Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Brittany Ramos DeBarros for US Congress NY-11
Candidate Name: Brittany Ramos DeBarros
Office Seeking Election for: US Congress NY-11
Website: https://brittanyforcongress.org
1. Explain, based on life experiences and accomplishments, why you believe you are best qualified to represent your district.
NY-11 is an incredibly diverse district and as a Queer, working class, Afro-Latina Combat Veteran and Community organizer who has been working on social justice issues in movement for several years, I am uniquely positioned to connect with everyone from Park Slope progressives to anti-establishment South Shore independents, to immigrant communities throughout both Brooklyn and Staten Island. My experiences growing up in a conservative military family that sometimes struggled with housing and food security, to my experience running a small business in four states from my college dorm room, to my tenure as an officer in the Army and disillusionment with war, to my activism and experience working at the grass tops and grassroots on anti-poverty and anti-violence initiatives make it so that people from many walks of life can see themselves in my story and struggle.
2. Do you now support, or have you ever supported an openly LGBTQ candidate for public office?
Yes
3. If applicable, what legislation directly affecting the LGBTQ community have you introduced or co-sponsored? (indicate accordingly).
Not applicable but my first canvassing experience was building popular momentum to pass the Matthew Shepard Act the summer of 2009 which ultimately was passed later that year in October.
4. What LGBTQ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer basis or professionally?
I canvassed for the Human Rights Campaign in 2009 (mentioned above) to help build resources and momentum to pass the Matthew Shepard Act (Hate Crimes Bill). I have not worked or volunteered with other LGBTQ organizations since then but I have done a great deal of volunteering and activism around social justice issues more broadly while explicitly operating with a lens for the ways those issues uniquely or disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ community. I spent several weeks volunteering in Tijuana during the migrant crisis but mainly served on security details for Trans and Lesbian refugees who were at extreme risk awaiting the opportunity to present themselves and their families for asylum. I am a member of an organization called About Face made up of post-9/11 military veterans who do anti-war advocacy, but I helped launch our Queer Caucus and ensure we were talking about the intersections of militarism and heteropatriarchy, and advocating alongside Trans soldiers and veterans against Trump’s Trans Ban and for expanding services and protections.
5. If applicable, what LGBTQ organizations have you allocated funds to?
I donate to the Staten Island Pride Center when I have extra cash. I have also donated to the HRC in the past and helped organize informal fundraisers and support plans for my friends or movement acquaintances who wished to medically transition.
6. Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?
Yes
7. Have you marched in Pride? Which marches and for approximately how many years?
Yes. Miami pride when I was in college and NYC since I moved here after war in 2013.
8. Have you employed openly LGBTQ individuals previously? Do you employ any currently?
Yes
9. If you receive the endorsement, do you agree to identify the club on all literature and electronic materials where you list endorsements?
Yes it would be an honor.
10. What press conferences, demonstrations, rallies and protests in support of LGBTQ issues, pro choice legislation, criminal justice issues and the Resist Trump Movement have you attended?
Too many to list. I have marched in the Queer Liberation march the last couple years at least, was a keynote speaker at the recent Staten Island Women’s March for Reproductive Justice, marched in many Black Lives Matter protests, been arrested for engaging in civil disobedience with the Poor People’s Campaign calling out Trump and corruption, and more.
11. Will you advocate for legislation to mandate the review of sentences of incarcerated individuals aged 55 and older who have served in excess of 15 years to determine if they warrant release?
Yes
12. Will you advocate for legislation that would ensure those appearing before the New York State Parole Board are considered for release from prison based on who they are today and not exclusively based on the nature of their crime?
Yes
13. Do you commit to visit constituents who are incarcerated in state prisons such as Bedford Correctional Facility? When was your last visit to visit incarcerated constituents?
Yes
14. Have you participated in any demonstrations or protests in relation to the issues of clemency and parole?
Yes, I have been involved in letter writing campaigns with Survived and Punished and other organizations.
15. Will you affirmatively seek to hire formerly incarcerated individuals?
Yes
16. Do you believe in the decriminalization of sex work?
Yes
17. Will you oppose any legislation that promotes the Nordic model?
Yes
18. What proposals will you advocate for the protection of immigrants and further New York as a Sanctuary City?
19. Will you advocate, including introducing legislation, to remove public funding from religious schools?
Potentially. I am not against this, but I don’t want to commit to introducing legislation on this as a top priority without knowing more on the topic and without knowledge and the viability of that legislation based on the make-up of the Congress that gets elected. That caveat aside, I believe we need to prioritize fully and equitably funding our public education system and I do not believe our public dollars should be directed to religious institutions.
