Name: Congressional Primary Challengers Seek to Keep Progressive Tide Going
Brand: progressive.org
SKU: progressive-org-6
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Congressional Primary Challengers Seek to Keep Progressive Tide Going

preview

After scoring primary victories in Congressional races in , , and , progressives have their sights set on two other races in which entrenched, corporate-funded Democrats are facing challengers from their left.&nbsp;Cori Bush of Missouri and Alex Morse of Massachusetts could both make history, and send shockwaves through the Democratic political establishment, if they emerge victorious in their challenges to unseat William Lacy Clay Jr. and Richie Neal, respectively.&nbsp;Cori Bush, running for U.S. Congress in Missouri's 1st District “I am the people that I serve,” Cori Bush says. It’s not just a slogan. Bush is an activist, nurse, single mother, and ordained pastor from St. Louis, who volunteered her services as a nurse during the protests in Ferguson in 2014. A member of the original cohort of Ferguson Black Lives Matter activists, she has gained traction in recent weeks as she was by Bernie Sanders, , and the Sunrise Movement.On the other hand, Bush’s opponent, Lacy Clay, is a member of a political dynasty that has for more than fifty years, who is facing what is likely to be his most serious challenge yet from Bush, the ten-term incumbent Democrat by $100,000 this past FEC cycle.&nbsp;In late July, Bush launched her , where she accused Clay of “presiding over twenty years of decline,” while emphasizing the need for bold leadership on issues of racial, social, and economic injustice.&nbsp;The Missouri primary election on is Bush’s second attempt to oust Clay. In 2018, she still won 36.9 percent of the vote to Clay’s 56.7 percent.&nbsp;“Last time, a lot of people left the polls saying, ‘Oh my goodness, I thought you were a white man,’ ” Bush in reference to the inability of her 2018 campaign to build strong name recognition with voters in the majority-minority district.&nbsp;This time, her campaign is much more equipped for the challenge, having more in the than she did throughout her .&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Having struggled with and firsthand, Bush is an outspoken advocate on issues of income inequality and policing. As a nurse, she can testify to the dysfunction of the American healthcare system. And as an activist, she has fought against police brutality and made it a key part of her platform it became a politically advisable decision.&nbsp;Bush’s chances have also been buoyed due to the decision of the progressive group, , to in a six-figure ad buy, calling out Clay for voting with Republicans and opposing President Barack Obama’s “fiduciary rule,” which provided financial security primarily to low-income families.&nbsp;Fight Corporate Monopolies is also another six-figure ad buy in the Massachusetts race, in which Alex Morse is challenging incumbent Richie Neal. The ads, which highlight Neal’s votes for corporate friendly resolutions and his overwhelming fundraising from big corporations, in the Springfield-Holyoke TV market since the first week of July.&nbsp;Similar to Clay in St. Louis, Neal is overwhelmingly funded by , with less than of his campaign funding leading up to the September 1 primary election coming from small dollar donations.&nbsp;Alex Morse, running for U.S. Congress in Massachusetts's 1st District Alex Morse, the openly gay, thirty-one-year old mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, made history in 2011, when (during in his final year of college), he won his bid for mayor, ousting incumbent Elaine Puta. Since then, he has presided over a in the city’s crime rates and a in high school graduations. He’s also been an outspoken progressive voice, being the first mayor in the state to support the .&nbsp;“I knocked on thousands of doors, ran a very grassroots campaign, reached out and included the Latino community for the first time in decades and became the youngest and first openly gay mayor of the city,” Morse in a recent interview in Salon “Nine years later, I’m still the mayor, in my fourth term. I’m thirty-one years old, and now I’m running for Congress.”Unlike Neal, Morse is funded by small donors, with 95 percent of his fundraising coming from donations of less than $200, according to the Federal Elections Commission. He also raised only $14,993 less than Neal, who is among the top recipients of corporate PAC money in Congress.&nbsp;A recent endorsement by Jamaal Bowman, who Eliot Engel, a sixteen-term Democatic incumbent in a Congressional primary in New York, has helped Morse raise money for a TV ad of his own. The describes his experience of losing a brother to an opioid overdose, an experience sadly not uncommon in New England, which has been hard-hit by the opioid epidemic.&nbsp;Morse has also been able to chip away at Neal’s institutional support, recently the backing of the LGBT Victory Fund. He’s endorsed by of city council members in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and by the of the city council in Springfield, the largest city in the district. Recently, Morse was by Massachusetts’s largest (and America’s third-largest) nurses’ union, which opted not to endorse Neal due to his opposition to universal health care and ties to large pharmaceutical and insurance corporations.Both Bush and Morse are endorsed by and the , two groups that played an integral part in Jamaal Bowman’s victory. The full apparatus and infrastructure of these progressive movements, combined with the rising tide of American progressivism, has made these challengers all the more formidable.Though both Bush and Morse remain underdogs, they are among the remaining progressive primary challengers with the best chance of scoring upsets that could replace old members of the Democratic Congressional establishment with new members of The Squad.Nothing terrifies me more than the Democratic establishment. The fact that our so called representatives can be in the pockets of the few richest among us and not be held accountable for the neglect they choose to permit with their years of recognition, is in my heart, treasonous to this country we inherited. Even more so than the blatant acts of filibustering, corporate sabotage of progress made in the Republican party. At least the Progressive/Democratic public is actively aware of the Republicans attempts to stifle Medicare 4 all and the GND and many other bills that should have and could have passed with a majority Dem house. These are some sneaky snake people, lining their pockets/shareholders with millions while hundreds of thousands of human lives are suffering, struggling, and often times on the precipice of death. If they ever had any good intentions I hope they find them again outside of office because I don't want them anywhere near our government buildings.Sign-up for our free weekly e-mail newsletter.Sign up for our free email newsletter!The Progressive Inc. publishes The Progressive magazine plus Progressive.org and Public Schools Advocate.© 2022 • The Progressive Inc. • 931 E. Main Street, Suite 10 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703 • (608) 257-4626Built with

After scoring primary victories in Congressional races in , , and , progressives have their sights set on two other races in which entrenched, corporate-funded Democrats are facing challengers from their left.&nbsp;Cori Bush of Missouri and Alex Morse of Massachusetts could both make history, and send shockwaves through the Democratic political establishment, if they emerge victorious in their challenges to unseat William Lacy Clay Jr. and Richie Neal, respectively.&nbsp;Cori Bush, running for U.S. Congress in Missouri's 1st District “I am the people that I serve,” Cori Bush says. It’s not...

Congressional Primary Challengers Seek to Keep Progressive Tide Going

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS