Former Olympic gold medalist running for Congress as a Democrat

A former Olympic champion in women's figure skating has now decided to compete in the arena of U.S. politics.

On Monday, Sarah Hughes, who took home gold in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, filed paperwork to run as a Democrat for New York's 4th Congressional district seat, which represents part of Long Island. Hughes grew up in Great Neck, New York, located in a neighboring district currently represented by Rep. George Santos (R). She is expected to formally announce her campaign "in the next few weeks," a spokesperson said.

"I’ve always been hopeful about our future; about our ability to come together and achieve great things in the face of difficulty and adversity. Long Island can be a great place to live and raise a family," a campaign website for Hughes said in part.

"All it takes is us coming together and doing things differently," the website continued. "And I'm here to be part of the solution."

Currently, the seat is in the hands of a Republican, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, who was just elected in 2022. However, Democrats believe they stand a good chance of winning it back next election. D'Esposito, a retired police officer, narrowly defeated Democrat candidate Laura Gillen, and President Joe Biden carried the district by 15 points in 2020. Gillen has also announced her intention to vie for the seat in 2024.

Hughes, now 38, has a history of winning as an underdog. In 2002, when she was just 16 years old, she snatched the gold medal in women's figure skating from Michelle Kwan, who entered the Olympics as a heavy favorite. "I had a fairly quick rise within the skating world," Hughes later recalled. "I started skating when I was three years old. I spent my whole life on the ice, but I hadn’t made the national championship until 1998, at the junior level."

Her nearly flawless performance in the ladies' free skate can be seen below. It is still considered one of the most technically difficult performances in Olympic history.

Sarah Hughes (USA) - 2002 Salt Lake City, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skatewww.youtube.com

After she retired from skating, Hughes earned a bachelor's degree from Yale and went on to earn a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She spent some time practicing law with Proskauer Rose, an internationally renowned law firm based in New York City. She is currently working toward an MBA from Stanford.

Jay Jacobs, the state chairman of the New York Democratic Party and a Democratic leader in Nassau County, claimed that Hughes "would be a very strong candidate." According to the campaign website, Hughes' political interests include regulating "assault weapons" and in restoring SALT deductions, which help high-income earners living in high-tax states like New York.

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