20. Do you support the establishment of safe consumption spaces?
Yes
21. Have you ever endorsed any member of the IDC or any candidates who challenged IDC members? Please identify all candidates
No
22. Will you commit to hiring a member of the LGBT community to serve as a liaison to the community?
Yes
23. Will you commit to ensuring diverse LGBT representation among your staff?
Yes
24. Who did or do you support for office in the Democratic primary in the following races A) mayor and comptroller in 2021 B) President in 2016 and 2020 C) Governor and Lt. Governor 2022
A – Maya Wiley and Brad Lander
B – Bernie Sanders x2
C – Jumaane Williams and Ana Maria Archila
25. Describe any federal legislation and policy changes that you support in order to address the ongoing effects of slavery, racism, colonialism, and discrimination
I support reparations for descendants of enslaved peoples, legislation to end the U.S. practice of colonialism in Puerto Rico and elsewhere, legislation that would create guidelines for honoring the sovereignty and rights of Indigenous Peoples within the continental US and internationally, expand funding for anti-racist educational programs, establish restorative and transformative justice programs within the justice system, abolish prison labor and for-profit prisons, and more.
26. What legislation or other policy changes do you support in order to make college and graduate school affordable for poor, working-class, and middle-class Americans and to alleviate the crushing loan debt that many students and alumni are facing?
Fairly tax corporations and the ultra-rich, then use those resources to cancel student debt entirely and guarantee tuition-free college or trade school for all.
27. Do you support a single-payer universal health care system? Please elaborate.
Yes, I support Medicare for All as well as additional public health infrastructure investments.
28. Discuss your stance on reproductive rights, including access to contraceptives and abortion services.
Access to contraceptives should be free and readily available from a pharmacist to any adult who wants them, abortion care should be a guaranteed and accessible right, and it’s important that we hold an expansive understanding of reproductive rights that includes everything from diaper access to quality, culturally competent birth care regardless of geography or class.
29. Will you refuse money from individuals or Political Action Committees representing the real estate?
Yes
30. Will you refuse money from police and corrections unions?
Yes
31. Will you refuse and refund any contributions from executives at corporations complicit in the Trump agenda?
Yes
32. What additional information would you like Jim Owles to consider when we are making our endorsements decisions?
While our campaign is not the most monied in the race, we have raised almost $600,000 in grassroots funds without taking money from Corporate PACs, special interest lobbies or big real estate – which is on par with more than other progressive challengers like Jamaal Bowman or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised in their first victorious campaigns. What we lack compared to others in cash, we make up for in coalitional and community support. Through a year of campaigning, we have signed up over 1000 volunteers and the kind of field operation that enabled us to collect more than 6 times the required signatures during petitioning. We are endorsed by local elected officials including Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, City Council Meembers Shahana Hanif, Alexa Aviles, and Sandy Nurse, as well as Former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. We are endorsed by the Working Families Party, The Jewish Vote, Citizen Action, People’s Action, New York Immigration Coalition, Community Voices Heard, New York Progressive Action Network, Sunrise Movement, Indivisible BK, Community Voices Heard locally and national organizations like Democracy for America, Progressive Change Champion Committee, Way to Win, Brand New Congress and more. We are the campaign with the momentum, energy and coalition to turnout the consistent voters, but also energize and expand lower propensity or new voters. That will be critical to ensure a victory in the general.
33. If you resign in the middle of your term, will you let the voters decide? Do you plan to serve your term and not send a vacancy to the county committee?
I will not resign in the middle of my term. I will serve my term.
34. Who are you supporting for Speaker/Democratic leader in 2023?
I am focused on my winning my race and I have not determined a position on this yet.
35. In view of the fact that Ed Koch has been documented to have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with AIDS, and was blatantly racist, would you support a city bill to rename the former Queensboro Bridge? Do you authorize the use of your name for such a purpose?
Yes, I think we can find far more inspiring New Yorkers to name the bridge after.
36. What is your position on removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle and if so, what should replace it?‘
It’s not in my district so it wouldn’t be a top priority for me in Congress but I support removing it and I think it would be ideal to replace it with some kind of tribute to the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island or the Lenape people specifically.
37. What is your position on FOSTA/SESTA, passed in 2018? Do you or will you sponsor the Safe Workers Study Act which has been introduced by Elizabeth Warren and co- sponsored by Reps. Barbara Lee and Ron Wyden and a host of other sponsors including Bernie Sanders.
I oppose FOSTA/SESTA. I support the SAFE Act.
38. Do you support the class-wide scheduling of Fentanyl-related substances, which groups like Human Rights Watch have argued would worsen pretrial detention, mass incarceration, and racial disparities?
No, I would not support that. I believe the best pathway to reducing the harm connected to drug use is decriminalization combined with funding mental health, substance abuse, and harm reduction programs.
39. Do you support the Green New Deal?
Yes
40. President Biden has not granted a single pardon or commutation. When have you publicly demanded that Biden do more on this issue? Will you pledge to publicly speak out about this in 2022?
Yes, I pledge to continue speaking out about it. I have primarily spoken out asking Biden to pardon and commute sentences for political prisoners and whistleblowers like Daniel Hale, Reality Winner, and others.
41. Do you commit to not supporting Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema? Will you consider supporting a primary opponent?
Yes, I commit to not support Senators Manchin or Sinema and I would consider supporting a primary opponent.
42. Some members of congress indicate they will only support incumbents regardless of their politics and regardless of who is presenting them a primary. Are you one of them?
No. I believe such a position to be unprincipled and border-line anti-democratic.
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