Kathleen Rice

Kathleen Rice

Kathleen Maura Rice is an American attorney, prosecutor, and the United States Representative for New York’s 4th congressional district. Rice won the election over Republican Bruce Blakeman on November 4, 2014 and took office in January 2015. Rice was elected Nassau County District Attorney in 2005, winning by 7,500 votes to become the first female to hold the position.

About Kathleen Rice in brief

Summary Kathleen RiceKathleen Maura Rice is an American attorney, prosecutor, and the United States Representative for New York’s 4th congressional district. Rice won the election over Republican Bruce Blakeman on November 4, 2014 and took office in January 2015. Rice was elected Nassau County District Attorney in 2005, winning by 7,500 votes to become the first female to hold the position. Prior to that, she served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia. Rice announced on January 29, 2014 that she would run for Congress in 2014 to replace retiring Democratic incumbent Carolyn McCarthy. She received a B. A. degree from the Catholic University in 1987 and a J. D. degree in 1991. Rice began her career as an assistant district attorney in the Kings County District attorney’s Office, under District Attorney Charles Hynes in 1992. She prosecuted cases involving burglaries, robberies and sexual assaults and was the first member of her class to be promoted to the homicide bureau. In 1999, Rice was appointed assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia by then-Attorney General Janet Reno.

She was chosen by Governor Andrew Cuomo to be a member of the Moreland Commission on Utility Storm Preparation and Response, a panel tasked with investigating the failures of the Long Island Power Authority following Hurricane Sandy. In 2007, Rice’s office led a counter-assault on Terrace Avenue, a major drug haven and crime-ridden street in Long Island’s Hempstead Village. Through a combination of zero-tolerance enforcement for repeat and violent offenders, and social-service based jail diversion for nonviolent and first time offenders, crime has been reduced in the area. In 2008, following the trampling death of a Walmart employee at one of the retailer’s Black Friday sales events, Rice encouraged Walmart to upgrade its security protocols at its nearly 100 New York stores. Rice has also received credit for teen education programs geared towards cyber bullying, drug use, texting and dangerous driving. In 2012, Rice came out in favor of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana.