Delco candidate aims to add youth to Congress
A 2012 Princeton graduate hopes to add a burst of youth to Congress. She has launched a campaign to represent Delaware County and other parts of the Philadelphia suburbs.
WASHINGTON – A 2012 Princeton graduate hopes to add a burst of youth to Congress. She has launched a campaign to represent Delaware County and other parts of the Philadelphia suburbs.
Lindy Li, who grew up in Malvern and now has a home in Radnor, is running for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania's seventh district, which also sprawls through Montgomery, Chester, Berks and Lancaster counties.
Li, 24, said she is "ready to unleash the power of my generation."
She will turn 25, the minimum age to serve in Congress, in December. The youngest member now in the House is 30, and the average age is 57.
Li hopes to challenge Rep. Pat Meehan (R., Pa.), but will face a primary against La Salle political science professor Mary Ellen Balchunis, who also ran in 2014.
Li said she has events planned with Lt. Gov. Mike Stack and other Democrats, and has spoken with party officials in Washington about her campaign.
On her campaign web site Li promises to focus on middle class families, college affordability, women's issues, campaign finance reform and climate change. "There's so much pain out there and nobody's listening," she said in a recent interview.
Pennsylvania, she noted in an interview, does not have a single woman in its congressional delegation.
Li originally considered running in the neighboring sixth district (which includes Malvern), but decided on the seventh after talks with party leaders. She said she owns a home in Radnor and has an apartment in New York, where she previously worked for Morgan Stanley. She said she left that job to focus on her campaign.
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