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Antonio Lpez, a first-year Ph.D. student in modern thought and literature and newly elected East Palo Alto city councilmember, and Forest Peterson M.S. 07 ENGR 15 Ph.D. 20, a postdoctoral fellow in civil engineering, are among Stanford affiliates running to be Assembly District Delegates (ADDs) in this years Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEM) elections. If elected, Lpez, Peterson and 12 other winning candidates from Assembly District 24 will influence the direction of the California Democratic Party by voting on resolutions, electing leadership, informing endorsements and directly impacting the party platform.

Lpez and Peterson are joined on their slate, the North Star Progressive Democrats, by Mountain View city councilmember Sally Lieber 00, chair of the Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commission Cari Templeton M.A. 17 and former Stegner Fellow Essy Stone, along with nine other candidates.

14 ADDs seven of whom must be self-identified females and seven who are not in each California district are elected in ADEMs, which occur every two years. Though candidates may run with a slate, voters select candidates individually. Due to COVID-19, voting is taking place by mail this year. Voters, who could request mail-in ballots until January 11, now have until January 27 to return them.

Members of the North Star Progressive Democrats are among 42 candidates vying for the 14 seats in Assembly District 24, which encompasses Stanford.

Peterson is particularly energized by the prospect of representing the Stanford community. One of the founding members of SCOPE 2035, a student activist group focused on housing equity, he aspires to fight for the interests of Stanford workers, many of whom do not live in the district due to a lack of affordable housing.

At Stanford University, as far as I know, we havent elected a delegate so to speak, Peterson said. I happen to be somebody that does live near campus. I am in this district. And so I can be the voice for the workers at Stanford.

The slate has five main priorities: equitable COVID recovery; justice and equity; human rights; democracy, inclusion, representation and empowerment; and climate emergency. Its members, who have coalesced around shared progressive values, have varying degrees of political experience. Some, like Lpez, are newly elected to local government. Others, like Lieber, have been entrenched in local politics for years.

Lieber began her political career when she was first elected to the Mountain View city council as a 37 year-old Stanford senior. She was again elected to the city council this fall and has also served as mayor of Mountain View, a county commissioner, and for three terms in the State Assembly. She has also been an ADD.

Lieber believes that the ADEMs are essential to showing community members that they have table stakes in the Democratic Party. Voters are eager for political transformation, she said, especially in terms of issues like environmental accountability, student debt relief and universal basic income, among others.

This is an opportunity to move our state Democratic Party in a more progressive direction, Lieber said. Were a progressive, grassroots slate who each have experience in our own domains.

In addition to electing 14 ADDs, each California district will also elect an Executive Board (E-Board) member, who represents their community at E-Board meetings. Each ADD candidate indicates whether they want to serve as E-Board representative, and the position goes to the overall top vote getter in each district, provided that they are willing to fulfill the role. E-Board members meet more frequently and are responsible for conducting party business that occurs between the conventions in which all ADDs participate. In presidential election years, this includes electing members to the Democratic National Committee. Lieber and Democratic activist Steve Chessin are the only North Star Progressive Democrats running for the E-Board position.

Templeton, who worked at Google for over a decade before earning her masters degree at Stanford, is no stranger to this process.

Templeton first ran to be an ADD in 2017, when she was the first runner-up but was later able to participate after one of the districts seven female delegates moved. She ran again in 2019 and was defeated, but was ultimately appointed by assemblymember Marc Berman. Templeton was also a Bernie Sanders delegate at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, where she cast protest votes in support of the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

Im really excited to be running again, Templeton said. Our district is so lucky to have so many really great, qualified people that want to run, so its always competitive here.

If elected, Templeton hopes to push for the slates priorities by supporting Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, housing equity and the abolition of ICE. One of the most powerful aspects of being an ADD, Templeton believes, is ones ability to have a statewide and even a national impact. Building local networks and starting conversations, she said, is ultimately what leads to concrete change.

Lpez, too, believes that as an ADD, he can use local experiences to influence policies statewide. As an East Palo Alto city councilmember, he is keenly aware of the challenges that so many communities, particularly low-income communities and communities of color, are currently facing. By voicing his ideas with ADDs and party leaders, he strives to be a champion for similar communities across the state.

Additionally, Lpez hopes to be an agent of change by sharing Stanfords wealth of knowledge and resources. He considers Stanford a crucial partner and stakeholder, especially in the wake of COVID-19. In his role as city councilmember, Lpez recently collaborated with a Stanford doctor who helped him create an informative video to combat vaccine misinformation.

Just being immersed in this amazing, powerful environment of education is only going to enhance my ability to facilitate important change, Lpez said.

At Stanford and beyond, Lpez has encountered young people who are disappointed with mainstream politics. When progressive leaders like representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are met with opposition by party establishment, Lpez said, this signals to young progressives that the party is business as usual. Theyre neoliberal, theyre concerned with mainstream politics and not the ideas of the vast majority of the people.

But he urged the disillusioned not to give up.

I invite people to have hope that we can reform the Democratic Party, Lpez said. That they arent just the party of corporate politics and the big wigs and of the wealthy, but they can be a party of the people. And that is exactly the mission and values that we bring to the table.

Contact Georgia Rosenberg at georgiar at stanford.edu.

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Stanford affiliates run with progressive slate in District 24 - The Stanford Daily

Whats a trend going on in the U.S. or abroad that doesnt get enough attention? I have a Ph.D. in American history, so I tend to take the long view. I think our current political system is splintering. The media pays a lot of attention to divisions between moderate and progressive Democrats, but doesnt pay enough attention to divisions among Republicans. Well see realignments in the coming years, which is why progressives push a broadly popular anti-corruption, pro-democracy, pro-worker agenda.

What are you watching for in the Biden presidency? $2 trillion in clean energy spending on infrastructure and jobs, a restoration of Americas reputation in the eyes of the world and accountability for Trump and his family.

Whats a fun fact that people in Washington might not know about you? I love childrens literature because teaching kids to imagine a radically different world is critical for our future, and so I wrote a childrens book called I Can Change Everything. Also, I have three kids ages 4 and under, and I am tired literally all of the time.

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BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Progressive - Politico

One of the biggest and most overlooked election stories may have come out of the countrys smallest state.

Rhode Island, only 1,200 square miles and home to a little more than 1 million people, is rarely the subject of national political interest. With a majority-Democratic legislature, Democratic governor, and an all-Democratic congressional delegation, the states politics might seem sleepy to outsiders. Hiding beneath the surface is a much deeper story.

Much of Rhode Islands Democratic leadership is, put simply, quite conservative. The long-standing (and now outgoing) Democratic Speaker of the House, one of the states most powerful elected officials, voted down abortion rights legislation, and has an A rating from the National Rifle Association. Democrats in the state House voted in 2010 to cut taxes for the rich, and in 2011, a majority of Democrats voted for repressive voter I.D. laws. The Rhode Island Democratic State Committee stripped the Womens Caucus of privileges after the group lobbied for a reproductive rights bill. As a Republican official once told NPR, [Rhode Island has] a lot of Democrats who we know are Republican but run as a Democrat basically so they can win.

In this years elections, progressive Democrats mounted their most organized challenge to date, and earned victories that could transform the states politics.

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Over the past year, progressives across Rhode Island mobilized to lay the groundwork for this crucial moment. Activist movements and progressive campaign veterans built an infrastructure to back insurgent candidates ready to challenge more conservative incumbents. Their preparation paid off in a huge way.

These wins were made possible thanks to the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, an initiative launched in 2019 to recruit, train, and financially support progressive candidates. All candidates endorsed a shared progressive slate of policy positions, creating a unified front of candidates fighting for a Green New Deal, single-payer health care, and a $15 minimum wage. Joined by additional candidates backed by Providence Democratic Socialists of America (ProvDSA), Reclaim I (a group of former volunteers for Senator Bernie Sanderss presidential campaign), and the Rhode Island Working Families Party, almost two dozen progressives mounted challenges from the left for state House and Senate seats. In partnership with movements like Sunrise Rhode Island, a youth-led climate justice group, candidates had full-time organizers dedicated to mobilizing voters. More than half of the progressive challengers won their races.

The first-time candidates that emerged victorious included Tiara Mack, a 26-year-old Black, queer reproductive justice advocate who challenged an anti-abortion Democratic incumbent who had held his seat for 35 years. Mack beat him in the primary and won her seat resoundingly, with nearly 90% of the vote. David Morales, a 22-year-old activist who will become one of the youngest Latino candidates elected to any state legislature, also defied expectations when he won. When the local Democratic committee endorsed his opponent, Morales found support and a volunteer army through partnerships with local progressive groups like ProvDSA. Mack and Morales were joined by 13 other progressive challengers who ousted more conservative Democrats or Republican incumbents.

Pundits like The Hills Krystal Ball argued this state-wide progressive takeover in Rhode Island could offer lessons to the rest of the country. A little-noticed local movement of left activists appears to have just successfully executed a massive overhaul of the Rhode Island legislature, in a model that could easily be replicated in states all across the country, said Ball. To understand how this statewide progressive strategy came to be and what it can teach us, Teen Vogue caught up with a few of Rhode Islands young leaders including two new elected officials and two movement leaders who mobilized to create real change in their state.

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Rhode Island Progressives Won Big in 2020 With Help From Youth Activists - Teen Vogue

The socialist left is on the rise, particularly in neighborhoods where Black and Latino residents are being gentrified out of existence, said Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens and may become the first Black House speaker. To the extent the success of the socialist left is in part tied to gentrifying neighborhoods, it remains to be seen how that will impact a citywide race.

