This Law & Order Actor Is Officially Running for Congress

The trend of actors running for seats in the U.S. government is continuing, like it or not. And while the latest Hollywood star to announce an election bid doesn’t have any real legal experience, she’s at least played a lawyer on TV a few times (not that it should be comforting, because political jobs should be for people with policy-making experience).

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Law and Order: SVU star Diane Neal, who fans probably remember as Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak, just returned from a social media hiatus to announce that she’s running for a New York Congressional seat. Though she’s a registered Democrat, Neal is running as an Independent, which will require her to collect 3,500 signatures of support to secure a guaranteed spot on the ballot for the November election.

“MORNING! Ok, so it’s ON!!!” she wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “But I’m doing with nearly no staff, no donations (yet), with no party. Website will be up later today (fingers crossed) and all ready to go. But goal is bigger than parties. Goal is no negativity. Goal is HIGH ROAD all the way.”

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MORNING!
Ok, so it’s ON!!! But I’m doing with nearly no staff, no donations (yet), with no party. Website will be up later today (fingers crossed) and all ready to go. But goal is bigger than parties. Goal is no negativity. Goal is HIGH ROAD all the way.

— Diane Neal (@DianeNeal) February 6, 2018

In a second tweet, she shared a campaign graphic, which reads, “Empathy & reason.” She added, “And that’s why I dropped off social- to think, read, write, ponder. Reacquaint with every bit of Political Phil., History and Ethics from The Republic to Rackove. To make a plan for us worthy of American Ideals.”

And that’s why I dropped off social- to think, read, write, ponder. Reacquaint with every bit of Political Phil., History and Ethics from The Republic to Rackove. To make a plan for us worthy of American Ideals. So… pic.twitter.com/exFmokdxNl

— Diane Neal (@DianeNeal) February 6, 2018

From her early interviews, Neal sounds like another wannabe politician trying to convince voters she’s not like other politicians.

“I’m a little Libertarian, I’m a lot liberal, mostly progressive, but I have this amazing ability to be able to take really complicated policy and break it down into edible sound bites, which is something most progressive liberals cannot do,” she told The Daily Freeman.

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Can’t she just return to SVU instead? That’s something we could all support.