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Jeremy Blake nervously shuffled papers as he sat on the Newark, Ohio, city council dais. The room was packed; people were standing along the aisles and spilling into the hallway outside. Blake, 38, first became involved in local politics when he was a teenager, but back then, he would never have imagined that this moment would arrive.

In about 30 minutes, the council would vote on legislation to ban discrimination against people for being gay, bisexual, or transgender legislation that Blake had proposed and shepherded.

After testimony from supporters and opponents, and before the vote, Blake spoke, a serious expression replacing his near-permanent grin. Its not like I woke up one morning and chose to be a black, gay man in Newark, Ohio, he said. We are who we are. I dont want you to tolerate me. I want you to accept me for who I am.

The legislation passed unanimously a surprising thing in a Rust Belt red city in a red county. Its approval underscored bipartisan support and the respect council members have for Blake, who is a Democrat.

But that was last July, before a polarizing presidential campaign heated up and before President Trump won the national election, the state of Ohio and Blakes home county by about 23,000 votes.

That was a wake-up call for Ohios Democrats. Trumps election has propelled many young progressives into the political fray for the first time. Jen House, president of Ohio Young Democrats, says that at a recent statewide new-candidates training, dozens of people showed up more than ever before.

Jeremy Blake might be a useful model for some of these new candidates, many of whom seek success in apparent Republican strongholds.

Blakes hometown, Newark, was once a manufacturing hub, and a transforming downtown shows both recent growth and relics of that past. On the outskirts of town theres an empty seven-story building in the shape of a basket, the former headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company. The city is grappling with the drug epidemic that has slammed small town America and, Blake points out, must do so with fewer resources than it once had, in part because of budget cuts under Republican Gov. John Kasichs administration.

Last summer, Longaberger moved employees out of the basket-shaped building. Its still empty and is about to go into foreclosure. When Michael Moore was looking for a site to tape a one-man show that would be part of his 2016 film TrumpLand, he considered Newark because of the basket, which he could link to Clintons quip about a basket of deplorables. However, the theater where he planned to film denied him access, saying he was too controversial.

It takes a skilled politician to succeed in a place like this, especially when youre a member of the other party.

Blake says that a politician representing the opposition party must listen and talk to constituents. Its not magic, he says, Its about being able to talk to people and relate to them.

If people trust you, they might come along with you when you propose legislation that seems outside their wheelhouse. People listened to Blake when he proposed potentially controversial legislation like the LGBT anti-discrimination law. They also listened in 2015, when he helped write a proposal to ban-the-box on city employment applications in an effort to help those with felony convictions find jobs. The proposal passed and the city became a model for private employers in the community to follow.

Blake frames these two initiatives as being part of an effort to make Newark more welcoming for employee and employer alike. Making the community a better place to live in, Blake says, helps boost the economy. Hes supported or driven efforts to pave streets, replace water and sewer lines, support parks and the arts, and to rethink how the community addresses the drug epidemic. As a member of the council Blake has supported local efforts to treat addicts as patients and not criminals by championing a police department program that allows addicts to turn in their drugs in exchange for placements in detox and, hopefully, rehab.

Some of these approaches might be controversial to a typical Republican but to Blakes Republican neighbors, they arent. Thats because they know, and trust, him.

People here know my grandma. They know my people. I have, he chuckles, a reputation.

Its a reputation that developed through years of civic engagement. As a teenager Blake served on the mayors youth council. Later, while working as a staffer for the Ohio Democratic Caucus, he was elected to the Newark school board, and soon became board president at the age of 25. The bulk of his time in politics has been spent working with South Newark Civic Association. The local nonprofit began as a block watch and is now solely focused on building relationships between neighbors.

All Im doing is coalition building, Blake says. For progressives to make real and sustainable inroads in rural and Rust Belt America, this would be a good place to start. Mobilizing versus Organizing

Harry Boyte, a veteran community organizer and co-director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College, says Democrats have been too focused on mobilizing rather than the kind of organizing Blake champions.

For Boyte, organizing is an open and evolving process with no predetermined script. It involves talking to people and learning what their needs are.

There might be some issue theyre working on, he says, but the focus is on developing peoples capacities. Organizing is about building relationships and can foster a politics that pays close attention to the needs of the people on the ground, he says.

That strategy has worked for Ohio progressives. Mayor Luke Feeney of Chillicothe, Ohio, says, If youre elected locally and can show youre delivering basic services, that will build credibility.

