Candidate profile: Grace Meng is fighting for Queens

The Queens native, who raised her two sons in the bustling borough, said she is grateful for the opportunity to serve the community she grew up in and loves with all her heart.

A champion of women’s rights and diversity, Meng, 50, describes herself as a compassionate leader and a good listener.

“I love my job,” Meng said. “I don’t ever want to leave Queens.”

The congresswoman recalled her very first run for New York State Assembly in 2006 — a run to succeed her father, Jimmy Meng — referring to herself as “naive” and knowing almost nothing about politics at all.

While today she boasts endorsements by major unions like 1199SEIU and prominent Political Action Committees (PACs) such as Vote Mama PAC and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, Meng started out her run with no endorsements at all. 

Instead, she used her listening skills to learn about the community.

While she lost her first bid for office to Ellen Young, however, it didn’t deter Meng from serving her community. She said she and her friends opened a volunteer network, donating their time and resources to help neighbors navigate language barriers and general paperwork.

Meng ran for office against Young again in 2008, officially winning the assembly seat she then served in for four years.

In 2012, long-time U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, who served in office for 20 years, announced he was retiring. Meng, a new mother at the time, realized she had about 36 hours to decide if she wanted to run for Congress.

“I was like, I want to make sure the voices of our Asian community are represented,” Meng recalled. “You know, I was annoyed at the time that less than 20% of Congress were women. I was like, we need better representation in a city like New York. People said, ‘You should do it, you’re Asian and a mom.’ I thought that was the dumbest idea I ever heard — my kids were two and four. But, long story short, I jumped in. And here we are.”

Meng argued how important it is that the district continues to be led by strong female leadership like hers, claiming that her opponent, former U.S. diplomat Chuck Park, doesn’t know the community like she does.

She argued Park’s repeated calls for a debate with her is simply because he needs to “make up ground” on introducing himself to constituents.

“That’s his right,” Meng said. “But I’m continuing to do what I do all the time when I’m in my home district — communicating, talking and listening to them.”

While she did not give a direct answer to whether or not she would debate him, she delivered a short retort: “We’ll see.”

Protecting women

Since she began serving the over 800,000 constituents in Congressional District 6, Meng has supported women of all backgrounds on a variety of issues.

Meng has supported menstrual equality through several bills promoting and protecting the distribution of menstrual products; she has defended reproductive rights including abortion and contraception; she has fought for economic security for women through support of women-owned businesses, paycheck equality and family leave policies; and she has funded programs addressing domestic violence both in the United States and in conflict zones around the world.

“I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made and the fights we have won because every bill passed, every protection secured, and every barrier broken is proof of what we can do when women have a seat at the table,” Meng said. “I will never stop pushing until every woman and girl in this country gets the dignity and respect she deserves.”

Meng said there seems to be a lack of political will to address women’s issues in Congress despite many issues — such as menstrual equality and period poverty — being very solvable.

She argued that women’s health is a topic that’s often put on the backburner in Congress because its members are still over 70% male.

That is why she emphasized that she will continue to fight for women while in office, and if re-elected, building upon her proven track record of championing women’s rights.

Fighting Trump

Since Trump was elected to office for a second term, Meng said she and her fellow Democrats in Congress have been forced to take on an increasingly defensive role in order to protect their communities and constituents from damaging policies.

“Things have been very different,” Meng said. “This, to me, feels like a different version of the pandemic where everything is kind of turned upside down. The government, which was supposed to have all the right answers and solutions, didn’t provide that and couldn’t protect all the people. Right now, under the Trump Administration, it feels like a political pandemic.”

Meng, who attended the Queens Says No Kings rally in March, said she spends much of her time thinking about how to protect Queens and handling a slew of pressing issues from ICE abductions, defunding of crucial programs, and health care revoked from the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

Congress has been unsuccessful renewing Affordable Care Act tax credits, Meng noted, and she said she’s seen an uptick in support for Medicare for All.

