Judicial Candidate for Kings County Civil Court Judge in the 2nd Municipal District Lisa Lewis officially kicked off her campaign with a virtual gathering of lawyers and community leaders last Thursday, February 4.
The district covers the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Bushwick, Ocean Hill, and Fort Greene.
Virtual campaigning and petitioning is especially important this election season due to COVID-19 restrictions on in-person or door-to-door signature collections, starting March 4. Candidates, like Lewis, are holding virtual house parties, giving out donation QR codes and links, or simply text and phone banking as well as hitting the streets in smaller numbers to be in compliance with the governor’s mandate.
“Thank you on my journey to justice,” said Lewis. “I knew I didn’t want to become a corporate lawyer or work in a big law firm because I had seen too many injustices and hardships of people who look like me but didn’t have equal access to opportunities to make life decisions that other people take for granted.”
Joining Lewis at her kickoff were City Councilmember Darma V. Diaz (D-Cypress Hills, Bushwick, City Line, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, East New York), Male District Leader for the 56th Assembly Henry Butler, Male District Leader for the 55th Assembly Anthony T. Jones, and former Assemblymember Annette M. Robinson.
Lewis is a Crown Heights native, raised by a single mother and grandmother. She is a lawyer, and has worked as an attorney with District Council 37’s matrimonial unit, a legal aid in the Criminal Appeals Bureau, and clerked with a judge in New York Criminal Court for years. She has also been a supporter of cashless bail reforms, reported Our Time Press.
Diaz said it was a moment of pride to know Lewis was announcing. “Thank you for listening to me. For figuring it out when it got hard. It’s your path, it’s your journey and I’m here to support you,” said Diaz.
“You have to have the right spirit to be a judge. Compassion and understanding. You have to have the heart to give justice with mercy and Lisa has the strength to do that,” said Robinson.
Butler, who is running for city council in District 36, said that he met Lewis through Central Brooklyn’s powerful Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA) club and through Community Board 3.
“This is my first opportunity to support someone as District Leader,” said Butler. “For me that’s the most important part of this responsibility. We’re going to have people sit on the bench who are going to be passing judgment down on our community, on this borough. And we want someone sitting up there with integrity, compassion, understanding and what we go through as a community. Every case is not the same.”
Jones, who is making a bid for borough president, said he is excited for Lewis to run and that doesn’t happen often. “Sometimes it’s judges that I don’t believe have done such great work when it comes to the community, unlike sister Lewis, who we know has done great things and will continue to do great things,” said Jones.