Feeney has been in Chillicothe for a little over 10 years; in a place like this, it means hes still a newcomer. But the young attorney bonded quickly with this community through his work at Southeastern Ohio Legal Services, where he served mostly elderly and low-income people. In 2013 he became city auditor, and two years later, ran for mayor.

With just over a year in office, Feeney has helped the city increase police and fire department staffing, paved roads, brought back curbside recycling and worked to develop a rainy day fund. Hes also started holding Neighborhood Office Hours in order to listen to constituents directly.

Folks in Chillicothe, he says, can and will make connections between local outcomes and national politics. Last July, when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention, he mentioned a Chillicothe entrepreneur named Courtney Lewis, who had opened a thriving store selling locally themed gifts three years ago. Lewis is still a success story, but Feeney worries about her future under an administration that he believes caters only to big business.

I havent heard how Trump will help Courtney, Feeney says.

In many ways, he adds, it feels as if small towns like Chillicothe are on their own as well. Like Blake, Feeney is concerned about the drug epidemic it has hit families in his area hard and stretched his towns resources. So Feeney is working with data analysts from the University of Cincinnati to find correlations between overdose statistics and other city data, like that from schools and public utilities.

Im not a policing expert, he says, but I think we can learn a lot from data. If we can find the hottest spot, then we can help the people in that area.

Chillicothe, a city of about 22,000 in Ross County, Ohio just on the western edge of the Appalachians went for Trump. There are fewer Democrats in this part of the state than there are in Newark, but Feeney says his party is making inroads. I think that after last November, more rural areas are going to have to get more attention from the Democrats. I dont know what thats going to look like, but I think it will happen.

Jen House of the Ohio Young Democrats the official youth arm of the Democratic Party says she is focused on supporting campaigns and potential candidates through training and strategizing. She is also working to identify people who want to run especially those with local experience.

Redistricting has made finding potential candidates a challenge for Democrats on the state and congressional level, but she has already seen several young Democrats exploring bids in Republican-held house districts. On a local level, she points to two young Democrats Sarah Schregardus and Chad Queen who are running in Hilliard, Ohio, where a Democrat hasnt run for council since 2009.

Schregardus and Queen both say they are running, in part, because of the outcome of the presidential election.

I felt like I wanted to help my community with what I could bring to the table, Schregardus says. As an attorney I deal with people who disagree with me all the time. Im effective at coming to solutions, to agreements. Shes raising a family in Hilliard and, she says, wants to see council members who reflect progressive values. She could be one of them.

House believes that the key now is to take this current momentum from progressives and put it to good use. Her peers in other states, she says, are hoping to do the same.

Can we turn this into boots on the ground? That remains to be seen, she says. If it doesnt work, then well find another way. We have no choice. The Ground Game

Jeremy Blake bristles at the suggestion that theres a fixed party dichotomy among local voters. Hes sure some folks who voted for him also voted for Trump.

If youre going into this situation already having this division in your mind, then youre not going to succeed. Youre starting off from the wrong place.

Blake admits his is an optimistic approach, but he says he doesnt want to repeat the failings of the Hillary Clinton campaign. From his vantage point, the campaign didnt relate to the working-class people who are more interested in raising wages than they are in social issues. It makes sense, he says, that some people would support Bernie Sanders but not Clinton, and then ultimately cast a vote for Trump.

I still live in a community where people think if you work hard, youll achieve, says Blake, who was raised by a single mother who was a proud union member. They dont want to look at the systemic barriers that hurt people. They want to believe that dream that if I work hard Ill be able to succeed in this life. They want to go to work. Provide for their families.

That fed Trumps appeal: They saw a businessman who said he was going to stir things up in Washington and so they voted for him.

Most Ohio progressives, Blake says, believe that government has a role in education, health and well-being, environment, regulations for commerce and financial institutions, social safety net, protections for marginalized citizens, science and organized labor.

When Republicans attribute problems to the government, theyre telling the wrong story, Blake says. When people say, The government this or The government that! well, thats you! You are voting for people to represent you but you ultimately have a say.

But theres a disconnect between the Democratic Party leadership and places like Newark. The Ohio Democratic party offers little financial support to politicians running in small towns and rural areas; Blake says theyve never wrote him a check when he ran for city council. Theyre focused on the cities because thats their base, and I get that. They do, however, offer training and strategic support.

But even without Democratic Party financial support, Blake is making sure locals in his party get organized. Currently, he is helping two young Newark Democrats 34-year-old Sean Fennell and 20-year-old Seth Dobbelaer navigate their first city council elections. Thats why on a bright Sunday in March, Blake is among volunteers gathered to canvass for Fennell.

