Tim Westra

Timothy "Tim" Westra (born March 12, 1953) is an American politician who has served as the junior Senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the Senate seat after serving as a Congressman for New Jersey's 1st District for 16 years. Westra was born and raised in Freehold, New Jersey. He is of Dutch and Irish descent through his father, and Italian through his mother. He graduated from Cornell in 1975, and received his MA in Political Science from Rutgers University in 1977. While a student, he was an active political organizer and labor activist, participating in strikes with numerous labor unions. In January 2019, Westra announced his intention to seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States. His campaign is noted for its progressive message, as well as for his rejection of large donations from corporations, the financial industry, and any associated Super PAC.

Early Life and Education
Westra was born on March 12, 1953, in Freehold Borough, a working-class town in New Jersey's Monmouth County. He lived in small apartment on South Street, a neighborhood of several lower-income families.

Westra's father, a Dutch immigrant, worked as a bus driver among other things; his father suffered from mental health issues through his life, which worsened in his later years. His mother was a legal secretary whom Westra has said was the main breadwinner in the family.

Westra became a star player on the school football team at his public school, and helped lead his team to the state high school championship. He was recruited by Cornell to play on their college football team. At Cornell, aside from his time playing football, Westra double majored in Economics and Political Science. After deciding to retire from football, he received his BA in 1975, and went on to study political science as his Master's degree at Rutgers University.

While at Rutgers, Westra became deeply involved the burgeoning labor movement of New Jersey. He started attending many union meetings, and conducted several of his college studies on American trade unions. Westra graduated from Rutgers in 1977.

Early Career
After graduating from Rutgers, Westra worked on several local campaigns in New Jersey, becoming a well-known young political operative. In 1984, after working as deputy campaign manager for a New Jersey state senator, he established his own communications and legislative strategy firm, "The Win Company." Based in Newark, the firm worked mainly in connecting unions with legislators and candidates.

The firm continued to grow, and so Westra decided to expand the Win Company, moving it to Washington, D.C. In 1988, his communications firm was hired by New Jersey Senator Frank Ludinberg's reelection campaign. After helping Ludinberg win reelection, Tim was hired as a junior legislative and strategy consultant to Senator Ludinberg. Ludinberg was known for being a strong New Deal Liberal, a persona which Westra has been credited in shaping. Westra especially contributed in strengthening Ludinberg's ties to New Jersey unions, and he helped union leaders voice their thoughts on the policy that the Senator drafted. In 1991, Westra was promoted to Senior Legislative Aide.

As Senator Ludinberg's chief advisor on legislation, Westra was known as someone with a significant say in the policy debate. He pushed Ludinberg to be a consumer right's champion; Westra was the chief author on the Senator's American Reinvestment Act of 1993. Had it passed, it would have greatly expanded the earned income tax credit and boosted the wealth of middle class families. However, Senator Ludinberg soon fell out of favor with the Democratic Party. The 1990s was the era of the New Democrats, led by President Clifford. Under the new president, the Democratic Party turned away from New Dealers like Senator Ludinberg and Tim Westra, instead turning to corporate centrism and party moderates. Despite the Senator's protestations, Westra pushed Ludinberg to continue being a bold New Dealer; Westra's legislative team helped lead the charge against the passage of NAFTA. But this led to a fall in Ludinberg's reputation amongst his colleagues. In mid 1994, Westra resigned from Senator Ludinberg's team. It is commonly speculated that Westra was dismissed for his dogged economic liberalism, at odds with Clifford's administration.

U.S. House of Representatives (1996-2012)
Westra's resignation was high-profile and made him a hot pundit in the media. He was present in several New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles, serving as a foil to the New Democrats who dominated the media. His economic progressivism also ensured that he remained popular with unions and workers in his home state of New Jersey. In 1996, Westra ran for Congress in the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey's 1st Congressional District. He had a relatively big advantage over his primary opponent, a retired Navy pilot, because of his widespread support from organized labor as well as most New Jersey politicians. He was also able to run a very efficient campaign, having been an experienced political operative himself.

Once he was elected to Congress, Westra became known as a politician who always considered labor concerns first. This did not always mean he identified with left-wing goals; when asked about single-payer healthcare in 2000, Westra stated he "didn't want to scrap coverage for union folks who battled hard to earn it." In the House, he founded the "Blue Collar Caucus" for Democrats from white working class districts. He voted against the repeal of Glass Steagall and introduced legislation that would further regulate Wall Street. His legislation from 2000, which failed to gain mass support in the party, is today seen as the precursor to what would become the [not Dodd Frank] Act almost a decade later. He voted against the Iraq War in 2002, and was a loud voice against the war. In 2008 he was prominent for being one of the few Congressional endorsers of the [not-Dennis Kucinich] campaign, until he dropped out early in the primaries. On February 4th, 2008, at a rally in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in Bergen County, New Jersey, Westra endorsed Senator Rashid Baharia for President of the United States over Diane Clifford. Baharia failed to carry Westra's state of New Jersey in the Democratic primary.

He became a relatively established voice in the House when President Baharia was elected, along with a slew of liberal young Democrats. He was appointed as Assistant Whip in the House, and was seen by the party as a reliable liberal vote. He was reelected relatively comfortably in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He gathered accomplishments in that time, helping to write the House version of the Affordable Care Act - called the Affordable Health Care for America Act, for which he included a public option - and was instrumental in pushing it through the chamber. He remains a staunch defender of the current law.

