Mediaboss Marketing

"Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has raised almost half a million dollars in corporate PAC money from the healthcare industry, the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry. On top of that, he's raised more money from health care professionals than all but two members of Congress," said John Kokoris, 8th District Coordinator of Schaumburg Area Progressives at the Patients Over Profits rally on January 9, 2021, where we mobilized over 60 people from around the district to march in solidarity for Medicare for All.

Schaumburg Area Progressives is a grassroots group in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, which evolved from being a local Bernie volunteer group hosting a great deal of campaign events and building a community.

After Bernie's campaign ended, we were determined to stay in the fight. We built our own structure which was key in the freedom and guidance in making our actions effective. We continued the same vision to strive for social, economic, and environmental justice. We see other local and national progressive groups like Democratic Socialists of America and Our Revolution, as allies fighting together for a common cause. Per our organizational structure, we empower other volunteers to become leaders and to develop their own initiative with clear goals and deadlines, while we guide them and help gather resources necessary.

It was critical to have a good program champion like John Kokoris be willing to come forward and take the lead on building a ground game for CD-IL 08. Particularly, he took initiative to collaborate with many other organizations in and around the district, as well as a potential progressive challenger, and this is what is making us successful.

We coordinated a Schaumburg Area Progressives group call with the Congressman, where 5 of us requested his support for Medicare For All and asked him to sign the pledge, to reject campaign contributions over $200 from executives, lobbyists, and PACs affiliated with the hospital, insurance, and pharma corporations. We wrote a letter in response back to him. Following, we organized a Holiday Letter Writing Party where we wrote Congressman Krishnamoorthi over 30 letters sharing personal stories of how this insurance system has negatively affected many of us. We asked him multiple ways to continue the conversation. He still did not get back to us. We also organized a presence at Congressman Krishnamoorthi's townhall where 6 of our volunteers jumped on the call with hours notice, and one of us challenged him on his healthcare stance. It did not change his mind. Days after the new Congress was sworn in, we then went on to plan a Patients Over Profits march, our biggest event yet.

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

Get our best delivered to your inbox.

We had powerful speakers share their healthcare stories including Sheila Rawat, Co-Chair of Schaumburg Area Progressives, who said she got surprise bills after a traumatic medical procedure she didnt want to remember, Ovais Sualeh, a constituent, Dan Bailey, a nurse, who worked at a clinic where specialists only came on a volunteer basis few and far between, which resulted in patients not getting treatment they needed including those who endured intense pain, Hale Landes, a labor activist, Dr. Shannon Rotolo, a pharmacist, and John, the 8th District Coordinator. Undeterred by the cold and snow in the beginning of the winter season, we then marched 0.8 miles to the Congressmans office, chanting, Raja, Represent Us! and Healthcare is a Human Right! to hand deliver the Illinois Single Payer Coalition pledge.

"We, Schaumburg Area Progressives and our allies, are making our voices loud and clear that the people of the 8th Congressional District are calling on Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi to sign this pledge and show us that money does not belong in politics," Co-chair Sheila Rawat stated, just outside his office building, moments before Co-chair Elisa Devlin and 8th District Coordinator John Kokoris delivered the pledge.

Schaumburg Area Progressives plans to hold more protests in the coming months, hoping to double the size of the crowd, and if even after that he does not sign the pledge and start advocating for single payer, then we hope to ultimately find and work with a challenger. We found it very effective to focus on one pressing issue and bring progressive groups together. It is our hope that progressive groups in other districts across the nation will follow suit to hold our politicians accountable to the needs of the people. We would love to help other progressive leaders do just that.

Read the rest here:
How We Came to Build A Progressive Ground Game - Common Dreams

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.

Visit link:
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.

Continue reading here:
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.

Stay up-to-date with the Teen Vogue politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take!

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.

More:
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.

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