A breath of fresh air after Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman Schultz sowed up the 2016 Democratic nomination to the exclusion of Bernie Sanders.
Let the people decide; not bureaucrats behind a closed door.
3
The democrats may be finally learning that their playing it "safe" with Hillary gave us Donald Trump. Nina Turner sure tells it like it is...
2
I don't care if I'm the odd one out. I'm going to vote for a progressive woman over a progressive man as long as the woman 1) shows signs of being a team player who knows how to collaborate and 2) holds strong positions on education and health care. I reject the idea of power being defined only as the power to dominate over others and insist "I'm right, you're wrong, let's go to war." I'm ready for the tend-and-befriend era of getting stuff done. Move on from patriarchal values about power, I say. The more women you have in the room, I find, the easier that is to bring about. I'm sure plenty of men are tired of the ego posturing and battling-but-not-collaborating thing too.
8
At a time when we should be focusing on the economic situation of those left out of the ‘new economy’ as well as our enormous environmental problems, we instead seem determined to ignore them and double down on gender politics. This is guaranteed to solidify the far right takeover of our government and will do nothing to improve the lives of women, because we will lose. Try to remember that Hillary and those running the Democratic Party during her campaign were women, and it was the worst debacle in decades due to utter incompetence. I vote based on qualifications and ability to enact meaniful change for everyone, men included, and I will not vote for someone who’s only reason for running is to benefit their gender, wether they are a man or woman.
3
The invigorating 2018 Democratic challenge to congressional Repubicans and to Donald Trump's repressive agenda is wonderful--BUT is anyone else afraid of more electoral hacking?
We have done nothing to protect our electoral machinery.
What difference does a Democratic sweep make, if the Russians or anyone else has figured out how to hack our voting machines, change Democratic votes to Republican, and do all this undetected? How will we know who really won?
6
Let’s just see how this will play out in November. The Democratic base is not representative of the electorate.
2
Good, shake up the establishment as women are STILL 2nd class citizens in this country, just look around: equal pay, family leave, healthcare (do you know women in this country have a copay to have their mammogram "read"; how outrageous as it's basic healthcare for women; cost of "reading' mammogram should be covered 100% along w/the mammogram!) etc. etc... It's 2018 for goodness sake!
3
Generational change is overdue, as is gender change in politics. Stacey Abrams has an impressive background and a gift for oratory that has the cadences of black preachers. There will be a stark choice in Georgia between an extreme Trump supporter white man, probably the one without a college degree, and Ms. Abrams.
The common wisdom is that a black woman cannot win in Georgia. I am not so sure. 47% non-white population, and historically, the white Republican men pretend only other white Republicans populate the state. They don't seem to realize there are parallel cultures and histories here. Listening to them, watching them, suffering from their policies are almost half the population. They include the women who want healthcare including reproductive healthcare, the young people who want college or educational opportunities, all those who don't want guns forced on them and around them, the farmers who need migrant labor helping at harvest.
We will see. Go, Stacey!
5
What wonderful candidates! I wouldn't be a Republican this November for anything.
2
Bernie, and yes Trump, lead the way with their economic message. Combine Trump's immigration platform, minus the racism, and Bernie's healthcare and worker protection platform, minus free college and Medicare for all - Medicaid would play better - you have powerful platform. Actually, it's the old Democratic platform rebranded with a fresh, female face. Identitarians will be satisfied.
Those who say Trump won by playing the race card are wrong. He won in spite of it. Take that away and he wins by more. The political opportunity is there. A few brave women should seize it.
5
Glad to see the New York Times mention Ocasio-Cortez, at last. Finally someone is challenging the political status quo in NYC politics, where party insiders like Crowley have more power than all the voters in Queens and the Bronx combined, and aren't afraid to use (and abuse) that power. Hopefully the Times will continue to cover the race as we approach the primary.
4
From what I've been reading in the news, it is hardly ever safe to be a woman out in a man's world.
2
The People are not tired, they want to explode from the pent-up resistance they want to demonstrate against so-called representatives who are only ensuring their own benefits/share of the public trough.
My personal tax burdon may be tolerable. This does not mean I have met a reasonable standard for responsibility. Many in the public eye, including POTUS will not disclose what they have done to bear their share of the burden to help- the unfortunate. These pigs do not respect the common good.
Now, we are seeing a new and genuine class of legislators who are dismissing the incompetent past as a blip on the radar. We might all characterize it differently.
And in whatever way is true to you, say what you believe...to me, I would say to Stacey Abrams and others you are fulfilling your residence in our sacred Heaven.
This is not limited to those with talent and connections, neither of which hurts.
This is an exciting time to bring people who don't believe in the privacy of the booth to the ranks of those who will penetrate the walls of oblivion in orderr to stand for Justice for all.
5
I can't WAIT to vote for Ocasio on June 26th!
