Paul Strauss facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Strauss
United States Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1997 Serving with Ankit Jain
Preceded by	Jesse Jackson
Personal details
Born	Paul Eric Strauss (1964-04-11) April 11, 1964 (age 61) New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	American University (BA, JD)

Paul Eric Strauss, born on April 11, 1964, is an American politician and lawyer. He has served as the senior United States Shadow Senator for the District of Columbia since 1997. He took over this role from Jesse Jackson, who was the first person elected to be a shadow senator for D.C. Paul Strauss is a member of the Democratic Party.

A "shadow senator" is a special elected official from Washington, D.C. Their main job is to speak up for the people of D.C. in the U.S. Congress. They work to help D.C. gain full voting rights and eventually become a state. However, a shadow senator cannot actually vote on laws in the Senate.

Early Life and Education

Paul Strauss was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and went to Dwight School. His father worked as a painting contractor, even painting parts of Yankee Stadium.

From a young age, Strauss was interested in politics. He volunteered for election campaigns for politicians like Mario Biaggi, Hugh Carey, and Jimmy Carter. When he was 17, he worked as an intern for New York City mayor Ed Koch. He even had his own desk and phone at the Tweed Courthouse.

In 1982, at age 18, Strauss moved to Washington, D.C.. He later attended American University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1986 and his law degree (Juris Doctor) in 1993.

Career and Public Service

Before becoming a shadow senator, Paul Strauss held several important jobs. He was the chairperson of the District's Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals. He also worked as a union organizer for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 25. A union organizer helps workers form groups to improve their working conditions and pay.

Today, Strauss is a lawyer and leads his own law firm, Paul Strauss & Associates, P.C. His firm focuses on real estate law, business law, and family law.

One of his first political actions in Washington, D.C., was organizing college students to register to vote. They wanted to protest against raising the drinking age to 21.

Role as Shadow Senator

Before being elected as a shadow senator in 1996, Strauss served in several local government roles. He was an at-large member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee. He also chaired the Democratic Party's D.C. Statehood Committee. Additionally, he led Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3E and Neighborhood Planning Council #3. Strauss was first elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in 1986. He was the youngest chairperson at the time and served there until 1996.

As one of D.C.'s two shadow senators, Strauss actively works to help the citizens of D.C. gain full federal representation. He lobbies, or tries to persuade, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. His goal is for D.C. to have more control over its own laws and eventually become the 51st state. As mentioned, he cannot vote on matters in the Senate.

In 2006, Strauss ran for a seat on the Council of the District of Columbia. He came in second place in the Democratic primary election.

Strauss was chosen as a superdelegate for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. There, he supported Barack Obama for president.

He was re-elected as shadow senator in 2008, winning with a large majority of the votes. He was also re-elected in 2014, receiving 77.3% of the vote.

In 2014, Strauss started the "51 Stars" campaign. This campaign aimed to get 51 celebrities and public figures to support D.C. statehood. The idea was for D.C. to become the fifty-first star on the U.S. flag. Famous people like Dave Chappelle and Rosario Dawson supported this campaign.

Strauss spoke to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs in 2014. He talked about why D.C. should become a state, saying that D.C. citizens deserve the same rights as other Americans.

In 2015, Strauss traveled to Iowa to encourage both Democratic and Republican groups to discuss D.C. statehood. He inspired the Polk County Democrats to pass a resolution supporting D.C. statehood. He went back to Iowa in 2016 for the Iowa caucuses. He ran political ads from the "51 Stars" campaign and worked with a group called Iowans for D.C. Statehood.

At the Iowa caucuses in 2020, Strauss and fellow shadow Senator Michael Donald Brown used a campaign bus to promote D.C. statehood. The bus was decorated with signs and parked where many journalists were staying. Strauss told The Washington Post that he expected many groups to support D.C. statehood.

International Diplomacy

Strauss in January 2022

Paul Strauss has also worked on international issues. In 2014, he visited Nagaland in India for an agricultural expo.

In 2015, Strauss spoke to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). This is an international group that helps people and regions who are not fully represented in global organizations. Strauss successfully argued that Washington, D.C., should join UNPO because it lacks statehood. D.C. became the first and only North American member of this group.

In June 2018, Strauss spoke to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. He discussed the issue of D.C. statehood. A former member of the European Parliament, Alex Mayer, supported D.C. statehood after Strauss's visit. She said that denying D.C. citizens basic rights was a "200-year injustice" that needed to end.

Strauss is also an honorary member of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law.

Personal Life

Paul Strauss lives in the Observatory Circle/Glover Park neighborhood in Washington, D.C.