Mario De Santis is a public-school teacher and progressive
Democrat running for office in New Jersey's First Congressional
District.
The grandson of educators, Mario has not left the classroom in three
decades. A product of public education, he grew to appreciate the role public schools play in cultivating strong communities. Though he faced challenges growing up in a socially conservative district as an openly gay student, it was his classroom teachers who made him feel safest. These experiences solidified his life-long commitment to education and advocating for others.
Early in his career, Mario discovered his musical talents could serve as avenues for building community and promoting advocacy. One of his first jobs was working with The Gabriel Project, a fine and performing arts non-profit which sought to ease the burden of children's medical expenses. Understanding this valuable lesson, he challenged his own students to apply their talents to provide relief during the pandemic and organized similar efforts. The result of these projects provided relief aid for the Camden County Women's Shelter and the Community FoodBank of New Jersey - efforts featured on the local news and honored by the State Board of Education Student Recognition Program.
During the pandemic, Mario advocated for New Jersey's immigrant students
and joined a coalition of teachers to pressure our legislature to include
immigrant families in COVID-19 relief aid. He successfully lobbied to increase accessibility of local municipal meetings and was a strong voice in calling on the federal Department of Education to issue waivers for state standardized tests. During this time, he organized local actions and met with congressional staff to compel representatives to support universal healthcare. He continues to join national demonstrations for Medicare for All and the Voting Rights Act. With his partner Fawaz, an academic dentist, he continues to advocate for a single-payer, universal healthcare plan.
Mario is currently an ABD doctoral candidate at Boston University. Motivated by his first-hand experiences with educational inequities, his dissertation topic concerns educational disparities through the framework of critical race and disruptive innovation theories.
