Mo Seifeldein

Mo Seifeldein received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Old Dominion University and a J.D. from Florida Coastal School of Law. His work experience included serving as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor and operating Seifeldein and Associates law firm.[1][2]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

The son of Sudanese refugees, Mo was raised in a working-class immigrant household where he, his mother, and siblings all worked at McDonald's to make ends meet. Mo was educated in Fairfax, built a community and served in Alexandria, and worked to protect workers' rights in Arlington. In 2018, Mo became the first Muslim and Sudanese-American elected to the Alexandria City Council, where George Washington once served. There, Mo championed bold, progressive reforms, expanding access to mental health care, advancing public safety and housing protections, fighting for workers' rights, and enacting environmental protections. Mo recently resigned as an attorney from the U.S. Department of Labor in protest of Trump-era policies that undermined both the civil service and our democracy. Before federal service, Mo worked as a court-appointed attorney.

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 support Medicare for All. Healthcare is a human right; it should not be a privilege tied to employment or income. Like millions of Americans, I know what it is like to go without healthcare for years. Too many Americans delay care or face financial hardship from medical bills, a leading cause of bankruptcy. No one should face financial ruin because they got sick.

And the insured also struggles with high deductibles, copays, and surprise charges.

Instead of providing care, insurance companies interfere with it, delaying and denying treatment. Medicare for All will guarantee coverage for everyone, eliminate insurance interference, and reduce administrative waste, lowering the cost of care and drug prices.I believe the U.S. should prioritize diplomacy over military intervention and work to end endless wars. I support an immediate arms embargo on Israel for genocide against Palestinians and advocate for reinstating the Iran nuclear deal. Military support should not go to human rights violators, including the UAE for fueling genocide in Sudan. On Ukraine, defensive aid should be paired with active diplomacy. I support repairing transatlantic relations and rejoining the Paris Agreement. Military savings should be reinvested in healthcare, housing, and childcare. I do not accept corporate PAC or AIPAC money.Data Centers and AI: Virginia leads in data centers. I support a moratorium on new centers until we address environmental damage and end corporate subsidies, while protecting jobs and local tax revenue. Existing centers must benefit Virginians directly. AI threatens jobs, privacy, and democracy. I support strict bans on AI-driven price-fixing, healthcare denials, surveillance, and voter manipulation. AI’s benefits, like medical breakthroughs, must serve the public. I back a public AI model with universities and labs, and am exploring whether public ownership would benefit the public rather than serving as a bail bondsman for AI companies.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I support a full ban on members of Congress, their spouses, and dependents from buying or selling individual stocks, with clear penalties.

I support unions, raising the federal minimum wage to a living wage that keeps up with inflation, paid family leave, and pay equity.

I will fight for stronger food safety laws, transparent labeling, healthy food investments, science-based oversight, and nutrition equity. We cannot ignore the link between processed foods and health issues.

On City Council, I championed affordable housing, supported unions, launched the first co-response team pairing healthcare and public safety, and established the state’s strongest public safety review board with investigative and subpoena powers.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Citizen Against AIPAC Corruption (Track AIPAC). New American Leaders Action Fund.