Around a dining room table littered with bumper stickers that read #NewarkProud and flyers promoting a meet-the-candidate event, Fennell, a cheery technology specialist for the local library, lays out his platform to a handful of volunteers.

When Fennells done, Blake pipes up and tells folks that as they go door to door, its best to keep it short. On a Sunday, he says, People dont want you to get all detailed. Were probably interrupting them. This is about building awareness. Thats it.

As he leaves the house with volunteer Molly Pancini, the two quickly form a plan as they walk. Pancini carries a clipboard with a list of addresses. Blake carries a stack of flyers and stickers.

If you tell us where to go, Ill do all the talking, Blake offers. Pancini agrees.

Blake knocks on the door of the first house, a yellow Victorian with a wrap-around porch. Theres no response. He waits. And then, a dog barks. The dog got started, he says matter-of-factly. Dog gets moving and maybe the people will! He waits patiently.

No one is home. He leaves a sticker and a flyer.

At the next house on the list, a man comes to the door in a jeans and a T-shirt, looking a bit like hed just woken from a nap. But he greets Blake and Pancini with a demure Midwestern politeness. Blake informs the man that his neighbor, Sean Fennell, is running for city council, and is having folks over next Wednesday for a meet-the-candidate event.

Hes just up the block, Blake says. You should come by.

Okay, thank you, the man says.

Blake hands him a flyer, shakes his hand and keeps moving. There are a lot of houses on the list.

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Small-town progressives pick up the pieces of Ohio's Democratic Party - Salon

Since theDemocratic Partylost the 2016 presidential election,the partys establishment has suppressed all callsfor reform from progressives.Though thepartyappointed Sen. Bernie Sanders as its head of outreach, most Democrats continue to treat him and his supporters as unwelcome outsiders. In a recent speech, Sanders provided progressives with insight as to how to advance their valuesagainst an inept and increasingly out of touchDemocratic Party.

When you have everybody in theestablishmentagainst you, how do you move a progressive agenda forward? asked Sanders during aspeechat MIT on March 31. The answer is you go to the people. This has beenSandersprimary strategy during Donald Trumps presidency; he has led rallies, held town halls, and delivered speeches across the country to mobilize his supporters.

Our job is not a radical concept. Our job is to organize and educate people around a progressive agenda that demands Congress represent us, not just the one percent. Thats about it. Nothing more complicated than that, Sanders said. But to make that happen, we are going to need radical transformation of theDemocratic Party. I dont want to offend anybody, but theDemocratic Partycannot continue to be just the party of theliberal eliteand people who have money. It has got to be the party of the working class of this country. TheDemocratic Partycannot just be a party that just does well in New England and the west coast, it has got to be a 50-state party.

While Sanders discussed why the Republican Party issuccessful in winning elections across the country, he blamed theDemocratic PartyforTrumps election and Republicans holding a majority in Congress and state legislatures all over the country.

And he also assumes, quite correctly, that theDemocratic Partyis extremely weak and incapable of organizing people, Sanders said in reference to how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is able to push policies that hurt his constituents with impunity.

Sandersnoted that although the knee-jerk reaction from manyDemocratsis to shame, scold, and blame people who voted for Trump, its Democrats fault that thousands of voters who voted for former President BarackObamain 2008 and 2012 voted for Trump in 2016. The problem is these people over the years, many of them wereDemocrats. They looked at the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party made a hell of a lot of promises to them.

But you know what? In many respects, not all, and clearly theDemocratshave been much better than the Republicans. But I dont want anyone here to forget that it was aDemocratic president, not a Republican president, who deregulated Wall Street. It was a Democratic president who made the first major initiatives in disastrous trade policies, Sanders explained in reference to former President Bill Clinton, whoenacted several policies that hurt working, middle class and low income Americans. Lets not forget that either. So, theyre angry, and they look for an alternative.

Rather than understanding this dynamic, manyDemocrats have attackedTrumps voters, reverberating the self-destructive attitude exemplified byHillaryClintons commentduring her campaign that half of all Trump supporters belong in a basket of deplorables. Sanders said, I do not believe in any way shape or form that the vast majority of Trump supporters are racists, sexists, xenophobes and homophobes. I dont believe that. I think if you think thats the issue, you are missing the boat big time.

He also discussed the plight of coal country in rural America, where communities that once thrived with thousands of well paid jobs have been abandoned and these jobs have disappeared with no economic infrastructure to fill the void. These guys were heroes, going down underneath there, the worst work in the world, and many of them die young from black lung diseaseThe world has come and past them. Coal is in decline, said Sanders.

