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Chalk up another loss for conventional wisdom. As Thursday dawned in Great Britain, it was expected that Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservative Party would expand itsmajority in Parliament over the Labour Party and its far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn. Friday dawned upon a different reality: The Conservatives have 318 seats a loss of 13 seats from the previous election and eight short of the 326 needed an official majority. They will forma coalition government with the far-rightDemocratic Unionist Party, but with fewer votes to spare for any vote on Brexit (or any vote at all) the new government will be far weaker and less stable. Mays resignation and/or another election soon are both distinct possibilities.

Corbyn and Labour, with 262 seats, on the other hand have beaten every expectation: the most seatsfor Labour since 2005, the biggest share of the popular vote since 2001 and the largest popular vote swing toward Labour (almost 10 percent) since 1945. Corbyns success provides a model for U.S. progressives in 2018, 2020 and beyond: Ifyou need turnout to win as liberals in the United States do you need a bold, uncompromising platform with real solutions

Look at what Corbyn succeeded in spite of.He was attacked mercilessly by other Labour members of Parliament and party leaders, including former prime minister Tony Blair. (Many of the Labour MPs who held their seats on Thursday had voted no confidence in himjust last year.) He faced an unprecedentedly hostile media environment not just the standard mudslinging from right-wing tabloids, but skepticism and condescension from objective and even ostensibly pro-Labour outlets. Even many loyal supportersworried when the electionbegan that he would set back leftism.

Then look at what drove Corbyn to victory. No, it was not President Trump, though some Democrats are trying to make it sound that way. Labours surge came weeks before May struggled to deal with Trumps terrible tweets about terrorist attacks. Labour succeeded because turnout rose to its highest since 1997. The youth vote came out: One exit poll estimated turnout among voters under 35 at 56 percent, up 13 percent from 2015.Other estimates put youth turnoutas high as 72 percent.

Why was turnout so high? Because Corbyn was able to generate excitement among Labour voters, especially the young. Thats in no small part because of this years Labour manifesto (the British equivalentof aparty platform). Unlike other recent versions, mostly incrementalist documents that tweaked what came before, the 2017 edition is the boldest in decades: more money for the National Health Services and other major initiatives, a jobs first Brexit and free university tuition,financedby taxingcorporations and the wealthiest. The manifesto and the campaign were summed up by their elegantly simple slogan: For the many, not the few. To be clear, May ran a terrible campaign, including an insultingly vague manifesto, but Corbyn and Labour were able to capitalize so well because they offered a real alternative.

If liberalsare to succeed in the United States and elsewhere, they need high turnout, and especially high youth turnout. To do so, theyneed enthusiasm. Corbyn, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others who have succeeded at this dont possess some mysterious charisma unavailable to everyone else. Unlikely voterswill not be convinced to turn out for the country is already great! or other vague platitudes. They will come out for real solutions to their problems, whether those solutions arecentrist, liberal, conservative or (perish the thought!) socialist.

But American voters arent like British voters, comes the reply. Thats partly true but only partly. The ever-more-connected world meanswhat was local is national and what was national is global.And there are few issues felt globally like inequality. In both countries, as elsewhere, people feel disenfranchised and unheard as many communities fall behind or remain left behind. Between 2009 and 2013 the most recent years available 85 percent of economic growth in the U.S. went to the top 1 percent.Young people in particular have come of age first watching an economic collapse driven by reckless speculation on Wall Street and deregulation in Washington and then seeing the financial firmswrongdoing go unpunished. Most votersbelieve something is very wrong with our current system.Offeringmore of the sameis a path to political obsolescence. Offering new ideas is a path to success.

Politics has changed, declared Corbyn Thursday night, and politics isnt going back in the box where it was before. He is right about British politics. If progressivesapply the lessons of his success judiciously,U.S. politics will also change for the better, for the many and not the few.

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Jeremy Corbyn's success is a model for American progressives - Washington Post (blog)

In the aftermath of the DNC unapologetically rigging its primaries against progressive Bernie Sanders supporters in 2016, a growing number of progressives and young voters are choosing to leave the Democratic Party, citing what they describe as irreparable corruption. Many others, however, believe the best way to fight back is to effect a hostile takeover of the party from within. The fact that we have these competing views is not a problem. What is a problem, however, is the prevailing assumption among both factions that these two strategies are mutually exclusive. I dont believe that they are.