Campaign websiteSeifeldein's campaign website stated the following:ISSUESMo Seifeldein is fighting for an affordable and accountable future for Virginia’s 8th District. As a Sudanese American who made history on the Alexandria City Council and later served as a federal attorney at the Department of Labor, Mo stood up for working families and refused to compromise his principles.He resigned in protest when the Trump administration attacked civil servants and the rule of law. Now he is running for Congress to make life affordable for everyday people, hold those in power accountable, and build a government that serves the public, not the privileged few.MEDICARE FOR ALLAs of 2024, almost 27.2 million people in the U.S. are uninsured, including 3.7 million children. If Congress allows the enhanced ACA subsidies to expire in December 2025, average premium payments for many marketplace enrollees would rise drastically, increasing the number of uninsured Americans by roughly 3.8 million per year. This is unacceptable and unsustainable. No one should lose their home, business, or future because they or a family member is dealing with an illness. That is why Mo will work to establish Medicare for All through a universal, single-payer system that guarantees comprehensive care for every person in the United States. You keep your doctors and you get care when you need it without worrying about premiums, deductibles, or surprise bills.HOUSING AFFORDABILITYWorking people in Virginia’s 8th district face some of the highest living costs around the country, locking many out of dreams of home ownership and leaving renters with record cost-burdens.Typical home values (~$660K-$1.06M) are almost twice the national rate Rent runs roughly 20–35% higher than the average U.S. rent, depending on the communityThe median age of home buyers is 56 for all buyers and 38 for first-time buyers, with high-cost regions, like VA-08, skewing older still. Meanwhile, home sales face a 30-year low.Nearly one in three Virginians are housing cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and nearly half of those spend over 50%. Virginia has a statewide shortage of at least 200,000 affordable rental units, with a nearly 80,000 rental unit shortage in Northern Virginia alone. When in Congress, Mo will grow pathways that will give working people real opportunities to buy a home through more down payment help for first-generation buyers and shared-equity models that keep homes affordable over time. He will empower tenants with increased opportunities to buy buildings before they flip to speculators. Mo knows that the ability to buy a first home enables working families to build wealth.Mo will ensure families experience lower rent pressures by limiting predatory housing practices, including tax advantages that reward bulk buying for mega-landlords, and banning shared pricing tools that enable rent collusion and price fixing. Instead of continuing to fuel federal support to mega-portfolios, he will redirect federal funds towards builders, owner-occupants, nonprofits, and land trusts. Mo is committed to expanding affordable housing through increased tax credits for low-income housing and the development of a preservation fund to leverage underused federal land for mixed-income housing near transitUNIVERSAL CHILD CAREMo knows the cost of child care is bankrupting Americans. In Virginia, center-based infant care typically costs $16,000–$17,000 a year, with similar costs for toddler and preschooler care. In VA-08, families pay some of the highest rates in the country – roughly $123,000 to $150,000 over five years of care for a single child, from daycare to kindergarten. Families are paying for the equivalent of a four-year in-state college degree before kindergarten.The problem with the current programs is that they were never built to cover everyone. CCDF/CCDBG subsidies are targeted narrowly and often reimburse below the true cost of quality, which drives provider shortages and long waitlists. Head Start and Early Head Start are excellent programs, but they are limited in terms of available seats and hours. The result is the “middle gap” where families earn just enough to not qualify for help, but too little to keep up with the cost of living and child care, all while providers still struggle to pay staff a professional wage.Mo supports free, universal child care. He advocates for a model already in play in New Mexico, where families pay $0 for licensed center-based and licensed home-based care from birth to kindergarten entry. This approach put thousands of dollars back into household budgets immediately while shortening waitlists for infant and toddler care, providing options for shift workers. Children benefit from consistent, higher-quality learning environments that improve school readiness and long-term outcomes. Universal childcare would only require us to spend 0.5% to 0.7% of GDP annually.We have the opportunity to stabilize jobs in this sector, lower costs for working people, and invest in our future by giving children a stronger start.PROTECTING WORKERS & LIVING WAGES With broad efforts underway to deregulate workers’ protection and enforcement, Trump’s policies are negatively impacting Americans and the economy. Private sector union coverage is hovering at a historic low, about 6%, even as worker protections are disappearing. Prosperity is achieved by workers, not by billionaires who leverage union-busting and poverty wages to make themselves richer on the backs of workers. Mo is committed to building an economy that works for the 99%: guaranteeing workers’ bargaining power, ensuring fair pay that can keep pace with rising living costs, and a government staffed to serve the public.Unions are essential mechanisms for protecting workers’ rights and safety. Strong unions raise wages and benefits for union and non-union workers alike. Mo has pledged to back legislation, including the Pro Act, that makes it easier to organize without retaliation, win a first contract, and grow membership. He advocates for raising the federal minimum wage, paid family leave, and pay equity. He will push for stronger