How left-wing activists and organizations will choose to wield their influence is unclear. Were all the groups affiliated with the progressive movement to align behind one candidate, they could have a sizable impact on the race.

So far, they are not coalescing.

Theres a big question of whether folks do, said Jonathan Westin, the executive director of New York Communities for Change. I think the candidate that is able to cobble together all of those groups is the candidate that is going to win.

The New York City Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed six candidates for the City Council, a move that promises significant organizational assistance. But it has yet to make an endorsement in the mayoral race, and several people affiliated with the organization do not expect it to.

If we had a mayoral candidate who came from the D.S.A., I think that would have been one thing, said Susan Kang, a D.S.A. member and a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Were trying to be very strategic in how we use our labor.

Another complicating factor is the popularity of Scott Stringer, the city comptroller and a leading mayoral candidate, among some prominent younger progressive lawmakers. In 2018, Mr. Stringer endorsed a D.S.A. stalwart, Julia Salazar, in her race for State Senate over the incumbent, Martin Dilan. Ms. Salazar won her race, and Mr. Stringer won her endorsement for mayor, along with several other high-profile endorsements from progressives.

Mr. Stringer has also won the backing of a few key unions, including most recently the Communications Workers of America, an early supporter of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

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They Fueled A.O.C.s Win. Can They Shape the N.Y.C. Mayors Race? - The New York Times

Behold science, the sword and the shield of progressivism.

Over the course of the pandemic (and before that, in debates over climate change, stem cells, etc.), liberals have insisted that we must listen to science and heed the scientists. It was a cornerstone of President-elect Joe Bidens campaign and a constant refrain of President Trumps critics.

Taken literally, I endorse the phrase listen to science wholeheartedly. Scientists have important things to say to policymakers and citizens alike and lets not forget that in a democracy, voters are policymakers, too. A well-informed electorate is a useful check on ill-informed politicians.

The problem, however, is that the people who say listen to science tend not to mean it literally but figuratively, and worse, intermittently.

In the aftermath of George Floyds killing in May, massive protests against racism and police brutality erupted across the nation. The point of the protests (at least, most of them) was noble and understandable. But the same champions of science suddenly changed their tune about mass gatherings, because this was a good cause.

In a pluralistic society, the definition of a good cause is going to vary. Telling people that they cant see their dying parents, attend a funeral or make a living because science says its too risky but that protesting systemic racism and police brutality is OK is a great way to convince millions of people that listen to science is a weaponized political term, not a universal apolitical standard.

Indeed, liberals handed Trump precisely the kind of foil he wanted. At rallies, the president would tell the packed crowds that they dont want you to go to church, work, school or sporting events, but they think social-justice protests are fine. He even started calling his rallies protests to highlight the double standard.

Some epidemiologists made things worse by stepping out of their lanes.

We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus, Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, declared on Twitter. In this moment, the public-health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.

Im open to the idea that if the protests this summer could have ended racism, the benefits would outweigh the risks. But where is the evidence that happened? Is racism over now? Heck, where was the evidence that such an outcome was in the realm of the possible in the first place?

I trust epidemiologists to explain how epidemiology works. But there is no transitive property to their expertise. The opinion that the protests would even come close to eradicating systemic racism and police brutality is just that an opinion, and a flimsy one at that. Moreover, the opinion of medical scientists on such matters has no more authority than that of plumbers or electricians and less than that of many social scientists or, dare I say it, politicians.

Which brings us to the point. Again, politicians should listen to scientists, but at the end of the day, they must consider factors from outside science. Thats not only fine but unavoidable.Using the phrase listen to the science as a shield for your preferred policies or as an attack on policies you dislike is not only bad faith, its a bad idea,because it will undermine the credibility of scientists and politicians alike.

Now that were entering the vaccination chapter of this horrible story, many of the same science worshippers are, in effect, telling the scientists to listen to politics.

In California, theres an effort to factor historical injustice into the vaccination rollout as a form of reparations. Because indigenous Americans were treated horribly in the past, the argument goes, they should be moved higher on the list of vaccine recipients.

A similar argument has emerged over whether the elderly those most likely to die from COVID-19 should be moved down the list, because older populations are whiter, as noted by Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Society is structured in a way that enables them to live longer, Schmidt told The New York Times. Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already had more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit.

Scientists are free to make such arguments, but these arent scientific arguments. They are political opinions, and they dont become any more legitimate simply because you wear a lab coat at work. So by all means, listen to the scientists, but listen very carefully, because they might be saying things that arent very scientific.

Twitter:@JonahDispatch

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Progressives have made a mockery of the slogan 'listen to science' - New York Post