Former Congressman Steve Israel: Guns, Politics and the Future of the Democrats

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Steve Israel represented New York as a member of Congress for sixteen years. He left in 2016, undefeated and unindicted. He served as House Democrats’ chief political strategist between 2011–2015. President Bill Clinton called him “one of the most thoughtful members of Congress,” which, Israel states, “isn’t really saying much at all.” He is currently Distinguished Writer in Residence at Long Island University in New York and has published two critically acclaimed satires of Washington, D.C. His latest, Big Guns, skewers the gun lobby. His New York Times op-ed, “Nothing Will Change After the Las Vegas Shooting,” went viral. His Mic.com video on gun violence received nearly 3.5 million views. Israel is also chairperson of the Global Institute at Long Island University and a strategic advisor to both the Democratic Governors Association and the think tank Third Way.

Come for a wide-ranging conversation about all things political and the possibilities for change.