4
You all need to also take a look at Jeannine Lee Lake who won the Democratic primary for Indiana's 6th Congressional District on May 9th. She will be taking on Greg Pence (Mike Pence's older brother) in the fall.
5
There is a stink in politics right now, it is in both parties and I hope these women can kick in the door and throw the 'Slim' who due the 1% bidding out.
5
Progressive women are running Seattle and doing a lousy job.
3
These candidates are often running against not only their Republican opponent, but the Democratic establishment such as the DCCC and the DNC that are hell bent on thwarting progressives and maintaining the status quo that has resulted in the Democrats being wiped out at every level of government. There is too much money at stake for the consultants and donors to risk winning with progressives. As Bernie Sanders said, they would rather have first class tickets on the Titanic than back a winning progressive.
5
You go, girls, er, women, er whatever moniker you prefer -- but go! Hard and fast.
5
My fairly worthless two cents: When Bernie was running, he was running on a gender neutral, non-racial platform that centered on economic reform, trade policy reform, healthcare reform, environmental protection, and campaign finance reform. When he abdicated his role in his own movement to endorse a candidate that did not support his platform other than with minimal lip service, the movement was blinded and dazed. There was no longer one leader pushing forward a concentrated agenda, but many different leaders, all with different agendas. Bernie’s movement died when he stepped down as leader, and in its place are radicals and upstarts who push their individual agendas over that of the party they seek to represent. Gender and racial politics have risen to the top, and economic reform, health care, and campaign finance reform are at the bottom. I loved Bernie when he ran. I donated to a political campaign for the first time. Never had I felt such a strong connection with a political campaign. But Bernie failed. It’s time for him to step aside. It’s time for his campaign supporters to stop acting like children and work to repair the party that they are tearing apart through harmful primary campaigns; the gender and racial identity of the candidates be damned.
4
I would say so. Abrams running for the GA Governorship while she is $200,000 in debt AND owes the IRS $54,000 in back taxes is surely NOT playing it "Safe".
Hopefully the good citizens of Georgia will NOT elect a tax cheat as their governor.
6
She is not a tax cheat and is in a repayment plan to the IRS. She has written a commentary about her debt issues which, in part, were due to college and helping her family, so get over yourself.
http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2018/04/24/stacey-abrams-debt-georgia-gov...
7
But Sparky, the good citizens of Georgia elected a tax cheat for president.....
6
And we have what proof that the current occupant of the White House is not a tax cheat since he won't release his tax returns? Not to mention his documented history of filing bankruptcy numerous times and not paying vendors that have done work for him. There is no comparison to Ms Abrams.
6
If the Democratic party thinks that voters on the rebound from Trump are going to go for the loony left, they are sadly mistaken. However distasteful Trump maybe, the first instinct of the voter is to protect their wallet.
6
Most of these candidates seem to be finding success not because of their gender, but because of their progressive stances.
The Times is wedded to the corporatist-economically centrist Democratic Party bosses. They see no need to change the course of the party which, as it stands, is largely irrelevant.
That’s why they insist on blaming the party’s failures on Comey, the Russians, social media etc - they’re afraid to acknowledge that it is their cavalier attitude toward the working class that has left them with no political power at the local, state and federal level.
12
So proud of these women. The Democratic Party needs to get it together and get rid of Trump. He is the overwhelming horror.
6
Apropos articles on women politicians who do not play it safe and those young politicians who emphasize their military service (all mentioned men), I would add Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, 37, Iraq veteran, ardently pro-peace.
8
Would love to see Tulsi Gabbard as the 2020 Democratic Party nominee.
Ms. Gabbard does not carry the hawkish intervention-first, regime change baggage of Hillary. As a woman that served this nation, she already speaks with authority regarding the need for greater skepticism versus the military-industrial complex. Especially if she and the Democrats return to the center on immigration, reclaiming the heritage of African-American, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan's leadership from the 1990's, it would be a very credible challenge.
7
Too bad that primary elections are secondary to general elections.
1
Save the victory dance please until the actual electiton, not the primaries.
23
I say Go For IT! If candidates wait for the 'establishment' Democratic Party to get it's act together they will be gathering dust, not votes.
The 'Party' is still consumed with IMO stupid infighting and resulting inaction. Every democrat from the Bernie Bros to the Clintonistas need to be quiet and focus on getting Blue seats filled with bodies.
All the hoopla of the resistance or need for change, all the predictions of the Blue Wave are just wishful thinking from Democrats if they do not unite and get the votes out. Oh but's that's what we're doing says Perez. It sure doesn't look like it at all.
The Democrats are still arguing the 2016 election results. They could do that for 100 years. It is not getting the party anywhere except bad press. Stop it.
Since this is the state of play, let these candidates go forward as best they can and claim their place. The party owes many who have worked for years in the local streets. Black women do not deserve to be ignored anymore by the Democrats. Latino voters should not be ignored either.
Party leadership is weak. Stop the infighting. It can be done and most likely will be accomplished by these 'rogue' candidates.
7
These decisions should be made for one reason and one reason only: who is the most likely to win in November? Democrats have a classic tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot. If we blow the opportunity to take control of Congress in 2018 and nominate candidates who are more interested in "sending a message" than in winning, we'll have many long years to regret it.
Congress will stay Republican, Trump will be triumphantly reelected, and then he'll be able to replace Ginsberg, Breyer, and Kennedy on the Supreme Court with three more Scalias.
7
Trump supporters said they are tired of political correctness. What is more politically incorrect than simply telling the truth?
7
The article alludes to the fact that “there is little policy daylight” between the Boston incumbent Michael Capuano and his challenger, Ayanna Pressley. Ms. Pressley’s campaign, in fact, seems to be predicated entirely on a belief that only black officials can effectively advocate for racially diverse or majority-minority districts.
This mentality has become disturbingly prevalent in liberal politics. Rather than refuting the broken logic of Trumpism, which falsely reduces American politics to a tribal battle for supremacy, it accepts and embraces the tribal construct and encourages would-be voters to reduce their choice to the essence of racial and gender identity. I spent eight years doggedly defending Barack Obama against charges of racial favoritism; it’s downright depressing to see his party openly indulging the same arguments that were employed against him for the duration of his presidency.
8
I've been waiting to see this happen for a long time--candidates--especially women--being completely unafraid to be "liberal." Another candidate in the paper yesterday put it well: "we give a damn. Since when did we allow that to be a negative?" or something to that affect. And the all-white-male thing just HAS to change. The one good thing this president has done is light a fire under all of us, and especially women. I am sick and tired of the outright hostility and obstacles to being successful as a woman. And the #MeToo movement is going to be a tsunami to the GOP. They just don't see the power of it yet.
21
I wish you were right, but things are more complicated than just the blame game heaped on white males. The U.S. landscape has been this way for so long - be it politics as usual or the prevalence of male predators from coast to coast for endless decades - because a lot of women opted for their own security and silence over teaching their sons, upbraiding their husbands and walking out of misogynist churches and away from male politicians patting them on the head. Plus, many women si,ply did not then and do not now hold your view that progressive liberalism can keep the lights on and pay the nation's rent that skyrocketed in 2009+.
In order to win in an environment Democrats have mostly abdicated for 60 years, they're going to have to learn math. Then, the DNC and candidates have to explain how to pay for grand schemes to the electorate more savvy about economies that collapse and leave common folk under the wheels of the bus by corrupt politicians since the 1960s, by Wall St. since the 1980s, by Big Banking since the 2000s. In short: Democrats must use facts and figures not only to woo rock solid Democrats but also woo Democrats who've stopped showing up to vote, woo endangered species centrist Democrats, woo centrist Democrats who crossed to the GOP in some elections, woo bona fide centrist Republicans ready to kick the GOP revival tent theocracy to the curb. And then turn around and keep doing that again and again and again 24/7/365.
1
Unfortunately, Schumer, Pelosi & Feinstein ARE PLAYING IT SAFE and may give Trump the victory he desperately wants and does NOT deserve. The best we've seen from Schumer is A BETTER WAY which, on a marketing scale of 1 to 10, is a -50. Trump is a cancer which needs to removed from the body politic and so do all of the republican oligarch wannabees that support him. IMO, we are at war for our country and our planet. We need a congress that will reverse the madness Pruitt is inflicting as well as Trump & Devos. I resounding victory in the midterms will have to overcome Gerrymandered districts so this is NO time to play it safe.
11
Thanks to Ms. Abrams and all the other strong, courageous Socially Conscious women who are stepping up to help run OUR United States of America.
Yes, they should challenge any incumbent at every level of government - regardless of party - if that person is not helping to preserve/restore democracy in OUR country.
The only thing that will stop the constant destruction of civilization - the male model of progress - is for women to step up and take one-half the power in America and around the world to bring it into balance.
Good luck to all Socially Conscious Women - and men - who will help manage OUR country back into social and economic justice for all citizens.
9
These positions are jobs, we are the employer, and I don't hire people based on what they look like or what gender they are. Have a good resume, and a clear idea of why you want to represent me and what you will do in office, or I vote for someone else. Plain and simple. We're living through a presidency where the occupant of the Oval Office thinks he can do stuff based on his life experiences, and disdains expertise and government experience. How's that going?
29
While I agree that government experience is needed at the presidential level, I'm not so sure about the lower-level representatives. How does one get government experience to begin with? Who are the people who have it already, and where are they?