So, how do you feel if you are 50-60 years old you once had a job. And by the way, a job is not just income. People want to work. They want to feel part of society. They want to be productive.Sandersnoted that severe economic issues in many areas of the country combined witha diminishing sense of community throughout nationand globallyprovides opportunities for people like Trump. We have got to create community. We have got to make sure that I care about you and you care about me. That I know you are worried about my seven grandchildren, and I am worried about your mother who is ill. When we are a part of that communitynot left outI think that makes us more human and less likely to picking and start scapegoating minorities, because thats what demagogues feed upon.

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Bernie Sanders Calls Democratic Party 'Weak and Incapable of Organizing' - Observer

The Russian election interference narrative has devolved into Clinton loyalists attempting to rehabilitate theClintonbrand, so it wasinevitable that the narrative would be used to attack Sen.Bernie Sandersand his supporters. These attacks have ranged from baseless allegations that Sanders supporters are Russian stooges to reducing their criticisms of HillaryClintonto being the resultof Russian bot-fueled propaganda.

Months after the election,Clintonsupporters are still re-litigating the argument thatshe was a good candidate, which is, in essence, the effect of their claims that the Russian government hired people to pose as Bernie Bros to inflame progressives criticisms of Clinton. There has not been any evidence to support these claims, yet the allegations have been sustainedthroughout the past several weeks.

A few weeks ago, the Huffington Postpublishedan article speculating that Russian trolls infiltrated Bernie Sanders groups to post fake news and news critical of HillaryClinton. Instead of citing evidence, the authors of the article relied on conjecture and anecdotal evidence from a few people from Bernie Sanders Facebook groups, two of whom complained that their quotes were taken out of context and used to develop the narrative that Russia was manipulating the groups. These administratorscomplaints were more againsthyper-partisanand unreliable news sources that people were sharingmany of which solely dealt pro-HillaryClintonnews, including PoliticusUSA, Addicting Info, and Blue Nation Review, which was funded by pro-Clinton Super PACs. This important nuance was ignored because it didnt fit into the authors narrative.

The reporters failed to acknowledge that the poorly constructed fake news websitesthat either poached articles from other sources or wrote fake news of their ownwere created solely for-profit, not to manufacture negative opinions about Hillary Clinton. In December 2016, NBC News and other news sourcesreportedon a Macedonian teenager who made $60,000 through a fake news website he managed.

The Huffington Posts article was further sensationalized by MSNBCs Rachel Maddow, who summarized the points from the article that best fit into the Russia narrativeshe crafted in her sensationalized segment.

Then, the FBIannouncedthat they were looking into Breitbart and InfoWars. Clinton Watts, a former FBI agent, claimed during a Senate testimony that Sanders supporters were targeted by Russian bots, though he provided no evidence for his opinion. RawStorypublisheda misleading article, using the pejorative term Bernie Bros and claimed that former General Keith Alexander said during a Senate testimony that Sanders supporters were unwitting agents in aRussiandisinformation campaign. Alexander, who left the NSA in 2014, said, I thinkwhat they were trying to do was drive a wedge within the Democratic Party between the Clinton group and the Sanders group, and then in our nation between Republicans and Democrats. Alexander was only speculating that this was the Russians strategy, but RawStory transmogrified it into a smoking gun headline to attack Sanders supporters.

Claims that theRussiangovernment created pro-Bernie bots to spread propaganda diminish the validity ofcriticisms of HillaryClintonand theDemocratic establishment. These claims also distract from similar campaigns conducted on behalf of HillaryClintonduring the election, which there is evidence for.ClintonSuper PAC Correct the Record implemented theirBreaking Barriers campaign, which included spending at least $1 million on internet trolls to correct the record of claims against HillaryClinton.

This false narrative was quickly repeated by ShareBlue, a pro-Clintonmedia outlet owned by David Brock and run by formerClintonstaffer Peter Daou, which didnt offer any evidence to substantiate the claim and resurfaced the Bernie Bros smear campaign as well. The phrase Bernie Bros, despite being coined by awhite male, was used to portray Sanders supporters as sexist white males. The term is still used in disingenuous attacks againstprogressives, who Clinton partisans would rather blame for Trumps victory than taking responsibility themselves.

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'Russians Bots' Is Latest Smear Campaign Against Sanders Progressives - Observer

Democrats.com has learned that Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has fathered multiple children from extra-marital relationships, casting doubt on his honesty and likelihood of serving on the nations highest court.

