Ihssane Leckey Of Brookline Runs For Congress

BROOKLINE, MA — Ihssane Leckey wants you to know she's more than just a self described socialist Democrat. She's an immigrant, a survivor and a former Wall Street regulator. It's through these lenses that she sees the world and with this background that she planned to take on Rep. Joe Kennedy for his seat in Congress before he declared he was going to give a shot at a Senate seat.

Leckey is one of several who have thrown their hats into the race for the Fourth Congressional District seat. She was also the first to declare her intention to run back in May. Brookline resident Alan Khazei, who co-founded City Year announced his candidacy last month. Jesse Mermell, a former Brookline selectman and former communications director for Gov. Deval Patrick announced this month. Newton City Councilor Becky Walker Grossman declared this month as well. And several more appear to be circling from Brookline and beyond.

Leckey's story starts in Morocco where she grew up a daughter of a teacher and a farmer. She survived childhood sexual abuse and took on the role of providing for her family when her father passed.

Leckey said she grew up well-aware of the effects of living in a society where freedom of speech is not a given. Her uncle was taken away and tortured by secret police in the 1970s for the politics of his poetry.

"The freedom of speech that we have in this country is not to be taken for granted," she said. "The fact that we can change the course of our country is so powerful."

She came to the United States some 15 years ago to go to college. First she went to Manhattan Community College and spent a semester at UMass Boston before transferring to Boston University. During the financial downturn she took out student loans to continue her education - with a focus on math and economics, here.

In the wake of the financial crisis, she got a job at the Federal Reserve as a special examiner in Pennsylvania. The working mother of a now 7-year-old daughter said seeing corrupt and complacent politicians unwilling to hold the banks accountable made an impression on her. Then, between Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh's hearings, President Trump's talk of a Muslim registry, his ban on immigrants and the uptick in attacks on synagogues she said that's what prompted her to run. After mulling it over she talked to her husband left her job, and in May became the first to announce her intention to run.

If she wins the election and takes over the 4th Congressional District, which she described as turning purple "in a time when the occupant of the white house is dividing communities," she has her eyes set on lofty goals.

"My job is to work with my constituents at the doorstep level, to get people to not only have faith in our democracy again, but to be a participant in a just and moral society," she said.

She hopes to push climate justice, supports the Green New Deal, and universal healthcare and family care.

On the issues

Leckey said she would rather stand with what was moral than stand with her party's leader

"The beauty of our democracy is that we get to stand up for what’s just what's moral and fight for our basic human rights no matter the party leadership, it’s our responsibility, my responsibility as a congresswoman, to stand up to party leadership when they violate those basic values of our democracy. "

On gun control, she sides with regulation.

"Every life we lose every day to gun violence is a life that we are all responsible for," she said. "So putting an end to gun violence is about gun control. Also about social racial and economic justice.

She supports an investigation into impeachment and ultimate impeaching of the president.

She said she spent time in Franklin demanding congress ask for impeachment.

On how she differs from Kennedy:

"I refuse to take any money from Corporate PAC and fossil fuel executives and slum lords, and giant developers," she said. "Making sure that we take money out of politics is the first and foremost condition so that we can reach the Green New Deal and end fossil fuel industry and have a just transition. Second, this district has gotten tired of asking for climate justice where the constituents have historically been demanding bold action on climate change. This is our opportunity to be leaders on Climate justice and the Green New Deal is the way to go. It's the only actionable plan on the table to combat climate change."

She said the way to fund things like universal health care the Green New Deal is by taxing the super rich.

Although some have argued that the economy is good currently, she argues that's based on market speculation.

"It's not actual economic health- when we see people going bankrupt as they try to pay their medical bills. That's not a healthy economy," she said." "When a worker has to work more than 40 hours and take two or three jobs and can still not meet the rent and not put food on the table for their children, that’s not a healthy economy."

Read more:

• MA Treasurer Deb Goldberg Eyes Joe Kennedy's Seat
• Arrival VR: Ihssane Shares Her Immigration Story (2019)
• Joe Kennedy Mulling Senate Run Against Ed Markey (August)
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Endorses Sen. Ed Markey
• Joe Kennedy Announces Run For Senate
• Newton's Grossman Declares Run For Kennedy House Seat (Sept.24)
• Several Brookline Residents Eye Kennedy's Seat In Congress (Sept. 25)
• Brookline Resident Jesse Mermell Announces Run For ... (Oct. 2)

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).