Rep. Laura Gillen on traffic, campus protests and early days in Congress

WASHINGTON — “Definitely challenging and interesting” is how Rep. Laura Gillen describes the current moment for congressional newcomers like herself.

Long Island was a rare bright spot for Democrats last fall, as Gillen ousted Republican Anthony D’Esposito in a closely watched rematch, just two years after he had bested her for an open seat in the midterms.

A former Hempstead town supervisor, she ran as a moderate focused on issues affecting swingy Nassau County. Now she’s charting that path in Congress, showing a willingness to cross party lines on things like fentanyl and immigration. In March, she joined just nine fellow Democrats in voting to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s joint address.

Meanwhile, she’s already on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s target list for 2026. Another rematch with D’Esposito seems less likely, after Trump nominated him as his pick for inspector general of the Department of Labor.

Gillen sat down with Roll Call this month to talk about scuba diving, Ernest Hemingway and compromise, along with two topics she emphasized during her campaign: congestion pricing and campus protests. She hasn’t changed her mind on either, she says.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Q: You’re starting out in Congress at a pretty eventful time. You’ve called for compromise, but what does that look like right now?

A: I’m from a very purple district. People are sick of the hyperpartisanship. They want to see Congress actually do something and start to make their lives better.

I believe the best way forward is to try to find bipartisan compromise and remember what our shared values and our shared concerns are. When I spoke on the floor in support of the HALT Fentanyl Act, the Republicans on the other side looked at me quite surprised. I said, “But this bill could be better,” and I asked them to work with us, don’t just turn down our amendments. [I talked about] someone we lost in my community, a young girl, because of fentanyl.

I was walking around the floor [last week] trying to get some Republicans to join onto a bipartisan bill that I co-sponsored with Mike Lawler and Brian Fitzpatrick codifying the right to IVF. Everybody went around during the campaign saying they liked IVF. The president has now said he likes IVF. So I think there’s room for us to agree, and there’s maybe room for us to actually pass a bipartisan bill.

Q: When it comes to IVF, the Trump administration is reportedly cutting teams who worked on fertility issues at the Department of Health and Human Services.

A: There are a lot of inconsistencies. There’s tariffs, there’s not tariffs, and now it’s tariffs again, for example. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try to get my colleagues to go along with something that the president said he supports.

Q: During your campaign you opposed congestion pricing in Manhattan. Since it started, some initial research has shown that traffic is moving faster in the region. Does that change anything for you?

A: I still am opposed to congestion pricing as it stands. I think it’s a cash grab from my constituents, many of whom have to commute by car, such as firemen, who have to bring in all kinds of equipment with them that you can’t bring on the Long Island Rail Road.

I’ve been in midtown Manhattan during the day during rush hour, and tried to take a taxi from one spot to the other, and I really did not see much improvement. There were plenty of traffic jams. So we’ll see what the data really shows about whether or not it’s working, whether it has any real environmental impact or beneficial impact on congestion. I’ve yet to see anything that would make me change my mind.

I do believe we need to save the Long Island Rail Road. It’s really important, but the state should do a better job of figuring out how to pay for that than just taxing my commuters.

Q: Is there a compromise in your mind that could appease people driving in and also people who want to see faster bus rides around downtown? What would help your constituents?

A: Right now, they see no upside. Maybe there could be some exceptions for people like my firefighters. Or I’ve talked about sick people, people with cancer, who need to go to Sloan Kettering or other hospitals in midtown Manhattan. When I was pregnant, I had to be seen by a specialist, and there was no way I could commute there seven or eight months pregnant, because there’s not even a good public transportation option there. Maybe if there were some exceptions for things like that, which made it easier on those people who actually do have to drive, there’s something we could talk about. But right now, that’s not even on the table.

Q: You’ve been vocal about the protests over the war in Gaza at New York universities. What are your thoughts now that ICE is arresting students who were involved in those, like Mahmoud Khalil?

A: The scenes that we saw take place in New York City, at Columbia and at Cooper Union, were shocking. This was not protest. This was engaging in acts of vandalism and acts terrorizing Jewish students. I had people in my district talk to me about how their daughter was afraid to wear her Jewish star, that she might be attacked on campus. That’s antisemitic, to make people fearful to even go to class.

It’s a complete abdication of responsibility of the university, and that should not be permitted. These people who break the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It’s created a culture of fear in New York City, and for my constituents who came to me and spoke to me directly about it.

As far as how ICE is operating, I believe that this is going to be litigated in the courts, and the facts are going to come out in the courts about what involvement Mr. Khalil had in terms of any involvement in Hamas. And we’ll let the court adjudicate that.

Quick hits

Last book you read? “A Moveable Feast,” Ernest Hemingway’s love story about being an expat. When I was young, I spent a lot of time traveling around in Southeast Asia and lived in India for a little while, while I worked for Mother Teresa. And so it just speaks to me.

Most meaningful thing on your office walls? A picture of my family on my swearing-in day, which is being framed right now. That keeps me grounded.

Your least popular opinion? That my children have to keep their room neat all the time. It’s very unpopular with them.

In politics, can the ends justify the means? Yes. When I was supervisor of the town of Hempstead, it was really important for me to get ethics reform across the finish line. I was the first Democrat in 112 years to be sitting in the supervisor’s seat, and my town board was controlled by Republicans, so I had to compromise a little bit. But compromising to get that bill passed was more important than fighting to get everything I wanted.

One thing your constituents might not know about you? I worked in a dive school in Thailand when I was younger. It was “dive master,” which sounds fancier than dive instructor, but it’s actually a step below. You can lead scuba excursions for licensed divers, but you can’t instruct people to learn how to dive. That’s one more certification that you have to do.