Proponents of an internal revolution within the Democratic Party, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, will tell you that the current two-party duopoly makes any effort to run for higher office outside one of the two major parties virtually impossible. Instead, theyre focusing on taking over the party at the local levels and launching primary challenges against the establishment-supported incumbents. These are sound ideas, though detractors are quick to point out that they do have flaws.

Progressives who have decided to kick the Democrats to the curb argue that fighting for equal representation within a party that has already demonstrated that theyre willing to violate even their own rules in order to prevent that from happening is a futile endeavor. After all, if too many people are voting for the candidate the leadership doesnt like, they can always just prevent people from voting again by altering their party affiliations in closed primary states without their consent like they did in 2016. Thats in addition to the corporate media already declaring the establishment candidate the winner before a single vote is cast. These folks, often identified by the #DemExit hashtag, mostly believe that starting a new party or joining an existing third party is the only answer.

Therein lies the problem, according to many Berniecrats. While theres a consensus among #DemExit supporters that its time for progressives and young people to leave the Democratic Party, nobody can seem to agree on exactly where we should all go from there. In our severely outdated first-past-the-post voting system, scattering votes across many different candidates and parties essentially guarantees that your movement will have little to no representation.

Both of these factions make valid arguments, which has led to a lot of debate and disagreement. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in a growing amount of animosity and division among progressives. In some cases, Ive even seen outright in-fighting, where each group accuses the other of not being progressive and/or trying to sabotage the movement. This needs to stop, as it accomplishes nothing and plays right into the hands of those in the political establishment who would like to see us remain marginalized and ignored.

So which strategy do I think is best? Thats simple: Both. Theres no reason why we cant fight to take over the Democratic Party from within while also putting pressure on them in the form of outside challenges, especially if the two factions coordinate their efforts.

For example, Berniecrats who manage to gain enough control at the state-level can push the states to adopt ranked choice instant-runoff voting, which would mean that independent and third-party candidates would no longer be at a disadvantage because lesser-evilism would no longer apply. Everyone could vote for who they want without having to worry about helping the Boogey Man du jour win. This will enable the #DemExit faction to start really making gains, diminishing the power and resources of the two major parties as they lose seats all across the country. That, in turn, should weaken the neoliberal party establishment enough for the Berniecrats to finally succeed in claiming the Democratic Party as their own.

The blueprint to our success lies in mutual cooperation, not converting everyone to the same way of thinking. People who want to leave the party should do so, while those who choose to remain should not be discouraged. Instead of focusing on trying to convince the other side that your way is better, try to think of how you could use the benefits of your way to help them with what theyre trying to accomplish. Diversity of perspectives is not a weakness. It is perhaps our greatest strength. So lets use it and work together toward our common goals.

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Berniecrats and #DemExit progressives need to work together - Newton Daily News

California Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez triumphed Tuesday in a runoff for the states Los Angeles-centered 34th Congressional District, a victory for Latino and progressive groups that overcamelow turnout and election fatigue. The seat long held by Xavier Becerra, now Californias attorney general, will be held by an aspiring member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and supporter of single-payer health care.

Gomez, 42, defeated former L.A. planning commissioner Robert Lee Ahn, 41, who invested his own money in the race and aggressively turned out Korean-American voters. That strategy powered him through the April 4 primary for the safe blue seat, and worried Gomez supporters from the top of the California Democratic Party to groups like the Latino Victory Fund. In the primary, 64.4 percent of the vote had gone to Latino Democrats; a week before the June 6 election, ballot returns from Korean-Americans were outpacing ballot returns from Latinos.

At the same time, Ahn was attempting to shift the focus of the race from progressive credential he was formerly a Republican, while Gomez was endorsed by a Bernie Sanders-founded group to outsider status. In Ahns mailers and debate answers, Gomez, a former congressional staffer before he joined the Assembly, was a professional politician whose pile of endorsements made him suspect.

Latino Victory Fund president Cristobal J. Alex said his group put together a direct mail and voter contact campaign that moved ballots, targeting Latino voters with a series of pro-Gomez arguments.

We pushed the message that Jimmy would not only be a champion for voters, hed be a tip of the spear in the fight against Donald Trump, said Alex. Its a good example of what we need to do around the country.

Gomez won the early and mail-in vote, nearly 19,000 ballots, by just 156 votes. When election day ballots came in, he ran far ahead of Ahn, who conceded before 11 p.m. local time. But therace and results offered warnings for Democrats whove grown increasingly ambitious about taking control of the House in 2018.

