Congressional candidate Eric Kingson said he is afraid for the future of social security and the country at large.

Kingson spoke at Syracuse University on Wednesday by the invitation of Democracy Matters, a national student group with a chapter at SU that focuses on campaign finance reform. Kingson, a professor of social work at SU, is running for the 24th Congressional District as one of three Democrats looking to challenge Republican incumbent Rep. John Katko (R-Syracuse).

The other two Democratic candidates are Colleen Deacon, an SU alumna and former congressional aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Steve Williams, a Syracuse lawyer.

Williams previously spoke about campaign finance at a Democracy Matters event on March 9.

Kingson asked each student to talk about themselves and why they were interested in campaign finance reform. He then talked about his past and why he decided to run for Congress.

He got involved in the civil rights movement while he was in college in the 1960s, Kingson said.

He went on to get his doctorate from Brandeis University’s Florence G. Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare and became heavily involved in social security reform. He served on two presidential commissions and is a founding co-director of Social Security Works and the Strengthen Social Security Coalition.

Kingson said fighting for social security is important because it affects every American. In the 24th Congressional District in which he is campaigning, he said there are 152,000 people who receive Social Security every month.

At the beginning of the current presidential election, the coalition worked closely with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to make sure expanding Social Security was on his agenda. This experience convinced Kingson to get into politics.

“That experience got me all jazzed up again,” Kingson said.

Kingson said he is not accepting any corporate money for his campaign, nor will he if he gets elected. He said other candidates “are silent” when asked if they will take money from Wall Street if they get to Washington, D.C.

“I don’t think we have democracy at the federal level,” Kingson said.

He condemned Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to invest nearly infinite sums of money into political campaigns through super PACs and advertising.

Kingson called the decision “a disaster.”

He said these large sums of money influence every level of government, beyond just campaigns.

He also took the opportunity to call out both Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), calling them both “very dangerous people.” Kingson said that the other Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, is respectful of democracy.

While Kingson said he has respect for Katko, the incumbent in the 24th district, he said he was disappointed when the congressman said he would support any Republican presidential nominee.

Kingson said he thinks the country needs a Democrat in the White House no matter what, which is why, he said, the youth need to be active in politics.

Said Kingson: “We’re in a very unusual and dangerous time, so you have to be more vigilant than ever.”

Published on March 30, 2016 at 10:47 pm

Contact Delaney: dovanwey@syr.edu