Meet Beth Davidson

The race for CD-17 is heating up as Primary election day draws ever closer. Beth Davidson is one of the leading candidates in the Democratic Race. Currently a legislator in Rockland County, she’s lived in Rockland for over 20 years and has previously served as a Nyack School Board Member. 

The RCT recently had the opportunity to chat with Legislator Davidson about the issues affecting Rocklanders on a local, state, and national level. 

AG: What issues are you the most passionate about when you’re thinking about both issues that affect us nationally and the more community oriented issues?

BD: I’m very committed at this moment in time, and in our history, to advocating for our immigrant neighbors, carrying a bill in the county legislature called the safety and dignity for all act, to prevent county resources from assisting ICE with civil immigration matters. You know, someone has a judicial warrant, that’s another story, but it’s important that we protect our immigrant neighbors while honoring judicial warrants and following the law, and so that’s a law that I’ve proposed, and a real coalition has come together around that issue as well. 

AG: AI is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States, but the technology is controversial. Data centers used to store information being used by AI technologies have appeared across the country, including in Rockland County. These data centers are often increasing the cost of living for the surrounding residents and decreasing property value. How would you, as a member of Congress, work to limit harm being done by data centers?

BD: We certainly need guardrails for AI overall and make sure we have a consumer bill of rights, that people’s privacy is protected. And then when you look at the actual data centers themselves, we’re obviously concerned about the amount of water they take up and electricity, and concerns that that usage is going to drive up costs for rate payers. The one in Orangetown would go next to the Lake Tappan reservoir, and as the chair of the task force on water resources management, I’m very concerned about compromising any of our drinking water. So that’s, you know, something I would certainly pursue in Congress, or strict environmental standards wherever data centers are going to be built. 

AG: The ongoing affordability crisis has led to an extraordinary cost of living increase and the inability for Hudson Valley residents and people who grew up here to see themselves finding their home here. What do you think is the role of Congress in limiting this affordability crisis, and how would you work to also limit the affordability crisis?

BD: What I’ll say to anyone, whether it’s in a forum or interview like this, is that you don’t have to ask what I would do in Congress, you can look at what I’m doing right now. In terms of my commitment to lowering costs for families in the Hudson Valley, I just sponsored the cap on the sales tax on gas to save Rockland the second that Donald Trump started this illegal conflict in Iran. We heard that gas would go to $100- $150 a barrel. I immediately stepped up and proposed a cap on the sales tax on gas, which had been done in 2022 as well. 

As Vice Chair of the Housing Committee, we recognize the need for more workforce and affordable housing, and so we allocated funds from the American rescue plan, the ARPA funds that we got as a county, toward 30 million into what’s called a halo fund. It’s a housing action, loan Opportunity Fund to incentivize developers to build affordable units and workforce housing. 

AG: Since October 7, America’s role in the Middle East has been under fire from both members of the left and members of the right. As a member of Congress, how would you seek justice in the region while maintaining our interests abroad?

BD: I am Jewish, as you may know, and my daughter was in Israel for a month before October 7. So this has been a painful time in our country, for my family, but obviously also for our community, and a divisive issue in this campaign. I think it’s really important to distinguish between love for Israel, which I certainly have, and disagreeing with the Netanyahu government, just as I would say I love America and disagree with the Trump administration, right? And so I think it’ll be really important for the next member of Congress and the majority in Congress, which obviously, I hope, will be Democrats, to first of all, regain America’s role as a global leader of democracy and diplomacy on the world stage. This particular Congress, under Mike Johnson, has really abdicated its role. 

AG: Antisemitism has bloomed in recent years due to a growth in anti-Israel rhetoric. Rockland County has the largest Jewish community per capita of anywhere in the United States. What do you think is the role of Congress in combating bigotry, both across the country and in our own community?

BD: Rockland has not only one of the largest Jewish communities, it has such a diverse Jewish community, which I think is such a strength for our county. You’re absolutely right about antisemitism, and it’s not theoretical to me. It’s my lived experience as a Jewish mom raising two Jewish kids who have experienced antisemitism. We’ve seen it in graffiti on subway platforms, and on commuter training platforms and inside elementary schools. And this is an issue that’s been very painful in Rockland, as you know, with the stabbing of the rabbi in Monsey a few years ago, and since the war, I think that has only intensified for folks across New York-17. I would say that Donald Trump cutting and slashing the funding for the Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education, which follows up on complaints of antisemitism, and defends folks against it, and enforces whatever outcomes come out of that has not been helpful, nor cutting security funding for synagogues. 

AG: Recently, Mike Lawler was able to secure a $1 million fund for small businesses in Stony Point and Haverstraw affected by recent construction on the Champlain Hudson Power Express. What is the role of a member of Congress in advocating for their community against corporations, the state, or even the federal government?

BD: I certainly appreciate and love all of our small businesses in Rockland and across CD 17. But small businesses in Rockland have been hurt badly by tariffs, by the chaotic tariff policies that have made it more difficult and more expensive for them to run their businesses. From flower businesses that need to buy plastic and ribbon to coffee businesses to our shoe shops. And so while North Rockland businesses certainly experienced a singular kind of challenge, small businesses across Rockland have been struggling. Congress could have stopped the tariffs a year ago. That’s just one more power than it has allocated to the Trump administration. Ending the tariffs will be priority one, and then also making sure that we restore funding for small business loans. Trump’s budget for next year guts a lot of funding from different programs from the Small Business Administration. It actually took the biggest hit of any federal agency in next year’s budget, while allocating $1.5 trillion for defense. 

AG: The west side of the Hudson has been a transit desert for a very long time. Rockland has only five commuter rail stations compared to Westchester’s over 40. As a member of Congress, how would you fight for transit equity in our district and fight to improve the existing transit that we have?

BD: Rocklanders still don’t have a one seat ride into New York City. We don’t have a member sitting on the MTA board. We haven’t for years, and so we don’t have somebody advocating for us on the MTA, who would certainly fight to get the funding back for the Gateway project that would one day ensure a one seat ride into the city. It’s an important step to making that happen, and again, not theoretical to me. I used to take the train into the city, drive to the Nanuet train station, take the train to Hoboken, switch to the PATH, and then walk to my office in Soho. I didn’t have kids at the time, and for working parents, that makes it even more difficult and more expensive. If you choose to then drive to Tarrytown and park, that’s just an added expense. This is a serious infrastructure need.