enforcement against wage theft and “junk fees” that claw away wages. Protecting federal workers protects the services people rely on—from veterans’ care and air traffic control to disaster response. VA-08 is home to tens of thousands of civil servants and contractors whose work keeps our country safe, healthy, and functioning. Mo will defend the rights of federal workers to fair process, due-process protections, and collective bargaining under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. “Reductions in force” and politicized exclusions from bargaining don’t make the government better; they make it weaker and more costly in the long run. Mo will champion smart staffing, merit protections, and safe workplaces so public servants can effectively do their jobs without being held hostage to partisan politics.DEMOCRACY & CIVIL LIBERTIESAs a young refugee from Sudan, Mo witnessed a brutal dictator systematically: Dismantle governmental institutionsWeaken the educational systemBan political opposition, andDeclare martial law, enforced by his personal police force.This firsthand knowledge leaves him especially alarmed to see how the Trump administration is implementing the authoritarian playbook. Trump’s attacks on democratic institutions and scapegoating of minorities, evidenced by attacks on reproductive rights, civil rights, and environmental protections, led Mo to resign from the Department of Labor.Mo is running for Congress to block Trump’s continued attacks on the American people and the country’s foundational institutions. He will utilize Congressional authority through appropriation, aggressive investigations, enforcement, and legislation to rein in Trump’s abuses of power and authoritarian regime.He is further committed to: Codifying Reproductive Rights and access to contraceptives into law. He will press to repeal the Comstock Act, Trump’s effort to implement national restrictions on reproductive rights. Protecting Civil Rights: Every American deserves equal protection under the law — regardless of race, faith, identity, or choice of partner. Mo will defend the fundamental rights of free speech, free press, and peaceful expression in our schools, workplaces, and communities. Today, the Department of Justice is being misused to target those who dare to challenge Trump and his allies, undermining the rule of law and eroding public trust. Mo will ensure that the Office of Inspector Generals are fully resourced to investigate the many unjust actions under the Trump Administration. My commitment is to restore justice that is blind to politics, protect every person’s right to speak and live freely, and ensure that no one in America is silenced or punished for who they are or what they believe. Abolishing ICE: ICE was established in 2003 and has spent over $409 billion taxpayer dollars, with no meaningful payoff for Americans. Today, ICE blatantly abuses the law, erodes public trust in our government, and stokes fear in communities across the country. Mo is committed to stopping the separation of families, creating a pathway to citizenship for DACA holders, establishing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as needed, restoring common sense H-1B visas, and ensuring that farmers and agricultural industries can access H-2A visas critical for their workers and livelihoods.   Reestablishing America’s Advocacy for Basic Human Rights and Dignity: Mo opposes the idea that the U.S. should militarily or financially support any state (ally or nonally) that is engaged in human rights violations, actively committing genocide, or operating an apartheid state, including Israel and the UAE. He will push to sanction both of the Middle East’s rogue actors. HEALTHIER & AFFORDABLE FOOD America’s food system needs reform. Ultra-processed foods have made our lives more convenient and affordable, but they’ve also made us sicker. Too many Americans are getting sick from what’s on our shelves. Every year, roughly 678,000  people die from diet-related illnesses. The problem isn’t personal choice alone; it’s a food industry built on ultra-processed products that are cheap, addictive, and harmful to our health. Research from institutions like Harvard have shown that these industrially processed foods are linked to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even cognitive decline and strokes.For decades, the FDA and USDA have focused on short-term contamination, while paying less attention to the chronic diseases caused by additives, artificial ingredients, and over-processing. It’s time to redefine food safety with science, transparency, and accountability.In Congress, Mo Will fight for:Stronger food safety laws that hold corporations accountable for producing foods linked to chronic disease.Transparent labeling so families can make informed, healthy choices.Healthier food investments in local farmers, sustainable agriculture, and nutritious school meals.Independent, science-based oversight of additives and marketing practices — especially those targeting children.Nutrition equity, ensuring every community has access to affordable, healthy, minimally processed food.Healthy food shouldn’t be a luxury. It should be a right and a cornerstone of a stronger, longer, and healthier America.AFFORDABLE FOOD: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Pricing Index, the food index increased 3.2 percent nationally over the last year. For example, nationally, the average price of a dozen large eggs rose from $3.20 to $3.59 (+12 %), a gallon of whole milk from $4.04 to $4.17 (+3 %), and a pound of bananas from $0.64 to $0.67 (+5 %) over the past year. In Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, the food at home index prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs are up 6.5 percent, and 1.4 for all prices. We are likely to see these prices go up as the Administration’s arbitrary tariffs and attacks on farmers continue. There are reports that corporations are marking up their prices independent of underlying cost increases to them, and some have openly bragged about it. A spineless Congress has stayed on the sidelines for too long with little actual push back and action.   