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"He doesn't take any race for granted," said Lynch spokesman Scott Ferson. Lynch beat his 2018 primary challenger, video game developer Brianna Wu, with 71 percent of the vote.

Neal, on the other hand, went on the air with his first reelection ad two months earlier than he did in 2018, when he easily dispatched an energetic challenge from another progressive, Springfield attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud. The television spot featured a local business in Holyoke, Morse's hometown, thanking Neal for helping secure a Paycheck Protection Program loan.

In Massachusetts, national progressive groups are hoping to replicate their recent success in New York, where races involving Reps. Eliot Engel and Carolyn Maloney remain uncalled pending counting of absentee ballots and Engels opponent, Jamaal Bowman, has already claimed victory.

Like Bowman, Morse is backed by Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement. Morse and Goldstein are both endorsed by Our Revolution, the spin-off group from Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign; Andrew Yangs Humanity First, and Indivisible.

Seeking to tap into progressive energy surrounding Bowman, Morse even went to the Bronx to campaign alongside Bowman on primary day. Bowman in turn urged voters to support Morse in a video on Twitter.

Vote for this man! Bowman wrote in a tweet.

As a result, Morse, Holyoke's first openly gay mayor, raised $110,000 from 2,200 contributions in a single week after the primaries in New York and Kentucky, his campaign told POLITICO. For a candidate that had $140,000 in cash on hand at the end of the last fundraising quarter, that's a significant bump.

The establishment is officially on notice that our movement has momentum. Together, we can build a Democratic Party that prioritizes working people over corporate profits," Morse said when he announced Bowman's endorsement.

If the dynamic sounds a little familiar, thats because it is. In 2018, Ayanna Pressley made history by toppling Capuano in a Boston-area district, just weeks after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's stunning upset of former Rep. Joe Crowley. Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Pressley in a tweet similar to the one Bowman posted for Morse.

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Like Pressley, who was a Boston city councilor with a strong political organization when she ran, Morse is not a political unknown he's been mayor for nearly a decade.

"He's come up in politics during the social media time, and he's been able to use that well to get his message out," said state Rep. Aaron Vega, a former Holyoke city councilor who is staying neutral in the race.

"Like him or not, people know who he is. It's much different than other people who have run against the congressman who didn't have that level of name recognition and experience. Whether you agree with him or not, or what, he's been mayor for 10 years so he understands how things work and he does his homework. It's definitely a different kind of challenge," Vega added. "Anything's possible, especially in this time."

Still, both Neal and Lynch have the advantage of representing districts that are older and less diverse than the ones that have seen progressive upsets.

"Some of the things in this campaign, or maybe in other campaigns that were very trendy in New York or with AOC two years ago, just don't fly here," said Glazer, who is a fixture in Western Massachusetts politics. She also pointed to the size of the district Neal represents 87 cities and towns that cover nearly a quarter of the states land area, unlike the smaller, and more densely populated districts where progressives won in Massachusetts and New York.

Amatul-Wadud, who lost to Neal 71 percent to 29 percent in the 2018 primary, said national progressive interest isnt necessarily enough to overcome those hurdles.

"After AOC won in 2018, we got a big financial boost, we got a lot more media attention and more volunteers because people felt like that was a sign change could happen where we are," she said. "[T]he challenge still remains the same. This district is very, very different than the urban district of New York 16."

Morses task will be to activate voters in Springfield and Pittsfield, the two cities with the largest number of voters in the 1st District, Amatul-Wadud said. Springfield has seen an historic number of protests against police brutality and racism in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, and not seizing on the moment has been a "lost opportunity," for Morse, she said.

"It's a lost opportunity if they're not taking the bull by the horns and talking about this and proposing solutions each and every day. And I'm not seeing it," Amatul-Wadud said. "This is the moment I wish I had in 2018."

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High on the lefts wish list: Knocking out another House chairman - POLITICO

Neal protected Blackstones profits by killing a bill that would have saved patients money, a narrator says in the 30-second spot. Now Blackstone is Richie Neals top contributor and one of Donald Trumps, too.

Fresh off a string of victories in New York last month, progressives are beginning to zero in on Neal, who faces Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in his Sept. 1 primary.

Operatives running the group chose Neal as part of the initial campaign because of his clear ties to Blackstone. Neal received $48,600 from Blackstone executives and others tied to the company this cycle, making him their top 2020 donor, the group noted in a release.

