Joshua Alexander Lafazan (born January 29, 1994) is an American politician and a former member of the

Nassau County Legislature The Nassau County Legislature is the lawmaking body of Nassau County, New York. The county is divided into 19 legislative districts, each represented by an elected legislator. It was formed in 1996 to succeed the Nassau County Board of Superviso ...

from the 18th district. When elected to the Syosset School Board in 2012, he was the youngest elected official in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. He was a candidate to become the Democratic nominee for

New York's 3rd congressional district New York's 3rd congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in the New York (state), State of New York. It is represented by Democratic Party (Un ...

in the 2022 United States House of Representatives election.

Education

Lafazan attended

Nassau Community College Nassau Community College (NCC) is a Public college, public community college in the East Garden City, New York, East Garden City section of Uniondale, New York, Uniondale, Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, New York (state), N ...

and received the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence. Lafazan attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

for his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for his

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

degree. He is pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

As a high school senior at

Syosset High School Syosset High School (SHS) is a public high school located in Syosset, New York, United States, in Nassau County, on Long Island. It serves as the public high school for residents of the Syosset Central School District. As of the 2021–22 schoo ...

, he started a volunteer rideshare program to prevent

drunk driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is in ...

to drive teenagers home safely. During the latter part of his senior year of high school, Lafazan campaigned for a trustee position on the Syosset Board of Education. In May 2012, he won with 82 percent of the vote. He was the first high school student elected to the school board and upon his election, the youngest elected official in

. He was re-elected to the board in 2015 for another three-year term. Lafazan resigned from his position on the school board in 2017 after becoming an elected legislator, as required by county charter. Lafazan was named on the ''

Long Island Press The ''Long Island Press'' is a free monthly news and lifestyle magazine serving Long Island. It is owned by Schneps Media. History Its previous print incarnation was as a free, independent print and digital monthly news journal with extensive c ...

'' Power List of the 50 most influential people on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

in 2012. He published ''Political Gladiators: How Millennials Can Navigate the 21st Century Political Minefield and WIN!'' in November 2015, a book about the experiences of other politicians who were elected at a young age. In 2017, Lafazan ran for the

's 18th district against incumbent Republican Donald MacKenzie and won with 56 percent of the vote. Lafazan was re-elected to the county legislature in 2019 and 2021. In both elections he also accepted the ballot line of the New York Conservative Party. As a county legislator, Lafazan authored and passed "Timothy's Law" in August 2018, which established a county hotline for substance abuse intervention. Related legislation would create a smartphone application with resources for substance abuse, such as treatment center locations. His proposed "Dignity for Heroes" package marked veterans as a protected status under the county's human rights law. Lafazan teaches a course on how to run for public office as a young candidate as

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

. In 2020 Lafazan accepted at least $50,000 in loans from billionaire investor Bryan Lawrence to make tuition payments; his 2022 opponent Robert Zimmerman sent a letter to the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...

requesting a probe over the loan. In December 2021, Lafazan announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2022 race for

. He committed to

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

for the US Congress. Lafazan courted, and received substantial support from, cryptocurrency interests including

Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 5, 1992), commonly known as SBF, is an American entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud and related crimes in November 2023. Bankman-Fried founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and was celebrated as a ...

's Protect Our Future. He came in third in the primary. In November 2023, Lafazan lost his re-election bid for the Nassau County Legislature to his Republican challenger, Samantha A Goetz.

References

External links

Josh Lafazan for Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafazan, Josh 1994 births Cornell University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Living people Nassau Community College alumni Syosset High School alumni Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections Long Island University faculty