Ahn was able to use his lack of party support as an asset at a sensitive time, with new California Democratic Party chairman Eric Bauman fending off attacks from a Sanders supporter who claimed that he stole his election. (Most of the dispute rests with proxy delegates, who Bauman did a better job of wrangling.) Gomez, who had backed Hillary Clinton for president, was supported somewhat reluctantly by the Sanders-founded Our Revolution after Sanders campaign veterans flamed out in the primary.

And the puny turnout less than the total vote for Democrat Jon Ossoff in the first round of his April primary for Georgias 6th District pointed to the difficulty Democrats often face in getting Latino voters to the polls for nonpresidential elections. In 2018, the party hopes to win six California seats that broke for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, amid worries that the voters activated last year may sit out the midterm elections.

Nonetheless, Gomezs victory will add to the lefts numbers in the House, with the new congressman expected to join the House Progressive Caucus. There was more mixed news for progressives in New Jersey, where Goldman Sachs banker-turned-philanthropist Phil Murphy easily won the Democratic nomination for governor. Murphy, seeking his first elected office at age 59, put away two rivals who attempted to frame the primary as a contest between a wealthy political establishment figure and the rising progressive tide.

They lost but the reality was more complicated than the storyline. Murphy, whod backed Howard Deans 2004 presidential bid and went on to work for Barack Obama, established himself early as a progressive whod make corporations and millionaires pay their fair share and cut hedge funds out of the state pension system.

Like Gomez, he won the endorsements of progressive groups and labor unions and party machines. As Murphy built a lead in the polls, his chief rivalsJohn Wisniewski and Jim Johnson attempted tograb the mantle of Sanders; Wisniewski had chaired the Vermont senators campaign in the state. (Sanders lost the primary.) Wisniewski went so far as to criticize Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a Murphy backer still extremely popular with rank-and-file New Jersey Democrats, for voting against a Sanders-backed pharmaceutical bill.

But Sanders never intervened in the race. His son Levi made an eyebrow-raising campaign swing for Murphy; the senator focused on congressional races in Kansas and Montana, where Democrats gained steam but lost.

There was better news for Sanders, and Democrats, in less-watched elections for local Mississippi and Connecticut offices. In Mississippi, where Sanders led a rally of labor unions this spring, left-wing candidate Chokwe Lumumba won the mayoralty of Jackson, and a Sanders supporter won a city council seat in suburban Meridian. And in Connecticut, Democrats won control of the Board of Selectmen in wealthy Fairfield, the sort of place where the party sees a chance to capitalize on Trumps unpopularity to win new majorities.

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Latino Democrat wins open House seat in California, as progressives make gains - Washington Post

A plan to draft Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to lead a third party has been launched by progressives who are frustrated with the Democrats, the Washington Examiner reported.

Ahead of what is being called the "People's Summit" in Chicago this weekend, the progressives say Sanders is the choice for a new political movement. Sanders is scheduled to speak at the summit, the website reported.

"The majority of Americans are progressive and want a major new political party," said a report by progressives in advance of the meeting.

The 15-page report, called "From Resistance to Revolution," has a "Draft Bernie for aPeople's Party" logo at the top.

"Despite Bernie Sanders' monumental efforts to reform the Democratic Party, it remains firmly in neoliberal control," the report said.

"The Democratic Party has made it clear that it will not be the vehicle for the political revolution."

Draft Bernie founder and director Nick Brana, the former national political outreach coordinator for Sanders' 2016 presidential bid, added: "The facts and figures in the briefing show that a new party is the only way to defeat (President Donald) Trump and the Republican agenda.

"This is the case that has convinced Sanders surrogates and working people across the country to join the movement to Draft Bernie."

Organizers say the summit will bring together grassroots activists and leaders of key progressive organizations to chart strategies and build unity in calling for promoting a progressive vision that moves beyond resistance and protests."

2017 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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Progressives Trying to Draft Bernie Sanders to Lead New Party - Newsmax

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ Three aspiring state politicians hope their progressive bent will help them lock the Democratic nominations for state Senate and Assembly today, June 6, in the primary elections.

New Jerseys 40-member Senate and 80-member General Assembly combine to make up the state Legislature. Its members work to enact laws, serving all Garden State residents and constituents in their individual districts.

The 17th legislative district is comprised of portions of Middlesex and Somerset counties. The area covers New Brunswick, Piscataway, North Brunswick, Milltown and Franklin.

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William Irwin aims to become the Democratic candidate for state senator in the 17th legislative district. His running mates, Heather Fenyk and Ralph Johnson, hope to represent the districts blue team for two Assembly seats in the general election.

