David Segal

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David Adam Segal (born November 25, 1979) is a Rhode Island Democratic and former Green politician. Segal is a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing District 2 (East Providence). Segal was elected to the House in the state's general election on November 7, 2006. He is one of the youngest members in the entire Rhode Island General Assembly.

[edit] Biography

Segal was born in Washington, D.C. on November 25, 1979, and was raised in Maryland. Segal graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Columbia University in 2001. Segal briefly worked as a grade school teacher before entering politics.

In 2002, running as a Green, Segal was elected to the Providence City Council, representing Ward One. Segal was the first member of the Green Party to hold public office in Rhode Island's history.

As City Council Minority Leader, Segal worked to pass legislation promoting social justice, affordable housing, and civil liberties. Segal supported Providence to become the first state capital city in the country to commit to using large sums of renewable energy, and to become the first city to divest from the Darfur genocide.

Segal's longtime campaign treasurer and right-hand man is Rhode Island left-wing activist Peter I. Asen. His recent campaign for state representative was managed by Ari Savitzky, 2006 senior class president and orator at the 2006 graduation at Brown University.

Following a party switch to the Democratic Party, Segal won the party primary election for state representative in Rhode Island House District 2 in a landslide, with 68.5 percent of the vote onSeptember 12, 2006. He defeated Richard Pacheco.

Segal faced no partisan opposition on the November 7, 2006 state general election, taking home a solid 100% of the vote.

[edit] Member of the House

Segal is a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee as well as the Corporations Committee. He has worked on legislation promoting renewable energy and public transit, reform of the criminal justice system, progressive taxation, maintenance of social services, equitable school funding, and more. He is secretary of the House of Representatives' progressive caucus.

The Providence Phoenix recently declared him "The Hippest Guy in State Government".

He is visible around Brown University's campus where Segal works with such student activist groups as the Student Labor Alliance, Democracy Matters, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The council seat Segal vacated was won by his political ally Seth Yurdin, a lawyer and political activist, and the chair of the Rhode Island chapter of Democracy for America.

Segal was chairman and founder of the federal political action committee, Greens for Impact, which ran a national media and direct-mail campaign in 2004, encouraging Greens and progressives in swing states to vote for John Kerry, and promoting electoral reform.

Segal is a contributor to Rhode Island's preeminent political blog, Rhode Island's Future, and regularly writes opinions pieces for the Providence Journal and other forums. In 2007, he co-founded the arts, culture, and activism blog, Providence Daily Dose.