Former Md. Gubernatorial Candidate Running For Congress

He’s part of a crowded field for the 6th District Seat in the House of Representatives.Ashwani Jain (Photo from the  Balletpedia website)Frederick, Md (KM) He’s one of 16 Democrats running in the Primary Election for the 6th District Congressional seat in Maryland. Ashwani Jain says he has experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. “Serving in two different offices in President Obama’s White House as well as in two federal agencies: the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. And I’m currently program director at the National Kidney Foundation,” Jain says.He also says he’s  the son of immigrants and small business owners, a published author, a product of the  public schools  and a cancer survivor. Jain is 34 years old and lives in Gaithersburg.Whoever wins the Primary and General Elections will replace incumbent Representative David Trone who is running for the US Senate Seat currently held by Senator Ben Cardin who is retiring.The Sixth Congressional Districts consists of the northern  part of Montgomery County, and Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett Counties.  Jain says he has met with almost 40,000 residents and they all say one thing. “We want to make sure that candidates are actually accessible., they’re actually transparent and their going to serve our specific needs,” he says.On his website, Jain  says “I am owned by the voters, not purchased by donors.””Some of my top priorities include tangibly getting money out of politics; passing and pushing for  Medicare for all; talking about making public college free while canceling student debt; taking bold stances, like being the first in my race to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East,” he says.Jain says he will also be pushing for a $26 minimum wage by 2030. “This brings up every workers salary to the national average, which is $55,000 a year,” he says. “It will help our economy, help our small businesses and obviously help our workers  thrive.”In an interview with WFMD News, Jain talked about the volatile issue of immigration.  He says he favors “creating a pathway to citizenship; expediting work permits; ending the use of private prisons to house immigrants; reforming ICE and demanding more accountability from that agency; ending local programs like 287g which forces our local law enforcement to act like federal ICE agents,”: he says.The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office participates in the 287g program. The agency says the program kicks in after suspects are brought into the Detention where personnel check their immigration status.When asked if the US–Mexico border should be closed, Jain responded “there’s definitely this false narrative that goes around that we have some open borders. We do not have an open border That is a false narrative. It is factually inaccurate. We have a system that just needs to have certain improvements.”But unlike most other candidates, Jain says his campaign is 100 percent “crowd sourced and volunteer run.” “We intentionally do not have any staff or consultants. We are run between me and the residents of my district who are going to be impacted by all these decisions, and tackling those decisions in  a very comprehensive way,”: he says.The Maryland Primary Election is set for May 14th.    Early voting is scheduled for May 2nd through May 9th. The General Election is November 5th.By Kevin McManus