1. JT Lewis started Newtown Helps Rwanda, a charity that raised money for survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide as well as former child soldiers in Uganda.
23 Facts About JT Lewis
1. 2.
JT Lewis previously was a candidate in the 2020 elections for Connecticut state senator for the 28th district, dropping out before the August primaries to work on a national campaign.
3.
JT Lewis's younger brother Jesse Lewis was a victim of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
4.
JT Lewis was born Joseph Theodore Lewis on May 18,2000, to Scarlett Lewis.
5.
JT Lewis was in grade 7 when his six-year-old brother Jesse Lewis was killed alongside 19 other grade one students in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14,2012.
6.
JT Lewis was raised on a farm with his younger brother and they had horses, dogs, and chickens, which their mother bought in 1998.
7.
JT Lewis attended University of Connecticut as a political science major.
8.
JT Lewis played on the UConn football team as a walk-on kicker his Freshman year.
9.
JT Lewis's organization helped Ugandan former child soldiers build fishponds and poultry farms for self-sufficiency.
10.
JT Lewis has interned for the non-profit organization Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement, which his mother founded.
11.
JT Lewis met with singer Justin Timberlake after the ceremony.
12.
JT Lewis met with president Donald Trump in 2018 and participated in a roundtable discussion in the Roosevelt Room on the Federal Commission on School Safety report that was published after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting to address gun violence in American schools.
13.
JT Lewis attended with his mother Scarlett and sat next to Andrew Pollack, father of Meadow Pollack, a victim of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, two seats away from the President.
14.
JT Lewis shared his ideas about how to improve school safety with the President and other commission members.
15.
In July 2019, JT Lewis announced that he was running as a Republican in the 2020 elections to represent Connecticut's 28th senate district in the Connecticut State Senate and unseat third-term incumbent senator Tony Hwang.
16.
JT Lewis decided to run for public office to honor his younger brother.
17.
JT Lewis's campaign was centered on improving gun regulations, mental health and mental health law, and improving school safety.
18.
JT Lewis announced on Instagram on July 10 that he accepted a position with President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign.
19.
JT Lewis is a member of the Republican Party and has said he is supportive of president Donald Trump and his administration.
20.
JT Lewis supports improving national background checks on gun purchases.
21.
JT Lewis has voiced support for LGBT civil rights and is a supporter of gun rights and the Second Amendment.
22.
JT Lewis criticized the non-profit organization Sandy Hook Promise for using graphic images in their PSAs about school shootings.
23.
In 2013, in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, JT's mother Scarlett started the non-profit Jesse JT Lewis Choose Love Movement.