It may not come as much of a surprise that New York’s 12th district, which includes much of Manhattan and Queens, is considered a solidly Democratic district. In 2016, it went to Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a whopping 69.8 points. A Republican has not won election to Congress in the district since 1958, with none having even broken 20% of the vote since Democrat Shirley Chisholm's victory in 1968. So instead of worrying about whether the 12th will go red, spectators are always focused on the Democratic primary, which could indicate how far left the party is going. And Suraj Patel is ready to be the party's leftward pull in NY-12. Suraj is a lawyer, activist, educator, and first-generation American who worked for Barack Obama since his 2008 presidential campaign. When Donald Trump was inaugurated, Suraj got quick to work joining the resistance, even volunteering to protect immigrants facing deportation and travelers stuck at JFK due to the Muslim ban. Suraj Patel joined us on the podcast to talk about the #AbolishICE movement, how to turn out voters in a district that only has 8% Democratic primary turnout, the difficulty of challenging an established incumbent in the New York political machine and more! This podcast is sponsored by: Parkway Politics. Since 2016, so many of us have become very active in politics. However, we tend to forget what our state and local governments are doing because of the chaos in D.C. and this is why Ron, Jay and Brian, the hosts of Parkway Politics, have created a podcast to discuss the important local issues. If you are up for a great discussion about New Jersey politics and issues, then subscribe to the Parkway Politics Podcast. It’s important to voice the state and local issues to make sure they are not going unchecked. There are plenty of great podcasts out there that talk about national issues, but Parkway Politics is focused solely on delivering what is happening in New Jersey. Follow them on Twitter @ParkwayPolitics and, of course, subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.