Neil Makhija won the coveted position of Montgomery County Commissioner

Los Angeles, Nov 09, 2023
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

Neil Makhija is an attorney, educator, and civic leader. He is a Lecturer in election law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and is currently on leave from serving as Executive Director of IMPACT, the nation’s leading South Asian civic organization.

Neil is running for the seat formerly held by Governor Josh Shapiro until 2017. If elected, Neil would be the first AAPI Commissioner in Pennsylvania’s history — and at 37 years old, would be the youngest Democratic Commissioner in recent history.

As Montgomery County Commissioner, Neil would oversee elections in Pennsylvania’s most critical county of over 850,000 people. He brings the expertise we need to protect the right to vote — and has a comprehensive pro-democracy plan to achieve historic turnout in Pennsylvania’s most critical county in the 2024 elections.

As Commissioner, Neil would also oversee the courts and district attorney’s office and prioritize advancing criminal justice reform. He’ll also oversee a $1.2 billion budget and make substantial investments in mental health services. That’s one of the many reasons Neil was endorsed by U.S. Senator John Fetterman — the only statewide elected official to weigh in on the Democratic Primary.

Neil has been a leader in Pennsylvania for years. In 2021, Neil was among 13 civil rights leaders invited by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to the White House to advise on civil & voting rights. He was named by City & State PA as one of the “40 under 40” most influential people in Pennsylvania politics alongside some of the state’s highest-ranking government leaders. In 2022, he provided public testimony on redrawing of Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered state house maps, which led to flipping the chamber for the first time in over a decade.

In his former law practice, Neil was a fierce advocate for Pennsylvania communities on issues of mental health & addiction. He represented Pennsylvania counties in litigation against Purdue Pharma for causing the opioid crisis.

In a nearly 20 year career in advocacy and politics, Neil worked in the Obama White House, the U.S. Senate, and earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School on the Horace Lentz Scholarship, which was endowed by a 19th century Pennsylvanian. While at Harvard, he founded the HLS Homelessness Coalition and was a Senior Policy Editor on the Harvard Law & Policy Review. He received his B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, where he studied neuroscience and served as co-president of his class and 2009 commencement speaker.

Neil is married to Dr. Rachel Nash, an internal medicine physician from Lafayette Hill, Pa. They live in Penn Valley, Montgomery County, and are expecting their first child in June.