By Sheldon Ranz

In what could turn out to be a historic election for people emerging from marginalized communities, feminist public health researcher Alexandra Hunt declared her candidacy a few months ago for the Democratic Congressional seat in Pennsylvania’s third Congressional district (mostly Philadelphia) currently held by two-term incumbent Dwight Evans.

Raised in Rochester, NY by her two teacher parents, she attended college at the University of Virginia, where she made ends meet both as a server and as a stripper at a gentleman’s club. Her stance as an unapologetic former sex worker has garnered her national attention and the occasional lurid headline. Holding down both of those jobs gave her a unique perspective on the range of working-class life. After graduation, she found her calling in public health and moved to Philadelphia, where she now resides. She has been using her specialization in public health as a springboard from which to make connections with, and be active in, a host of other quality-of-life issues such as housing access and criminal justice reform.

A one-time supporter of incumbent Evans, she felt betrayed by his failure to keep his word to fight for universal health care; indeed, he voted against Medicare For All in Congress. Evans has been a supporter of the charter school movement that has further entrenched school segregation. With that in mind, and having formulated her own positive vision for the voters of her district, she threw her hat into the ring.

Hunt is an unabashed progressive with strong social democratic values. The expansion of democracy into every corner of our public life is a connecting thread that informs her take on virtually every issue of her platform. Her expertise on public health led her to come up with detailed proposals on managing the Covid crisis. She is a staunch proponent of a Green New Deal, Medicare For All, a wealth tax, demilitarizing the police, net neutrality and sex work decriminalization, among other concerns. During her Zoom chat with our National Executive Committee (NEC), she clarified that she supports BDS toward Israel as well as Congresswoman Betty McCollum’s bill to penalize Israel financially for violating the human rights of Palestinian children in the Occupied Territories. She shares Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s opposition to US military aid to Ukraine due to her belief that a sizable chunk of that aid is going to neo-Nazis.

The NEC voted unanimously to endorse her. Philadelphians will be well served by her heart and fierce dedication to the working class and the marginalized!

On the Issues: https://www.alexandramhunt.com/issues/

Donate to the campaign: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/alexandra-hunt-for-congress-website

Sheldon Ranz is Director of Special Projects for Social Democrats USA and the editor of Socialist Currents.