U.S. Senate (2012 -)
In 2012, upon the retirement of Senator Ludinberg, Westra ran for the open New Jersey senate seat. He was endorsed by the retiring Senator, for whom he had worked as an aide so many years ago. He defeated two primary opponents, one being a colleague from the House and the other being a former District Attorney from the state. The general election, however, proved to be more difficult. Four women anonymously revealed to the press that he'd had extramarital relationships with them at different points in his career. Westra's wife left him, and he took a hit in the polls. He managed to edge out a win, 52% to 48%, but not unscathed. He has largely recovered from these old allegations.

In the Senate, Westra has often been identified as a member and leader of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, along with colleagues such as Senator Abigail Winthrop and Senator Levi Murphy. He has authored legislation aimed at assisting workers and holding corporations accountable, including the Corporate Freeloader Fee Act, which would impose a fee on high-value companies with low wages.

2020 Presidential Campaign
Westra entered the Democratic presidential primary in January of 2019, becoming the first Democrat to officially announce his candidacy. His opening rally was held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and he released an ad titled "Mark's Story" that soon went viral.

His campaign has so far been defined by his progressive policy proposals such as Medicare for America (a public health coverage option), a Guaranteed Minimum Income by expanding tax credits for working Americans, and advocating for renegotiation and possible withdrawal from trade deals like NAFTA. Eventually his campaign adopted even more left-wing policies like a sovereign wealth fund for universal basic income and a federal jobs guarantee.

Westra raised $2.6 million in the first few weeks of his candidacy and consistently led the field in fundraising quarters, despite only receiving donations from small donors. Despite his early success and polling leads in Iowa and Nevada, a series of campaign missteps, including his ambiguous position on abortion and careless behavior during a Senate debate on an anti-abortion bill, led Westra to reconsider his campaign and eventually drop out. He endorsed Senator Jillian Dayton's presidential campaign in a Las Vegas rally on November 14th, 2019.

Political Positions
Foreign Policy

NATO: Tim believes that NATO is a waste of American dollars, that are being spent on maintaining military alliances in Europe that unnecessarily provokes Russia. He wants to pull out of NATO ideally, or drastically reduce expenditure, instead opting to strengthen diplomatic channels with the EU.

Afghanistan: Tim believes that endless regime change wars usually cause more problems than they solve. He would commit to a full withdrawal of US troops in the first year of his presidency, and would commit to a nation-building plan to rebuild Afghanistan after the troop withdrawal.

Iraq: Tim, during his time in Congress, was one of the staunchest opponents of the Iraq War, and was one of the few Congress members to oppose enhancing combat operations in Iraq after the initial invasion.

Israel/Palestine: Tim supports Israel's right to exist and also calls for Palestine's recognition as a co-equal state to that of Israel, favoring a two-state solution between them. He is willing to condition American aid to Israel in order to respect Palestinian human rights.

Iran: Tim supported the Iran Nuclear Deal and is highly critical of war hawks who wish to see war with Iran.

Saudi Arabia: Tim wants to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its repressive laws and numerous crimes. He calls American presidents out on their hypocrisy when they say they want to "spread democracy," and then turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses. Tim also wants to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Libya: Tim was publicly opposed to missile strikes and war in Libya. He was also privately opposed to the creation of a no-fly zone, saying it was a precursor to war in Libya.

Syria: Tim thinks that continuing to stay in Syria to back rebel groups could end up causing more radicalization. He wants to stay in the North to support the Kurds, but otherwise would commit to a slow reduction of US presence in Syria.

Domestic Policy

Healthcare: In the past, Tim has been quoted being against single-payer healthcare. However, his position altered to supporting a public option in order to eventually phase in Medicare for All. Now he is only in support of a strong public option, which he calls Medicare for America.

Employment: Tim supports a Federal Jobs Guarantee so that no worker can go unemployed.

Climate Change: Tim cautiously supports the Green New Deal as a good framework of the possible. He wants to phase out fossil fuel energy by 2035, and wants to invest heavily in solar and wind power. Green manufacturing is something that Tim thinks requires the full capacity of the military.

Abortion: Tim supports a woman's right to choose, and wants to create an independent abortion institution to judge after 20 weeks whether a woman is financially capable, in non-rape, non-incest cases, to support a newborn.

Taxes: Tim supports a host of new taxes, including a federal lobbying tax, a wealth tax, a tax for corporate freeloaders, a profit tax, and a rollback of the Wolf Tax Plan.

Trade: Tim has historically opposed trade deals like NAFTA, saying it cost lots of American jobs and resulted in more poverty in the rust belt. He also was strongly against TPP, calling out President Baharia for "betraying American workers."

Gun Control: Tim supports universal background checks and a ban on any new sales of assault weapons like AR-15s.

Education: Tim supports universal pre-k and childcare for all families. He also wants to make public four-year college free for all. Finally, he wants to cancel all student debt.

LGBTQ+ Rights: Tim voted against the Defense of Marriage Act as well as Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Minimum Wage: Tim has long been an advocate for a living wage of $15 an hour.

Criminal Justice Reform: Tim wants mandatory body cameras for police officers and wants to abolish private prisons.

Wall Street Reform: Tim opposed the repeal of Glass Steagall, supported Dodd-Frank, and wants a new Glass Steagall for America.

Homeland Security: Tim opposed the PATRIOT Act and personally believes that whistleblowers like Edward Snowden deserve a presidential pardon.