Squire Servance is one of 12 candidates currently running in the Democratic primary to represent Princeton’s district in Congress following Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman’s announcement that she would not seek re-election.
Servance is a lawyer and the founder of Syridex Bio, a health equity investment firm, as well as a trustee of Rutgers University. He stated that he has also previously advised Congress regarding life sciences policy.
“I’ve been called down to Congress on multiple occasions to advise on healthcare and life sciences policy. So I would consider myself a policy wonk, and in that arena, I’ve worked with Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman’s office on specific legislation,” Servance told The Daily Princetonian in an interview on Wednesday.
Servance emphasized his unique grassroots campaign, stating that his campaign has knocked on over 25,000 doors and that he frequently canvasses at the train station during early hours of the day to hear what issues matter to commuters.
“We’ve gotten votes just by knocking on doors,” said Servance. “The grassroots approach, as far as door knocking, is probably more tied to my personality and what I think a campaign should be, and it’s really engaging directly with voters from the ground up as opposed to top-down.”
“It’s less about what issues matter most to me, it’s more so what issues I hear from the constituents,” he added.
Two of his top priorities, he said during the interview, are housing and healthcare.
Servance proposed to the ‘Prince’ the introduction of legislation to increase the supply of affordable housing in the area, saying that the federal government could provide more incentives and seek to cut red tape for construction. Regarding healthcare, he said “let’s find ways to give resources back to ACA so that we can reduce premium costs and out-of-cost expenses for folks,” referring to the Affordable Care Act.
The future of higher education has been part of a nationwide discussion revolving around free speech.
When asked how he would interact with the University community, Servance pointed to his experience as a trustee at Rutgers and then his grassroots campaign.
“I’m big on door knocking. I think you don’t just do that during campaigns. I think you should do that throughout the year. And so we would commit to doing that and obviously coming back and engaging with students and administration here,” he said.
Additionally, Servance emphasized the importance of free speech at universities.
“If you can’t have an open dialogue at a university, I don’t know where else you have that free space to learn. Just because I disagree with someone does not mean we should prohibit them from saying it.”
He further stated that he would be against federal involvement with universities regarding protests and First Amendment concerns.
“If you have the federal government continue to weigh in at the university level, you’re just going to have politics ultimately coming in, and it’s going to swing from administration to administration,” he said.
Legislation on artificial intelligence (AI) has been another discussion taking place nationwide. In comparison to other N.J.-12 candidates who have endorsed the AI moratorium suggested by Senator Bernie Sanders, Servance stated that he wants the United States to be a leader in AI.
“My position is that you want America to take the lead in this space. You want them to be the standard. I’m not for a moratorium on it, because that’s going to open it up for other countries to come in and step in and lead it,” he said.
The New Jersey AI Hub, located in Princeton, is leading AI innovation in the state. It is a collaboration between Princeton University, the state government of New Jersey, Coreweave, and Microsoft.
He pointed to a need for guardrails regarding bias and transparency, and he said that the country should have more job training and reskilling programs in the long term.
Servance also discussed his thoughts on the role of the United States abroad.
“Obviously you have to make sure you’re protecting American lives. That’s the ultimate goal for the country,” he said. “I think if we’re going to go to war, you exhaust diplomacy first, you get constitutional approval from Congress, and you have defined objectives, which I think, for example, [in] the Iranian conflict, I just don’t think we had.”
He further suggested the need for a consistent standard when supplying aid to other countries such as Israel.
“I’m actually fine with providing aid to countries, but with strings attached that they’re following international laws,” he said, pointing to a need to protect civilian lives and focus on defensive aid.
“I think that will be consistent across the board, whether it’s Israel or whoever else we’d be giving aid to.”
The future of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is another issue that has divided the Democratic party. Servance suggested having separate civilian and criminal arms of immigration enforcement, with the latter solely focusing on people such as violent criminals or traffickers.
“If you’re civilian immigration enforcement, there are specific rules you follow. I think for the most part, both of them should be grounded in the Constitution,” he said. “I believe in warrants. I believe in ‘you should not be snatching people up in face masks.’ I think hospitals, churches, synagogues, mosques, schools should be off limits.”
There have been about 17 ICE detainments over the past year and a half in Princeton alone. Earlier this year, N.J. Governor Mikie Sherrill codified the Immigrant Trust Directive.
Regarding the issues of low voter turnout and political apathy, Servance also talked about the general need to rebuild trust in representatives.
“I think the goal for me would be to continue to build trust. A lot of people just don’t trust politicians. They have a lot of reasons why they do not. I understand it, but we need to continue to engage with them to build trust,” he said. He added that Coleman has done a good job in this arena.
“I think she has a really great pulse on what’s happening across the district, and I would want to continue that.”
In such a crowded primary, Servance wants to stand out. He specifically pointed to his canvassing efforts in his campaign and his background as key differentiators from the other candidates.
“When I started talking to people, [for] whatever reason, my background resonated when I started saying, ‘Hey, I was a Rutgers-trained scientist. I’m an attorney. I’m an entrepreneur,’” he said.
“I started off as a small business owner that has launched companies and created jobs in this district. There are not that many people in this race that can say that, and that is the sticking point.”
Emily Murphy is a senior news writer, senior Copy editor, and chief correspondent for the N.J.–12 congressional election. She is from New York City, and she can be reached at emurphy[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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