. College students should not have to mortgage their future for an education. We should provide college education free of charge, and eliminate current student debt.
What steps, if any, should Congress take to address climate change?
Congress must establish a framework to aggressively fight climate change. This means a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, increased electrification of the electric grid, promotion of electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure, and facilitating renewable energy and batteries onto the electric grid. Congress must craft legislation to avoid legal pitfalls in a conservative Supreme Court- this means being explicit about these big changes we need to implement.
I also admire the US Green Party’s previous presidential candidate, Howie Hawkins. To lift from his plan to combat climate change, I would support the creation of a cabinet-level Office of Climate Mobilization to coordinate rapid decarbonization. I would support federal public works projects and manufacturing projects. The federal government should manage the construction of national, federally-owned electric, internet, transport, and housing projects, and directly aid societal transformation from fossil fuels to electrification.
Once decarbonized, the federally built infrastructure should be handed over to the people as cooperative enterprises, to be democratically owned, managed, and operated.
I would also support foreign aid to other countries so they could skip fossil fuel based industrialization and transition directly to renewable, green energy economies.
What steps, if any, should Congress take to reform the American health care system?
The covid pandemic demonstrated our healthcare system is broken. Under our current federal system, a state-centered approach to healthcare policy is inadequate. We need to centralize healthcare policy in the federal government. This would allow the federal government to be more nimble to respond to new pandemics, like H5N1, currently spreading in cattle, and also increase the government’s ability to monitor and respond to healthcare crises. Regulation of healthcare on a federal level should include the introduction of a medicare-for-all system to reduce healthcare costs and improve health outcomes.
In addition, we must realize we are still in the covid pandemic. We need to mandate clean air, the same way we mandated clean water through plumbing. The federal government should provide clean air in all schools and public buildings. Our schools and teachers deserve protection from airborne illnesses. This would also protect parents and caregivers, as infected kids may return to immunocompromised adults. However, clean air is also a matter of workplace protection. We should pass regulations to mandate private businesses increase air circulation and filter the air of pathogens, viruses, and pollution. This would reduce workplace illness, improve quality of life, and increase workplace productivity.
What role, if any, should the U.S. play in the war in Gaza?
As a senator, my influence on foreign affairs would be relatively small compared to the president. However, the US should do everything in its power to stop the genocide of Gazans. We should leverage our role as Israel’s strategic ally and arms supplier to force them into an agreement. We should support the international effort to hold Israel accountable for war crimes, including genocide, to prevent other actors from doing similar atrocities in the future.
What role, if any, should the U.S. play in the war in Ukraine?
We should use our leverage as the main supporter of Ukraine to push for peace. The US has coordinated with Europe to put a steep price on Russian aggression. However, as long as the war continues there is a real threat of strategic miscalculation by the US and Russia that can lead to nuclear war. The Cold War arms control treaties have lapsed, and smaller warheads increase the danger of routine use that increases the threat any conflict would escalate out of control. This danger cannot be overstated.
The Ukraine conflict will be solved via a negotiated settlement at some point. The question is when. The sooner this is done, the sooner poor Ukrainians won’t have to fight poor Russians at the expense of geopolitical interests. We will not be happy with this outcome, and neither will Ukraine nor Europe, but Ukraine does not have the capacity to fight indefinitely. In addition, Europe and the US do not have the collective will to overcome Russia’s interests in this fight. How much longer will we arm, fund, and loan Ukraine resources, and to what end? This remains unclear to this day. Settling the conflict, working for peace, and reducing tensions should be our main objective.
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