There are bills in Congress that address some of these issues, but do not go far enough. For example, the penalties are not severe enough that it would make business sense to a capitalist to violate the law. In Congress, Mo will fight to make fair pricing a year-round obligation through bold, enforceable reforms. That means:Banning algorithmic and dynamic price manipulation that automatically raises prices when demand spikes or consumers have fewer options.Vigorous enforcement of existing law like empowering the FTC and DOJ with full authority to audit, prosecute, and penalize corporate profiteering — not just during inflation, but whenever prices diverge from reasonable costs.Requiring transparent profit and pricing disclosures so corporations can no longer hide their markups behind shareholder reports or cost pressures.Creating an independent Price Watchdog Office to publish quarterly reports on corporate profit margins and detect artificial price inflation across food, energy, and housing markets.Establishing criminal liability for repeat corporate offenders who exploit consumers, along with mandatory restitution for overcharging.BAN CONGRESSIONAL STOCK TRADINGOver 80% of Americans support banning members of Congress from buying and selling stocks. Public service shouldn’t be a stock-picking side hustle. Mo believes that profiting from writing laws or accessing privileged information represents a conflict of interest with national security implications. Members of Congress cannot represent the interests of their constituents if they are profiting from trading; it is partially why some Democrats have not truly mounted an opposition to Trump’s power grabs. Mo supports a full ban of members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children, from buying or selling individual stocks, with clear penalties. Ending individual-stock trading by members of Congress and their families is a bipartisan issue, with support from many Republicans and Democrats. Beyond his commitment to refuse any money from corporate interests, Mo has also pledged that he will not buy or hold individual stocks, options, or similar instruments and will support the Restore Trust in Congress Act (H.R. 5106).FOREIGN POLICY Mo believes America should do more to be a better partner to other countries. Our foreign policy needs to put human rights, international law, and respect for all people first, instead of focusing on corporate profits or weapons makers. We should lead with diplomacy, work together on climate change, support fair trade, and provide humanitarian aid. If we stop giving blank checks for foreign conflicts, we can invest more at home in things families need, like lower healthcare costs, universal childcare, affordable housing, and better infrastructure. This approach also helps prevent the instability that leads to energy price spikes and supply problems, and it keeps our service members out of unnecessary wars.Israel and PalestineIsrael is committing genocide in Gaza, and the United States should not support this. Mo believes we must stop all U.S. military aid and weapons transfers until Israel ends its apartheid policies and fully follows international law. There should be no special treatment or exceptions. Stand with me in calling on Congress: U.S. policy must uphold human rights for everyone, including freedom and self-determination for Palestinians.IranThe war with Iran is wrong, unconstitutional without Congress’s approval, and clearly violates international law. It has already cost American military lives, killed civilians in the region, destabilized countries, and caused long-term economic harm as infrastructure is destroyed and costs go up. Mo is against this war and any escalation. He will work to limit the president’s power to start wars, require congressional approval, and push for immediate diplomacy. Our main goal should be to de-escalate. We need to take steps toward a ceasefire, talk with regional partners, and set clear limits so the U.S. cannot get pulled into a bigger war without Congress’s approval and a clear plan. Trump and his Secretary of War should be held accountable for this illegal and reckless action.Sudan and the UAEThe people of Sudan deserve peace, civilian leadership, and justice, not rule by militias or interference from other countries. The RSF is carrying out mass atrocities, and the UAE is making the violence worse. I support putting sanctions on the UAE and ending U.S. weapons sales to it. Mo also supports a clear plan for Sudan to have a civilian-led government and for those responsible for violence to be held accountable, including the current and past regimes. Sudan’s future should be decided by its own people, not by generals, militias, or foreign powers.Repair alliances and restore credibilityAmerica cannot lead if we ignore international law or treat our allies as tools. We need to rebuild trust with democratic partners and be reliable, not just reach out when we need something. Mo believes in strengthening long-term alliances based on mutual respect and shared interests, working with our allies in diplomacy, and committing to international organizations. We must work together as equal partners to address climate action, fight corruption, improve global health, address migration, and prevent conflict. This approach restores credibility and helps America lead successfully on the world stage.UkraineRussia’s invasion is illegal and brutal, and Ukraine has the right to defend itself. I support continued help that protects civilians and strengthens Ukraine’s defense, along with strong oversight and a diplomatic plan with our allies to end the war in a way that respects Ukraine’s independence and long-term security.Mo is following developments on many other foreign policy matters. Mo is running to answer to people, not defense contractors. This means He will vote against blank checks, support cutting or conditioning military aid when human rights are violated, and put diplomacy, climate action, and working families first.— Mo Seifeldein's campaign website (May 17, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.