Candidate, United States House of Representatives, Maryland, District 8, 2016

No caucus information on file.

Adjunct Faculty Member, Heinz School of Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, present

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, United States Department of State, present

Former Director, Political and Government Affairs, J Street

Former Presidential Management Fellow/Civil Servant, United States Agency for International Developement

Former Presidential Management Fellow/Civil Servant, United States Department of Energy

Former Presidential Management Fellow/Civil Servant, United States Department of State

Member, Temple Sinai Synagogue, present

Former Volunteer, Environmental Education, Peace Corps

Member, Ploughshares Fund

Awards:

Congressional Staffer of the Year, Military Officers Association of America.

Reason for Seeking Public Office:

Joel Rubin is a strong, effective champion for progressive values who gets results, because to him it's about more than just the issues, it's personal.

Joel's career began as a Peace Corps volunteer in a rural village in Central America, where he learned the value of bringing communities together to solve problems.

As a civil servant during the George W. Bush Administration, he saw up close how Republicans used fear to justify two costly wars and decided he needed to fight back.

That's why Joel helped found J Street, a progressive Jewish organization that seeks peace through diplomacy. He continued his commitment to peace and diplomacy as a leading voice in the nuclear non-proliferation movement. And that commitment lead Secretary of State John Kerry to appoint Joel Assistant Deputy Secretary of State, where he helped pass the historic Iran agreement, keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as Kerry's top liaison to the House of Representatives.

Joel lives with his wife, their three girls, and his Mother in law in Chevy Chase.

His Mother in Law, Mithra was sterilized against her will in a hospital in Washington State immediately after she gave birth to Joel's wife Nilmini. That's one of the reasons Joel takes the issues of women's healthcare and women's rights so personally. He will be an outspoken voice for all women -- for equal pay, a woman's right to choose, for guaranteed maternity leave, to protect women's access to preventive health care, and to strengthen protections for victims of sexual, mental, and physical abuse. Joel will work hard to keep politicians out of decisions that should be made by women and their doctors.

Joel spent much of his career as a federal employee and knows personally how it feels when Republicans use civil servants as a political football to push their extreme agenda through Congress.

And Joel comes from a military family. His father served during the Vietnam War and grandfather in World War II. That is one reason why Joel worked so hard on the Staff of the United States Senate to strengthen military healthcare --and was recognized personally by the Military Officers Association of America for getting results.

We can trust that Joel will fight against any Republican proposal to privatize Social Security or the VA, cut benefits, or raise the retirement age. Because Joel sees first hand every day how important these earned benefits are to his Mother in Law and his parents. He will do everything in his power to defend the security to retirees -- and the commitment we have made to America's veterans.

Joel offers a unique perspective on the environmental and energy crisis that is threaten America -- and the entire world.

For Joel, the battle for the environment is personal too.

As an Environmental Education Volunteer in the Peace Corps overseas, he brought people together to tackle local environmental challenges and create a sustainable community. As the director of our national solar energy program for the Department of Energy during the Bush Administration, Joel worked hard to strengthen renewable energy programs. But when the Republicans started handing out billions to big oil and gas companies, Joel left the Administration to take the fight to Congress where went to work for Senator Tom Harkin and later Frank Lautenberg.

As our Congressman, Joel will take on the climate change deniers and help lead our country toward a renewable, sustainable energy future.

Join the campaign to put Joel Rubin in Congress.

Joel Rubin is strong, effective champion for the progressive values of our community. Because for him, it's personal.