Dahroug and Trunzo both hail from Brentwood, home to what Dahroug says is an underfunded school district that lies between richer and poorer districts. Due to low property taxes and a cap on state aid proportional to the size of the graduating class, he says the school district suffers from inconsistent program quality.

“He really knows first-hand what it’s like,” Martinez said.

Dahroug did not realize his school was underfunded until he interviewed the principal while writing an article on school finance for his high school newspaper.

“He laid out the facts to me...and I was just kind of shocked,” Dahroug said. “I didn’t have a clue about the way things went.”

Dahroug followed his newfound interest in school funding through his undergraduate years at Columbia University to the GSE.

“In class and in his papers, he spoke very compellingly about the impact that [his high school’s situation] had on his own education,” said J.D. LaRock ’93, one of Dahroug’s teaching fellows at the GSE last semester.

Although he did not foresee a future in politics when he entered the GSE, Dahroug did know that he wanted to go into public service when he graduated.

“The things that go beyond yourself and help other people are the most fulfilling,” Dahroug said, admitting that his statement sounded “trite.”

Dahroug said he believed that the debate over education funding in New York state is too highly politicized to be effective.

“A lot of the process is about political deal-making...if we just gloss over and do the bare minimum, that’s not going to go,” Dahroug said.

Dahroug compared current school funding proposals to “putting a child’s Band-Aid on a flesh wound.”

At Harvard, Dahroug has worked for the Harvard Civil Rights Project and cross-registered in courses at the Kennedy School of Government and the Law School while tending bar and doing “odd jobs” to support himself.

LaRock said Dahroug manages all of his time commitments through “sheer force of will.”

If he wins, “that’s an awesome responsibility,” Dahroug said. “This is the only thing that’s been on my mind for the longest time.”

“He’s very passionate about it,” LaRock said.

Dahroug has no primary opponents and expects to be nominated by the Democratic party on May 27. He will then head into the general election in November.