Meng said it’s important to tackle the issue by securing funding for the district and funneling those funds directly to hospitals — which, she added, also provide necessary services to immigrants in the community.

She said she is also working on legislation called “Housing is a Human Right Act” that would invest $300 billion in housing infrastructure to address homelessness.

And, Meng added, she and her Democrat colleagues have already been at the forefront of childcare in Congress, advocating for child tax credits that have been lifesaving to many Americans.

“House Democrats pushed legislation so that we could actually maintain childcare during the pandemic,” Meng explained. “We need to renew that tax care.”

On ICE and the military

While Meng said the current iteration of ICE “cannot stay” and has described it as an agency that has “gone rogue,” she still believes there still needs to be an agency that handles border security.

“The bigger question is not just whether to abolish ICE or not,” Meng explained. “We need to reassess the agency and whether it should go back under the Department of Justice. It’s easy to say ‘Abolish ICE’ but there still needs to be an agency that deals with border security. It’s not as sexy-sounding, but it’s a nuanced way we have to look at it.”

She pointed to the many cases in which ICE agents have separated families, pulled people off TSA lines at the airport for no apparent reason, and locked up constituents who have no criminal background.

“The way ICE is just able to kidnap people — sometimes people who are here legally and who are even American citizens — that infrastructure needs to be dismantled,” she said.

She has introduced legislation that would force ICE agents to identify themselves, just as any other law enforcement agent is required to.

In relation to Israel and Palestine, Meng describes the issue as “complex” and did not refer to it as a genocide as Park, several major humanitarian organizations and prominent scholars have referred to it in the last two and a half years.

She also accused Park of being “all over the place” on the issue after he said he felt it was disrespectful for him to relitigate decades of history in the region as a non-Muslim and non-Jew before discussing his position on the matter.

While she acknowledges that Palestinians need humanitarian aid, she believes that the state of Israel must be able to defend itself after October 7, which she described as a horrific tragedy.

Meng has repeatedly voted to send both offensive and defensive weapons to Israel, the latter of which she pointed out supports the Iron Dome and saves innocent lives.

“We have Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans,” Meng said. “That’s why we work on both of these issues.”

Leading Queens

Meng said she supports Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free bus program, pointing out that she and her colleague U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley have been working on pilot programs for free buses for years. She said she hopes to expand it throughout all of New York.

She said she wants to create more jobs and expand economic opportunities, as well, noting many investments she’s secured for local Queens colleges and public universities including child care centers and business development centers.

“I want our kids, our teachers and our families to have the best,” Meng said. “These students are also parents that could be immigrants. They’re working one or two jobs. They sometimes have to take care of their own parents and relatives.”

In relation to the Metropolitan Park casino being built next to Citi Field in Flushing, Meng said she deferred to the legislative and civic process, and she did not express a strong opinion one way or the other.

“I did not weigh in on the casino issue, and I did not say I was supportive,” Meng said. “Do I love the idea of a casino in our district’s backyard? No, and I am concerned. But I think my role on the federal level and as a local representative is to make sure we’re holding them accountable.”

She said while she understands the potential mental health impact the casino could have on the community, she said she would work to increase services at local hospitals to support those struggling with gambling addiction.

Meng also accused Park of not standing at the forefront of the casino issue, although he has publicly stated his opposition to the project.

In the face of constant threats from the Trump Administration, Meng said it’s crucial that she and other elected leaders establish trust with their constituents and prove to them that they will work in their best interest no matter what.

“We want to make sure our constituents feel like we’re doing everything we can to protect them,” Meng stressed. “I’m proud because I’ve been in Congress for a few years, and I have more experience and built relationships. We have to hold Republicans accountable. That’s why electorally and politically, one of our most important goals is to win back the House. There needs to be a stop gap to protect our constituents.”

For more information about Meng’s campaign, visit GraceForNewYork.com.