Andrew S. Levin

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Andy Levin

File:Andy Levin.jpg

Andy Levin

Andrew S. Levin (born August 10, 1960) is an American lawyer, businessperson, former state government official, union leader and candidate for Congress in Michigan's 9th Congressional District. From 2007 to 2011, he served as deputy and then acting director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth and as Michigan’s Chief Workforce Officer. Upon leaving state government, Levin became the founder and managing partner of Levin Energy Partners, LLC, and the creator and President of Lean & Green Michigan, a clean energy financing program. In September 2017, political observers in Michigan began speculating that Levin might enter the state’s 2018 gubernatorial race.

In December 2017, Levin announced his bid for Congress in Michigan's 9th Congressional District, following the retirement announcement of his father, Sandy Levin. In a competitive Democratic Primary, he emerged the winner on August 7, 2018, advancing to the general election.

Early life and education

Levin grew up in Berkley, MI, the son of Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI) and the nephew of retired Senator Carl Levin (D-MI).

He is an honors graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School and holds a Master’s Degree in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Michigan, where he was a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities.

Career

Union organizing and workplace advocacy

In the 1980s, Levin organized health care workers for the Service Employees International Union. His experience with Haitian immigrant workers led him to co-found an immigrant advocacy organization in Massachusetts, which responded to workplace implications of the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. He has spent a significant amount of time in Haiti investigating human rights abuses.

After completing law school, Levin continued to work on national workplace policy issues in Washington, DC. He served as the staff attorney to the presidential Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations and spent time in the Deputy Secretary’s office at the U.S. Department of Labor. He worked closely with employers and unions on policies such as the National Labor Relations Act, the proposed TEAM Act, the Federal Transit Act’s provisions affecting mass transit workers, and reform of the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Finally, at the national AFL-CIO, he created and led the innovative Union Summer program, engineered experimental multi-union organizing projects across the U.S., and led the Voice@Work Campaign to restore the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively in the U.S.

Levin is the co-editor of the 2006 book Justice on the Job.

Record in state government

While working for the State of Michigan, Levin created and ran Michigan’s No Worker Left Behind initiative, receiving bipartisan support and putting over 160,000 unemployed and underemployed workers back to school during the recession between 2007 and 2010 to obtain certificates and degrees leading to in-demand jobs in Michigan. According to a 2013 survey of participants, the program helped almost two-thirds of those who completed their training to obtain employment — during a time the state’s economy had contracted dramatically and older workers were finding it particularly hard to get hired. Other notable accomplishments while in state government included the creation of Michigan’s Green Jobs Initiative in 2008 and the Green Jobs Report in 2009.

Levin also worked with private companies and universities to create the Michigan Academy for Green Mobility Alliance (MAGMA), an employer-driven consortium that trained hundreds of unemployed and incumbent engineers to work on vehicle electrification. The federal General Accounting Office recognized MAGMA as an exemplary practice in workforce development collaboration with industry.

Green energy entrepreneurship

After leaving state government in 2011, Levin founded and continues to run his own company, Levin Energy Partners, LLC. He has created a statewide market to finance clean energy building improvements called Lean & Green Michigan. Andy came up with the idea of building a statewide program to implement newly available Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing – and has been implementing it across Michigan. In the process, 37 local governments have joined the program.

Today, 69 percent of all Michiganders live in a Lean & Green Michigan jurisdiction, and they are starting to choose energy efficiency, water efficiency and renewable energy projects on every manner of business and non-profit building.

Congressional Campaign

Primary Election

After being re-elected to his 18th term in Congress, Sander Levin announced his retirement in December, 2017. He chaired the Ways and Means Committee when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, defeated efforts to privatize Social Security, and helped with the auto industry federal bailout. Andy Levin announced thereafter that he would seek to replace his father in the 9th Congressional District, representing Southern Macomb and Southeastern Oakland Counties.

In the Democratic Primary, Levin faced Ellen Lipton of Huntington Woods and Martin Brook of Bloomfield Township. Levin gained an impressive list of endorsements, including former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state legislative delegation in the district, as well as the major unions, including the UAW, the AFL-CIO and AFSCME. Former State Representative Lipton garnered support from several local politicians and EMILY's List, making for a tough race. On August 7, Levin received 52.5% of the vote and secured the Democratic nomination, advancing to the general election against the only Republican candidate to enter the race, businesswoman Candius Stearns of Sterling Heights.

General Election

Progressive politicians and groups continue to announce their support of Levin's campaign, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, the League of Conservation Voters, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and The Human Rights Campaign. Levin is running on a platform of Medicare-for-all, jobs that pay well with good benefits, quality public education for every child, and his record of garnering bipartisan support for workforce training and green energy projects. Levin often refers to his background as an environmental entrepreneur, union organizer, and social justice activist, stating, "I am so proud of my dad and uncle and their legacy of integrity and public service, but I’m not running on my family’s name. I’m running on my decades of experience fighting for working people in this country."

Michigan's 2018 midterm elections take place on November 6, 2018.

Personal life

Levin married his high school sweetheart, Mary Freeman, in 1991. He and Freeman have four children.

Levin served as President of a Reconstructionist Jewish synagogue, Congregation T’chiyah. He also serves as chair of the steering committee of Detroit Jews for Justice, an organization he helped create to work for racial and economic justice in Detroit.

Levin speaks Haitian Creole, and developed various levels of proficiency in modern and classical Tibetan, French, Sanskrit, and Hindi.

Levin is an avid ice hockey player and enjoys yoga, mountain biking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and other wilderness adventures.

References

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