Perry Gershon, Rep. Congress, District 1

Perry Gershon

Democratic

BACKGROUND: Gershon, 56, of East Hampton, is making his first run for elected office. He's running on the Democratic and Working Families party lines. Gershon ran a commercial real estate private equity firm until May 2017, when he decided to run for Congress full time. He made his family’s second home in East Hampton his primary residence. Gershon grew up in New York City. He graduated from Yale University in 1984 with a degree in molecular biochemistry and biophysics, and dropped out of Columbia Medical School to open a sports bar in Manhattan. He later graduated with an MBA from the University of California Berkeley in 1993. He was a commercial real estate lender from 1993 to 2017, initially working for large banking institutions before starting his own firm, LoanCore Capital, in 2007. He said he had split time between his Manhattan home and the East Hampton home his family built in 1999. Gershon is married with two sons.

ISSUES: Gershon said he backs universal health care by providing Medicare for all and stronger gun control measures, including reinstating a ban on assault weapon sales. If elected, he said he'd work on a $1 trillion dollar federal investment in infrastructure, including highway and mass transit improvements. Those investments would create construction jobs and foster economic development, boosting wage growth long term in the district, he said. He opposed a bill, sponsored by his opponent Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), which would require states to honor out-of-state concealed carry permits. Gershon said the election of President Donald Trump galvanized him to run for office and he believed Congress should be a check on the president's power. He pointed to what he called the president’s attacks on the environment, health care and income equality.

By David M. Schwartz

dschwar1@newsday.comschwartznewsNY

David Schwartz covers environmental issues. A native Long Islander, he's worked at Newsday since 2013.