Paul Eric Strauss (born April 11, 1964) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States shadow senator from the District of Columbia since 1997. He succeeded Jesse Jackson, the first person to hold the elected position of a shadow senator for Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Early life and education Strauss was born to a Jewish family, in Brooklyn, raised in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and graduated from Dwight School. His father was a painting contractor for Yankee Stadium. As a youth, Strauss was active in politics, volunteering for the election campaigns of Mario Biaggi, Hugh Carey, and Jimmy Carter. At 17, he interned for New York City mayor Ed Koch with his own desk and phone in the Tweed Courthouse. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1982 at the age of 18, later earning his bachelor's degree (1986) and Juris Doctor (1993) at American University. Career Strauss is a former chairperson of the District's Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals. He has also been a union organizer for Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 25. Strauss is an attorney and principal of the Law Offices of Paul Strauss & Associates, P.C., a law firm specializing in real estate, business, and family law. In his first political campaign in Washington, D.C., he mobilized other college students to register to vote against raising the drinking age to 21. Shadow Senator Prior to being elected as a shadow senator in 1996, Strauss served in several locally elected government positions. He served as the at-large member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, Chairperson of the Democratic Party's D.C. Statehood Committee, Chairperson of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3E, and Chairperson of Neighborhood Planning Council #3. Strauss was first elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in 1986 as the youngest chairperson and served as a commissioner there until 1996. As one of the District of Columbia's two shadow senators, Strauss lobbies the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of the citizens of D.C. in their attempt to gain full federal representation, self-determination, and eventually admittance to the Union as the 51st state. As a shadow senator, Strauss cannot vote on matters before the Senate. In 2006, Strauss ran for the Council of the District of Columbia to represent Ward 3. He came in second place in the Democratic primary, receiving