In our exclusive interview, Gorsuch reluctantly admitted to his sexual transgressions. I know its wrong, he said, but it has taken me years to make peace with this awful affliction. People do not interest me, but corporations totally turn me on. I cant help it. Corporations are beautiful, beautiful people and they have the right to exercise their religious and sexual beliefs.

Gorsuch supports unlimited corporate dirty talk, unconstrained by campaign finance limitations. In any conflict between individual rights and those of huge corporate enterprises, Gorsuch has always favored business interests.

Yes, Gorsuch admitted on his doorstep, accompanied by his wife, I was tempted by some mature, sophisticated corporations and I was seduced. I deeply regret being in bed with corporate powers, but I am a responsible man and I will step up and support the children that have come from these illicit liaisons.

These shocking revelations cast doubt on Gorsuchs impartiality with regard to corporate power. Im a Constitutional originalist, he asserted as his wife looked on, I think that marriage should be between a man and a flesh-and-blood corporation. At a closer look, Democrats.com discovered that his wife was, in fact, a large stack of incorporation papers.

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Democrats.com - The Aggressive Progressives

When the Progressives passed their Immigration Law in fall 2013, they handed the Cayman Islands a ticking time bomb of uncertainty and legal liability.

It is unclear whether the Progressives Cabinets belated tweaks to permanent residence regulations will be enough to defuse this dangerous piece of ordinance, or whether it will detonate and deconstruct Caymans entire immigration system. In the process the countrys Freedom of Information Law may suffer mortal collateral damage.

At the center of this scenario are a pair of rulings by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie.

In August 2015, the chief justice issued a landmark decision regarding two permanent residency applicants. In his ruling, the chief justice included two crucial criticisms that the PR points system (particularly the different weights given to different occupations) was problematic and arbitrary, and that the nearly 10 years the two PR applicants spent waiting for decisions amounted to unconscionably long delays.

Following the ruling, the government commissioned a consultants report from Ritch & Conolly law firm, which was completed in mid-2016, and presumably contains an analysis of weaknesses (and perhaps solutions to those weaknesses) in Caymans immigration system.

On the last day of February this year, the Progressives Cabinet made long-overdue changes to immigration regulations, with the promise that the backlog of 900-plus permanent residence applications would finally be cleared.

More than a month later, the Immigration Department has signaled it is about to begin considering PR applications, albeit with no apparent substantive action, no specific timeline and, most importantly, no actual decisions.

In the meantime, the deleterious effects of the Progressives PR freeze are rippling through the broader legal system and individuals personal lives.

In a Feb. 7 judgment in a family court case, Justice Richard Williams described the PR situation as a regrettable current state of affairs and a deficient part of the immigration process. In that case, the delays in processing PR applications from a couple who had since filed for separation introduced complexities in the division of assets and custody of their children.

Law firm HSM Chambers has described Cabinets changes as largely cosmetic tweaks that would give nearly all applicants more points on their applications but do not address more fundamental issues. HSM is leading two high-profile court challenges concerning the governments PR delays, which are still pending before the courts and are likely not be decided before the May 24 elections, but which represent real financial threats to Caymans public treasury.

The changes Cabinet made to the Immigration Law in February were probably informed by the 2016 report from Ritch & Conolly. In regard to statements about the Ritch Report, we employ qualifiers such as presumably and probably out of necessity because neither we, nor anyone else outside of Premier Alden McLaughlin and a small circle of officials, knows what the report actually says.

In late January, Chief Justice Smellie issued a ruling that accepted as an assumption the premiers argument that the Ritch Report constituted legally privileged advice, and then determined that, as such, it would not be appropriate to compel the government to turn the report over to Information Commissioner Jan Liebaers who had sought the document precisely in order to determine if it contained legal advice.

Mr. Liebaers is now seeking to challenge that ruling in the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal.

If the chief justices decision stands, in our view it opens up a gaping loophole in Caymans FOI Law. Any time a government minister wishes to keep a public record from going public, he could simply label it legal advice and refuse to allow anyone, even the information commissioner, from verifying if that assertion is correct.

Further, as we reported Friday, Mr. Liebaers said since the chief justices ruling was made public, a number of government entities have been attempting to deny the information commissioners office access to records, even without a ministerial certificate of exemption similar to the one issued by Premier McLaughlin.

Its too early to tell, but depending on various outcomes in court, Cayman could soon be welcoming many hundreds of new permanent residents, parting ways with millions of tax dollars in legal fees, and waving goodbye to FOI.

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EDITORIAL Permanent residence: The Progressives' explosive legacy - Cayman Compass