Harvard Overseer Jayson Toweh Launches Bid for Georgia’s 7th Congressional District

Harvard Board of Overseers member Jayson U. Toweh announced a bid Saturday for Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District, entering a crowded Democratic primary as his six-year term on the board nears its end.

Toweh, who will step down from Harvard’s second-highest governing body in June, is running alongside three other Democratic contenders, Case Norton, Haiden Moburg, and Larry Long. The primary election is scheduled for May 19.

A doctoral student at Stanford University, Toweh is campaigning on a broad affordability agenda. In an interview with The Crimson, he said his platform centers on expanding economic opportunity, lowering energy costs, funding job training programs, and increasing access to health care. He also emphasized his background in public service, saying that he would prioritize government accountability if elected.

“If I really center my message on, ‘How can I actually work and bring support to folks in the district,’ really prioritize bringing costs down, expanding access to health care, bringing some economic investment, some tax credits and relief, we can get this message across,” Toweh said.

Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District, which encompasses Atlanta’s northern suburbs, is currently represented by Republican Rich McCormick, who has held the seat since 2025 after previously serving one term representing Georgia’s Sixth District.

Once reliably Republican, the district has become a political battleground over the past decade, cycling through a series of both Democratic and Republican representatives. Though McCormick won nearly 65 percent of the vote in 2024, Toweh argued that recent down-ballot results point to renewed Democratic momentum.

“I think that if I launch a strong campaign and get some momentum, we can make this district competitive,” Toweh said. “I’m fully prepared, and I think that can be the case.”

Toweh was born and raised in Cobb County, Georgia. He earned a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2019 before returning to the Atlanta area, where he worked at the Environmental Protection Agency. He is now running his campaign out of Sandy Springs while completing his doctoral program remotely.

Toweh was elected to the Board of Overseers in 2020 as part of the Harvard Forward slate, a petition-driven movement that sought to push the University to divest from fossil fuels and to elevate younger, more activist alumni to Harvard’s governing boards.

He and fellow Harvard Forward candidates Margaret “Midge” Purce ’17 and Dorothy “Thea” L. Sebastian ’08 were later joined by Megan H. Red-Shirt Shaw in 2021. That September, Harvard announced it would halt investments in fossil fuels. Since then, Harvard Forward has not endorsed additional candidates.

Reflecting on his Overseer campaign, Toweh said his former campaign manager suggested at the time that the experience could serve as preparation for future political work.

“It functions in a way similar, like kind of how Congress does with folks coming from all different areas, working different communities, but working together to then help a broad vision,” Toweh said. “I think it has set me up well to really come in and listen to different community members, and then come in to actually serve the people.”

Toweh added that he valued the opportunity to work alongside students, faculty, and fellow Overseers during his tenure.

“It is cheesy, but serving on the Board has been the thing that I’ve been most proud of in my life so far,” he said. “I hope that as I leave I’ve been beneficial to Harvard in a way that can have good impacts.”

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.