They kill these efforts to reform surprise medical billing because they assume that there wont be any accountability over them, said Faiz Shakir, a top liberal consultant working with Fight Corporate Monopolies. They think that they can just receive campaign funds, continue status-quo politics and that there will never be a moment that voters hold them accountable.

Fight Corporate Monopolies is an affiliate of the American Economic Liberties Project, an organization aimed at lobbying government to take on corporate greed. Sarah Miller, a former Treasury Department official and antitrust advocate, leads both groups.

Shakir, Sanders' 2020 campaign manager and Miller's husband, will consult for the group. And Morgan Harper, a former Ohio congressional candidate, has signed on as a senior adviser. Harper ran an unsuccessful primary challenge against Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) earlier this year, accusing her of being in the pocket of corporations.

The group, which will play in state and federal races, takes a sharp focus: exposing politicians, primarily incumbents, who give the appearance of colluding with big business interests.

At the end of the day, Miller said in an interview, it is policy makers, it is anti-trust enforcers, it is the public sector that is responsible for keeping the private sector from growing so powerful that they can extort and abuse everyone that they have economic relationships with.

Each campaign, Miller said, will tell a really clear story around how a specific powerful corporation or a specific monopoly is actually transacting with a certain politician to get an outcome that that politician wants and then basically rewarding them for that.

Architects behind the anti-Neal effort hope their early foray into race eight weeks before the primary will help chip away at Neals incumbency advantage and entice other outside groups into the race.

Morse, youngest and first openly gay mayor in the history of Holyoke, is endorsed by the Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement, both of which worked to help middle-school principal Jamaal Bowman oust Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) in a primary last month. (Bowman leads in the preliminary vote count, though The Associated Press has not officially declared a winner.)

If we can get involved more than six-to-eight weeks out, potentially you can make what are very difficult races potentially more competitive and thats what were going to see here, Shakir said, predicting Morse could win the race with 45,000 votes. Thats not a large universe. This is going to be a significant ad buy.

Still, Neal will be hard to dislodge. He had over $4.5 million in the bank as of late March and has already begun airing TV ads to boost his image name ID. Morse had just $140,000 at the end of the first quarter.

But Morse has been able to tap into the some of the progressives' excitement around the New York primaries. Bowman endorsed him and urged his supporters to back Morse in a tweet that helped him raise $110,000 in a single week.

The district, which spans much of Western Massachusetts, leans heavily Democratic. Hillary Clinton carried it by 20 points in 2016.

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New progressive group will hit Neal in Massachusetts - POLITICO

The Star Tribune recently published commentaries on what has gone wrong in Minneapolis. Norm Coleman identifies a lack of leadership (Defund and disband City Hall leadership, June 17). Joseph Anthony attacks the ward-based system of representation (Yes, Minneapolis government is dysfunctional, June 26). I share both concerns. In fact, last year, I was part of a group that brought a proposal to elect more council members citywide. We didnt even get a hearing.

Yet both commentaries miss an important piece. Minneapolis has been touted as one of the most progressive cities in America. It also has some of the worst racial disparities in the county. These two facts are inextricably linked.

When I talk about progressive, I mean a very specific set of policies that define urban progressivism today. One touchstone is density. We must build more housing, goes the refrain, at almost any cost. Yet homeownership is the single most effective way American families build wealth.

In a city where Black homeownership is one-third that of white, over 90% of new housing approved by the city over the last six years has been rental. On top of that, the city stood by as corporations like Havebrook bought up single-family homes in north Minneapolis and converted them to rentals. All new housing subsidized by the city over the last six years has been rental.

It should be no surprise that Black families cannot build wealth through homeownership urban progressive policies havent produced any homes to own.

Families of color are twice as likely than white families to be multigenerational, to have four children or more and to have a nonfamily member living with them. Yet 70% of new housing units built in Minneapolis over the last six years has been one bedroom or smaller. No wonder the affordable housing crisis is so much worse for families of color. Urban progressivism has created it. In fact, it incentivized the destruction of homeownership opportunities and celebrated when Minneapolis became a majority-rental city.

Rental in Minneapolis is a $1.6 billion transfer of wealth from individuals to the pockets of corporations every year. Think how much wealth could be built with different policies.

Urban progressives ignored, then gutted, policies that shaped development, allowing developers to go where they would make the most money, not where we needed it. Uptown and Northeast have thousands of new housing units and jobs, yet Broadway never seems to change. This didnt just happen. It was chosen by urban progressives.