The challengers are running on behalf of the Central Jersey Progressive Democrats, a faction founded last year on the ideals and policy goals of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Theyre facing incumbents from the Middlesex County Democratic Organization and the Somerset County Regular Democratic Organization.

Todays winning candidates will square off against Republican opponents in the fall.

Primary elections offer partisans the chance to choose their candidates in the November general election. Registered Democrats may vote in their partys primaries, and Republicans may do the same for their party.

Unaffiliated voters may ask for a ballot from either party at their polling stations. By doing so, however, voters become registered with the party in whose primary they voted.

Polls are open until 8 p.m. For information on where to vote, click here.

TAPinto New Brunswick sent questions to each Senate and Assembly candidate from the 17th legislative district. Below are answers from the three Central Jersey Progressive Democrats. Their responses may have been edited for grammar, style or brevity.

William Irwin, Piscataway resident running for state Senate

Describe your background and why you are qualified for the office.

I am honored to be leading a slate of candidates to take back our party and our government.

A former resident of New Brunswick and Franklin, Ive been a homeowner in Piscataway for 19 years with my wife and sons. A volunteer Little League manager, I have served as president of Piscataways Board of Education since 2014, when I was first elected. I ran in response to growing class sizes in our schools. As a former teacher (masters and bachelors degrees, both from Rutgers University), I thought I could help be part of the solution. I am proud of our boards work, including adopting the states first policy to protect immigrants in our school community, to defend the rights of our transgender students, to ensure a strong food justice policy and securing academic excellence and national recognition for our work. I have worked to ensure that our students and staff have an exceptional learning environment by reducing standardized testing in our schools.

I am a Progressive Democrat who deeply believes in an agenda for social, political and economic justice for all. I will bring these values and my experience of grassroots advocacy and policy change to the Legislature.

What do you consider the most pressing issue facing the state, and how would you address it?

Our slate of candidates believes resistance to the Trump administration and the fight to secure economic, political and social justice are the most pressing issues facing our residents.

On Nov. 8, I felt despair like so many, but on Nov. 9, I got to work. I was heartened by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders call to begin the process of rebuilding our party. I looked to the Democratic leaders we have representing us in Piscataway and at the state level, and only heard silence from them. I did not see champions of working people. Instead, I saw leaders who are collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to implement Trump's immoral and illegal immigration plans. I saw elected officials withholding support for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, and doing little to stop the Williams Transco pipeline from coming into our community. Our Democrats helped Chris Christie cut the estate tax for 3,500 wealthy families by raising the gas tax on everyone else. I asked myself, Whose side are they really on? They certainly dont seem to be on the same side as the people I know in my community.

Unlike my opponents, I will actually stand up to Trump and represent my constituents.

If you are elected, what would you do to specifically help the constituents of the 17th legislative district?

I believe deeply in the policy objective outlined by Sen. Sanders and am glad our slate has adopted them as our own.

We are working to advance an agenda for social, political and economic justice for Middlesex County residents. I believe in raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, in ensuring equal pay for equal work and investing in community facilities that benefit us all.

Our slate is opposed tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires that are paid for by increasing the tax burden on the working and middle class. Last years Transportation Trust Fund deal is one example of this; our Democratic leaders supported a regressive tax on gas, which everyone pays, but cut the estate tax for 3,500 wealthy families. Thats wrong for residents of LD-17, who often have long commutes, and limited public transportation choices.

I will work to stop the Williams Transco pipeline and end collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. I will be a member of the NJ Resistance Caucus in the Legislature, and stand up for working families. Our entire platform is available on our website at http://www.centraljerseyprogressivedemocrats.org.

Heather Fenyk, New Brunswick resident running for state Assembly

Describe your background and why you are qualified for the office.

I am a nonprofit director, working mother, small business owner and community organizer who has lived in New Brunswick with her family for almost two decades.

I have a proven track record of running successful social services and environmental organizing, including as a founding member of both the New Brunswick Community Food Alliance and New Brunswick Green Team, and as founder of New Jerseys newest watershed association, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership. I have never run for political office before, but I have a strong understanding of policy and of how government can work to help solve our common concerns.

In the state Assembly, I will fight to let residents have a voice in how we build our communities in deep and meaningful ways that include: fair and welcoming immigration status, school funding reform, environmental restoration, business incubation and creative economies. I am encouraged by the enthusiastic grassroots effort we have organized in a very short time, making clear that the Central Jersey Progressive Democrats platform speaks to the core values of our communities. We are proving that the best way to win is to talk about our core values, and to talk about restoring democracy to local decision-making.

