Diane Neal, who played assistant district attorney Casey Novak on NBC's hit show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," announced Tuesday that she is running for Congress in New York's 19th congressional district.
Neal, 42, who was born in Virginia but grew up in Colorado, has lived in the 19th district since 2014. She is a registered Democrat but, according to her website, plans to run "with no party affiliation so she can truly serve as a representative of the people" and not be a "servant to the agendas of special interest groups, party bosses, or outside organizations."
"The truth is, most of us have beliefs on some issues that are liberal, ideas about other things that are quite conservative, but most of us as complete people fall somewhere in between," Neil said in a statement announcing her candidacy. "We are the unrepresented, passionate, moderates."
New York's 19th congressional district, located north of the New York City metropolitan area, encompasses all or portions of 11 counties that make up the state's Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. The district has a slight Republican lean but has been a close battleground during presidential elections. Former President Barack Obama won the district in both 2008 and 2012, and President Donald Trump carried it over Hillary Clinton by six points in 2016.
Neal is confident that her campaign can capture attention and distinguish itself from the six Democrats already running to take on first-term incumbent Republican Rep. John Faso (N.Y.) in November.
"I heard a lot of really dedicated people who are passionate about this," Neal told the Daily Freeman after listening to a recent debate among the six Democrats. "However, what I didn't hear was how any of them would appeal to anyone outside of this room, [such as] my cross-bow neighbor who gives me sweet venison. He's not even going to listen to these guys."
"I'm a little Libertarian, I'm a lot liberal, mostly progressive, but I have this amazing ability to be able to take really complicated policy and break it down into edible sound bites, which is something most progressive liberals cannot do," she added.
Neal also believes that her past experience of getting the better of Trump as a celebrity judge on "The Apprentice," which the president hosted before entering politics, will stand out in comparison to other candidates. Neal told the Freeman that during an after-party for the show about 15 years ago, she took it upon herself to see if Trump's hair was real.
"Donald and I are roughly the same height," Neal said. "After talking with him for a while, he stood in front of me [with his back turned], and I slipped a chopstick right in that thing because I wanted to see what it was made out of, how it was attached. I started getting a nice amount of loft."
"I'm sure that someone has a tape of this somewhere ... and I swear to God it was like I was about to see the singularity," she continued. "It was like all time and space was ending. Then he walked away and he took the chopstick with him, and for the last 15 years, I've wondered, where did it fall out?"
At the moment, Neal's campaign seems to be a shoe-string effort run with "nearly no staff, no donations (yet), with no party," according to her Twitter account.
MORNING!
Ok, so it’s ON!!! But I’m doing with nearly no staff, no donations (yet), with no party. Website will be up later today (fingers crossed) and all ready to go. But goal is bigger than parties. Goal is no negativity. Goal is HIGH ROAD all the way.— Diane Neal (@DianeNeal) February 6, 2018
Neal's platform emphasizes support for a single-payer health care system, a national registry of gun owners, and stronger environmental regulations. Neal also supports limitations on the number of firearms a single person can own.
"No one needs 47 guns. No one needs 47 American Girl dolls. No one needs 47 anything! We could set a reasonable limit," Neal's campaign platform says.
Neal has long been an advocate for gun control. In the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting in 2012, Neal expressed bewilderment at why anyone would need concealed carry.
And while we're on talking about racist horror that is #TrayvonMartin murder, can we also talk gun control. Who the F needs a concealed gun?
— Diane Neal (@DianeNeal) March 23, 2012