The citys 2040 Plan, the bible of urban progressives, says we must cut automobile travel by 40% in the next 20 years. Yet they never talk about how people will get to jobs. Minneapolis has 15% of the jobs in the region. There is no bigger indicator of a family leaving poverty than availability of a car. Yet Minneapolis didnt even plan for automobiles. At the same time, Black commuters use bikes at one-third the rate of white commuters. How are people of color supposed to get to jobs?

Children under the age of 18 make up 20% of the population of Minneapolis. Two-thirds of children in Minneapolis Public Schools are children of color. Some 26% of children grow up in deep poverty. Yet there is no planning for where they will live, how they will get to school or how their lives will get better.

This isnt just a moment for recognition of the killing of a Black man. It is a moment of reckoning for urban progressive policies that keep people of color poor. We need a complete reorientation, not just of our police department, but of the whole urban progressive agenda. People of color deserve no less.

But it isnt going to happen. In Minneapolis, urban progressivism is driven by a tiny number of activists, mostly online and mostly paid. Anyone who strays from their orthodoxy is immediately harassed and humiliated, until they are driven out of the policy discussion. That is what instantly shut down the discussion of a different structure for the City Council.

And it isnt going to change until we elect leaders who listen to all voices in Minneapolis, not just paid, online activists.

We have an election next year. We are looking for candidates.

Carol Becker lives in Minneapolis.

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OPINION EXCHANGE | Counterpoint: Minneapolis is 'progressive' and has terrible racial disparities - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Democrats unveiled a sweeping climate proposal this week. While the progressive plan will not pass this year, it does provide a road map for next year. Democrats should take the time to reconsider because it is an insensible climate policy under normal economic conditions and even worse as the country faces massive constraints. Conservatives should respond constructively with critical reforms that fuel economic growth, improve the fiscal outlook, and reduce global emissions.

The plan aims for prosperity that is prepared to meet the challenges of climate change. But the tools selected, such as mandates and subsidy programs, reduce economic productivity. This would fuel an expensive subsidy war when federal coffers can least support it. Mounting costs, public debt, and private investment in political favorites have minimal effects and will also not leave future generations better off.

There is scant evidence that domestic net zero emissions by 2050 is even feasible, let alone a pathway toward increased prosperity with meaningful environmental benefit. Researchers think we are a half century away from zero emissions in the industrial sector, without considering this economic downturn. Electric utilities with zero carbon goals admit they are not sure they will meet the 2050 target, but they know it will cost a bundle. Yet the plan calls for decarbonization of the sector 10 years earlier.

There is another critical zero to consider, which is the number of cost analyses in the plan. Quality analyses take time, however, comparable references set the price tag in the trillions. American businesses and consumers will suffer by paying more money for less options. Such a burden is completely tone deaf in this economic downturn.

The hard truth is that zero emissions in the country alone accomplishes relatively modest climate benefit, a far cry from the claim of solving the climate crisis. Carbon dioxide is mixed in the air, accumulates over time, and the United States is responsible for a small fraction of all emissions. Instead of reducing emissions at high costs, lawmakers should pursue a policy that benefits domestic interests as well as the climate.

The key is making it cheap to reduce emissions at home in a way that can be done around the world. This requires a no regrets innovation agenda that includes a more effective national laboratory system and institutional reforms to let private capital flow to productive uses. Indeed, businesses have shown an expanding appetite for clean investment. Companies with ambitious carbon targets want more free market reforms for procurement choice and electricity industry access. This would mean liberating supply chains, fostering competition, enabling increased consumer choice, and using trade as catalysts for growth and global emissions cuts.

Regulatory reforms should remove barriers to capital stock turnover. The irony is that some environmental mandates penalize the funding for clean manufacturing. Clean investors want speed to market and yet regulatory obstacles like approvals under the National Environmental Policy Act take more than half a decade to finish. Permits under the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act also deter these clean investors.

Regulatory reforms have to enhance competition by updating the rules over the electricity industry and stimulate competition where mandates prohibit this by replacing monopoly utilities with competitive platforms. Electric transmission investment, an integral part of renewable energy expansion, requires a regulatory overhaul to increase competition and prudent capital management decisions to flourish in the sector.

Progressives cannot be faulted for a lack of ambition. But core elements of their plan are not practical and not in the best interests of individuals, businesses, or environmental outcomes. It is easy to set lofty goals that reward stylish models now and raise costs in future election cycles. It is harder to challenge entrenched interests now with regulatory reforms to unleash lasting economic productivity and emissions reductions. Now is the time to become braver than the symbol of zero emissions.