What do you consider the most pressing issue facing the state, and how would you address it?

I am very concerned about restoring American democracy, which requires a shift from business as usual politics to direct and active engagement by the Democratic Partys progressive base.

I see the opportunities that have made prior generations of residents proud to call New Jersey home--great public schools, good local jobs and neighborhoods with a sense of place--slipping away from too many people. I am running, as part of an amazing slate of candidates, because I see career politicians working on behalf of land developers and entities that have no sense of the true character of the towns we call home.

If you are elected, what would you do to specifically help the constituents of the 17th legislative district?

I believe our leaders must resist the Trump Agenda, including opposing his immoral and illegal executive orders.

Like my running mates, I was disappointed last fall year when our Democratic representatives worked with Governor Christie to shift the tax burden of paying for roads and bridges from the top 3,500 wealthiest New Jersey families and onto to the middle and working classes by raising the gas tax on the rest of us.

I oppose the creation of the proposed Williams Transco Gas Pipeline, which is slated to bring unneeded fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania underneath large sections of Central Jersey, under Raritan Bay and utilize a compressor station that would have to be built on the South Brunswick/Franklin border. This pipeline serves no public interest and will needlessly put people in danger while undermining efforts to reverse global warming and wean our country from fossil fuels.

I believe that New Jersey should be aggressively pursuing a clean and renewable energy future, not capitulating to the fossil fuel. I support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to make sure all our residents and communities thrive.

Ralph Johnson, Piscataway resident running for state Assembly

Describe your background and why you are qualified for the office.

I am a Progressive Democrat who believes in social, economic and political justice and answering the call to take back the Democratic Party.

Since 2014, I have served on the Piscataway Board of Education, the only three time Magna award recipient in America by the National School Board Association. I am a current Lieutenant and a 20-year veteran of law enforcement, a two-term Piscataway school board member, a Pop Warner Football and Little League Baseball coach, the chair of the boards School Culture and Climate Committee, delegate to the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey and former educator.

Unlike my opponents, who are both white men, I can represent my communitys diversity and increase the representation of African-Americans in New Jerseys General Assembly. I have lived with my wife and four children in Piscataway since 2001.

I have a masters degree in education from Saint Peters College, a bachelors degree in political science from West Virginia University and a certification of administration and supervision in education and a standard teaching license. I am an active member of the Mens of Christ Fellowship Ministry, and worshiping and serving the Lord with Zion Hill Baptist Church of Piscataway.

What do you consider the most pressing issue facing the state, and how would you address it?

After the election, I was disappointed and worried about what a Trump presidency would mean for my community, my friends and my family.

Sen. Sanders call to run progressives for local office really resonated with me; I know that we need to stand up for ourselves, and to be the change we wish to see. I believe it is time for the American people to make a fundamental decision to get actively involved in the Democratic process or be a bystander.

Our current representatives are corporate Democrats and do not fight for working families. They voted for the Transportation Trust Fund, which raised the gas tax--one of the most regressive taxes--for millions of working people and seniors in the state, but cut the estate tax for 3,500 wealthy families. They have done nothing to protect our immigrant neighbors, and they are vigorously not opposing the Williams Transco pipeline.

The people of the 17th legislative district deserve better, and I look forward to the opportunity to represent our shared beliefs in the state Assembly. I encourage people to review our position statements at http://www.centraljerseyprogressivedemocrats.org.

If you are elected, what would you do to specifically help the constituents of the 17th legislative district?

As a member of the state Assembly, I would stand up to Donald Trump at every opportunity and stand up for working families, not millionaires and billionaires.

Our current representatives are not part of the NJ Resistance, which is fighting the Trump agenda by passing progressive state legislation. I wont sit on the sidelines; I will be in the fight for $15 and work to make sure that New Jersey is a safe and welcoming community for all of our neighbors. Ill use my service to ensure that everyone benefits, not just the wealthy few.

I will fight for the school funding formula to be fully funded, so residents of LD-17 get the state support they pay for and deserve. I believe we should reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and oppose the Williams Transco pipeline and gas compressor station slated to be built in Franklin.

Voters in our communities want leaders who will listen and respond to them. Voters I have talked to say that our current representatives do not respond to their calls or concerns. Our communities are tired of being taken for granted. I will listen and I will advocate for the needs of all of my constituents.

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Sanders-Inspired Progressives Aim to Secure Democratic Nod in the 17th District - TAPinto.net