Caroline Shinkle

Caroline Shinkle earned a bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015 and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 2020. Her career experience includes working as an attorney.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am someone who loves New York City and loves our country. I still believe that New York City is the greatest city in the world, but the time is now to choose forging that bright future vs. choosing continued failure.

I am an attorney who has practiced law at the highest levels in Manhattan at an international law firm. I have also worked in central banking around the world and here at home—at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, and Bank of Israel in Jerusalem. I am someone who understands the economy and how to leverage global economic frameworks for the benefit of the American people and of New York City.

I am for you. I am for the people. And I pledge to deliver for you. As a pragmatic problem-solver, I will work with anyone, regardless of political affiliation, to develop solutions to the many pressing problems facing my district and our country.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I am running for Congress to give voters in Manhattan a real choice on the ballot. It’s time to resurrect the power of private enterprise and common-sense thinking and deliver tangible solutions to the outrageous cost of living in New York City.

I will offer pro-growth, pro-business, pro-worker economic policies that will generate unbridled opportunity for New Yorkers. This means letting people keep more of what they earn, letting people choose how to invest their time and resources, and rewarding those who work for a living.

We have lived in a one-party politburo in NYC for decades. Our politicians’ broken promises and failures have led us into our spiral of decline. It is time to vote differently and solve the challenges before us.I love New York City too much to join those who have given up on it. I believe that New York City is America’s city and that the United States has a strategic interest in maintaining the vibrancy of New York City and preserving it as the center of global enterprise. None of us can afford to write off NYC, and as New Yorkers, we have a duty to preserve NYC as the center of Western civilization.

I have traveled to all 50 states of our great country and have found that there is much more that unites us than divides us. I believe that the vast majority of Americans are focused on protecting and providing for their children and ensuring their children have the opportunity to pursue their version of the American Dream. My job is to enable this.We are at an inflection point in history where we need a positive voice in Washington to enable and support New Yorkers to build our dreams through innovation, merit and opportunity.

I believe that the aim of government should be to make the American Dream easier for people to achieve. How? By empowering us—the people. By creating the conditions for people to build wealth and prosperity, which are essential to enabling freedom and independence. By protecting Americans, their families, and their livelihoods. By not seizing and redistributing opportunity. By generating an overabundance of opportunity for all.

My common-sense platform, grounded in a deep understanding of economics and free market principles, will deliver this bright future.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Rewarding work, protecting the paycheck, improving quality of education, and ensuring public safety. Supporting the dignity of work is central to building a thriving society. Yet the American worker’s paycheck remains an easy target of the politician’s redistribution schemes, thereby demotivating any incentive to build the future.

Education is the great equalizer and the key to upward mobility. We must turbocharge the quality and affordability of our education system across the board. It is likely the best public investment, in terms of future rate of return.

None of these policies matters without public safety. Supporting law enforcement and fighting rising antisemitism are priorities. Without safety, we cannot have a vibrant economy.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick and President Ronald Reagan. Both were happy warriors that literally changed world history for the better. Reagan’s leadership and foresight displayed at Reykjavik in 1986, against the prevailing groupthink at the time, helped to end the Cold War without firing a shot. Both former Democrats, I might add.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

To be a highly intelligent pragmatic problem-solver, responsive to the people, and remain open to all perspectives. To be an independent, open-minded thinker, not owned by any special interests. It requires high character and positive temperament, and one cannot lose composure under pressure. We need trustworthiness, empathy, compassion, appreciation of the taxpayer’s perspective, and an understanding of the private sector. Parasitic deadweight politicians that will try to hang on forever without adding any value need not apply.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To represent the people of the district, deliver positive legislation for the good of the district, offer out-of-the-box thinking to develop legislation grounded in economic principles and the law. To be a citizen-legislator, go to Washington, address the problems, and return to the private sector. Career politicians should be immediately disqualified from office–-they are the problem. No more apparatchiks!

What legacy would you like to leave?

To win the peace. To have made a dramatic positive impact on the many issues facing my district--by rebuilding New York City’s tax base, reversing the cost of living trend, reducing W2 taxes on workers, achieving education excellence second to none based on novel methods and best practices, rooting out antisemitism and prosecuting the perpetrators of antisemitic violence, and actually addressing the global environmental challenges through pragmatic positive solutions.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Youth reporter for a CBS affiliate at both the 2008 Democrat and Republican National Conventions in the summer of 2008 (10 weeks).

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Being a pragmatic Republican problem-solver while living in deep blue districts--from Detroit to Washington, D.C., to Cambridge, MA, to NYC without any representation that was qualified to fix the quality of life challenges.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

It is the only federal legislative body that provides direct, proportional representation of the American population. Its two-year terms for members ensure accountability and the ability to course correct, should sentiment and priorities among a community change (and we certainly need a course correction in Manhattan, given the unsustainable status quo). I would be honored to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives to represent the wonderful constituents of NY-12.

What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Our greatest challenge will be fighting against the dangerous, destructive, anti-Western forces that are actively taking hold of our political institutions. We must unite as Americans, regardless of political affiliation, to preserve our country and the values upon which our country was founded, in order to continue to build a bright future for generations to come, lest we sentence our children and grandchildren to take the first step into 1,000 years of darkness.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

One should never compromise their values. However, working with colleagues from across the political spectrum is critical to developing solutions for the greater good. Most Americans agree on most issues and largely have the same objectives, though we may disagree as to how best to achieve those objectives. That is the job of our elected officials, to forge the most productive path forward to deliver for the American people.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

NYC Fire Marshals Benevolent Association; 60 Plus Association (American Association of Senior Citizens); George Pataki, Former NY Governor; Rudy Giuliani, Former Mayor of NYC; Bruce Blakeman, Candidate for NY Governor; Peter King, Former NY Congressman; Frank Morano, NYC Council Member; Mike DeWine, OH Governor; Scott Brown, Former MA Senator and U.S. Ambassador; Spencer Abraham, Former MI Senator and U.S. Secretary of Energy; Phil Gramm, Former TX Congressman and U.S. Senator; Bob Taft, Former OH Governor; Shmuly Rosenstein, Chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council; Tom Smith, Former NYPD Detective; Manhattan GOP; NY GOP; Log Cabin Republicans

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

September 11, 2001.