Devin Hartman is the director of energy and environmental policy with R Street Institute in Washington. Nicolas Loris is the deputy director of the Thomas Roe Institute for Economic Policy with the Heritage Foundation.

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The progressive climate plan is heavy on symbols and burdens | TheHill - The Hill

It is the most recognisable symbol of Brazilian identity: the iconic canary yellow jersey in which footballing giants such as Pel and Rivaldo have helped the nation win a record five World Cups.

But the world-famous shirt has also become the emblem of President Jair Bolsonaros radical right, and a group of sport lovers are now demanding it be abolished and replaced with a less partisan kit.

Were in a ghastly situation with a horrendous government that has stolen our flag, said Joo Carlos Assumpo, the writer and filmmaker leading the campaign.

Assumpo, the author of a history of Brazils storied seleo called Deuses da Bola (Gods of the Ball), is calling for his country to re-embrace the white and blue shirt it used until 1950, when a devastating World Cup final defeat to Uruguay paved the way for the adoption of the canarinho.

That loss was a national tragedy and people started to believe the white shirt brought bad luck, Assumpo said, adding that now was the perfect time to bring it back.

Disillusionment with Brazils national colours has been building among progressives for several years, with many on the left shunning the yellow shirt after its adoption by demonstrators supporting Dilma Rousseffs highly controversial 2016 impeachment.

But under Bolsonaro whose loyalists wear the canarinho to rallies and hang yellow and green Brazil flags from their balconies to show devotion those frustrations have reached new heights.

I always thought our flag and our colours were so beautiful but for me they now symbolise intolerance, political ignorance, fascism even, said Lucas Justiniano, 36, a So Paulo filmmaker who also wants the bright yellow shirt to be ditched.

Assumpo said he had been disgusted to see Bolsonarista hardliners wear the jersey to anti-democratic and anti-social distancing protests during the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 65,000 Brazilians.

Bolsonaristas support a series of insane and anti-democratic issues. They want to close congress, theyve attacked health professionals and journalists. And I think weve reached a point where this can no longer be allowed to go on, he said. For me this is a fascist movement and they are using the Brazilian flag and Brazils colours.

Not all progressive Brazilians back the idea, despite their outrage at Bolsonaros attacks on the environment, human rights, democracy and, most recently, his internationally condemned response to Covid-19.

Juca Kfouri, a leading sports writer and leftwing voice, said he understood anger at the canarinhos usurping but could not abandon it. You cannot let the crooks steal your most personal things, said Kfouri, 70, noting that he had not renounced Brazils colours when the military dictatorship appropriated them in 1970, and would not do so now.

Angst over the appropriation is leading some progressives to try to reclaim yellow, rather than retire it. In recent weeks several new pro-democracy groups and one top newspaper, the Folha de So Paulo, have championed moves to wrestle the colour back from the far right.

Theres an attempt to reframe the colour yellow, so its no longer a colour linked just to Bolsonarismo or conservatism but rather to the democratic movements, said Srgio Dvila, Folhas editor-in-chief.

Last month the newspaper urged readers to wear yellow as part of a pro-democracy campaign it launched against a backdrop of attacks on the supreme court and congress by Bolsonaro fanatics. We thought the Folha should also do its bit to help rescue this colour, Dvila said.

Another campaign #DevolvamNossaBandeira (#GiveBackOurFlag) has received support from prominent progressives including the politician Flvio Dino, the musician Tico Santa Cruz and the influencer Felipe Neto.

Surrendering our flag to the fascists means giving up one of the most important symbols of our fight, Neto tweeted. Its the only flag we have and we must recover it, even if it hurts our ego.

Many on the left reject the push to reclaim yellow, however, arguing it plays into Bolsonaros hands. I think wearing yellow means shooting yourself in the foot right now because yellow is identified with Bolsonaros bunch. Theres no escaping that fact, Assumpo insisted. We need to wear white and blue in order to contrast ourselves with Bolsonaro.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said it did not want to emit any opinion with respect to calls for the yellow jerseys abolition.

Assumpo said he was preparing to petition the organisation and would continue fighting for his idea. Weve already changed our shirt once, in 1950, he said. Seventy years later we can change it again.

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Replace or reclaim: progressive Brazil divided on fate of famous yellow shirts - The Guardian