An interview with dr. Miriam Levitt Flisser, candidate for Congress in New York’s District 16

Raised in the Bronx, Dr. Miriam Levitt Flisser was nominated by the Republican Party to run for Congress in New York’s 16th congressional district. The recently redrawn borough includes most of Westchester County, just south of Interstate 287, and its four largest cities – Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, and Yonkers, and part of the north-central Bronx.

dr Flisser has been a pediatrician and pediatric counselor for several school districts in the Bronx and Westchester County for several decades. She is Board Certified as a Diplomate by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Designated International Vaccine Center by the US Centers for Disease Control. She is also the provider of the New York State Department of Health’s Vaccines for Children program. Flisser has devoted countless hours to community service, particularly in the Bronx. She also served as mayor of Scarsdale from 2011 to 2013.

Flisser is up against MP Jamaal Bowman, whom I interviewed separately. The election will take place on November 8th and early voting will begin on October 29th^th. I met with Dr. Flisser sat down to discuss their platform, experience and expertise.

Why are you running for Congress? dr flicker?

I am very grateful to America and a firm believer in community service. These are also the reasons I ran for mayor of Scarsdale and served as a police commissioner and fire commissioner. I was born in Eastern Europe and was smuggled out from under a mail bus. My parents and I were held in a camp for displaced persons in Germany. Brought to the United States on a Navy troop ship, I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time from the ship’s deck. That touched me deeply and I’m still touched when I see her.

I was an immigrant growing up in the Bronx. I attended Bronx High School of Science and graduated from New York University’s Bronx campus. I received my medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and also completed my pediatric training at Montefiore Medical Center. When I was a kid there were few female doctors and who could have imagined then that I would be mayor of Scarsdale and now run for Congress?

I honor the tremendous opportunities I have had in the Bronx by being a lifelong volunteer there. I’ll never give up on the people of the Bronx!