2
Yes!!! This article mentions Linsey Fagan, an “SEO entrepreneur” who has zero qualifications and who I wouldn’t hire to manage my SEO much less to represent me in Congress. Aside from her personal issues and drama she’s stirred up in our district, her platform and policy understanding is nowhere near that of a candidate who ought to defeat Michael Burgess. There are plenty of educated voters in this district, and plenty uneducated as well. This was one of the closest congressional races in Texas as far as a male and female opponents. She lost Denton County (the majority of TX-26, but since Tarrant was her Home, she picked up more votes there to win by a small margin. She has no chance in November.
1
Worked for the last inhabitant of the White House from Jan. 2009 - Jan. 2017.
1
Nothing angered me more in the 2016 election than the Democratic party’s anointing of Mrs Clinton. It’s not that I was opposed to Clinton...but I was incensed that the party stacked the deck (with super-delegates) against Mr. Sanders.
I am encouraged that so many of these women have decided to ignore efforts by the party to have them drop out. Perhaps the candidate the party supports IS the best candidate. But I object to the party making that determination for me.
32
There were 7 solid Democratic candidates in the 2007/2008 presidential primary but you were okay that the DNC anointed the one with the least experience solely based on skin color and GENDER. This led to the blowback Nov. 2016 Trump/Pence victory in 3 key working class states of PA, WI, MI.
Democrats have never known how to play the smart, long game over the temporary sugar high of pin the tail on the donkey while blindfolded. The socialist Independent Bernie loon was further evidence, as was that there were not more candidates than Clinton with her similar bona fides.
Democrats, the Party and voters, sat and watched Republicans grow vast pastures of coast to coast grass roots candidates since 1980, if not since 1968. There is a disquieting sense now that the Democrat hail mary is the female gender and race cards when the prior 2008/2012 gender and race cards weren't the winning hand in the face of an amped need for more not less competent national and international policies.
Women always get recruited for the thankless job of cleaning up when men fail and trash the joint. Be careful, though, that they know the landscape, able to take on the task in the enormously broken Democratic Party AND Republican Party AND broken United States electorate. Both parties have misled the U.S. for self-gain over the past 60 years, enjoying a chaotic broken nation that's a Venn Diagram of increased money + cynicism fueling a retraction in the number of Americans voting.
5
@Mary: "There were 7 solid Democratic candidates in the 2007/2008 presidential primary but you were okay that the DNC anointed the one with the least experience solely based on skin color and GENDER."
I was there, and apparently unlike you remember what happened. And what I remember was that in 2008, the DNC had started the primary having already largely anointed Hillary Clinton as their chosen candidate, for all the same reasons they did the exact same thing in 2016. All the problems that plagued the Clinton campaign in 2016 also were affecting her in 2008, and the African-Americans who did so much to fend off Bernie Sanders in 2016 were not in her camp in 2008. Also, and this is important, Obama by all appearances genuinely loved campaigning in much the same way Bill Clinton did, whereas Hillary Clinton always seemed to come off as doing a job to get those pesky voters to along with her. Obama was also very quick to adjust on the fly what he was doing: For instance, at an event I was at, at a point when there was some concern as to how he was doing among Hispanic/Latino folks, "Yes we can" was getting immediately followed by "Si se puede", echoing Cesar Chavez.
If I remember correctly, the Dems didn't anoint Barack Obama in 2008... remember that was supposed to be Hillary's year. Obama won fair and square. The fact that he was African-American though made Hillary's claim of being the one who 'feels their pain' ring hollow however, exposing the fact that the Democratic elites take African American support for granted, while doing little to address the economic issues that affect so many poor people in America, regardless of race.
Being an ally does not mean getting and keeping positions of power so that you can "advocate for under-represented people". It means listening to and supporting under-represented people, which often can mean getting out of the way.
In MA, we have a lot of white "good guy" incumbents. Waiting behind that bottleneck are a lot of white, wealthy power brokers from various backgrounds - former staffers, non-profit E.D.s, etc. A lot of them would be pretty good at the job of "advocating".
But I would rather have under-represented people represent themselves, and I trust them to represent me well at the same time. MA has many races where under-represented women (women of color, working class white women) have gotten on the ballot, followed by a rush of high-profile "advocates" who declare those candidates to be unqualified and jump in the race themselves.
I hope those of us that identify as "progressive" in blue states like NY and MA can watch our own reactions to the idea that "those women aren't qualified." I hope we can see that a person who claims to be an ally to under-represented people is not acting as an ally when they refuse to acknowledge that person's qualifications to serve as an elected official. And I hope that when the time comes to vote, we vote for a progressive, representative delegation that looks a lot more like the people of the Commonwealth, and less like the invitation-only fundraisers to support progressive causes.
15
@A.F. I hear your argument, & I have had the same thoughts myself. We had a similar situation here, with a primary run-off between a white guy & a black woman. The black woman - a powerful speaker, a clearly intelligent woman - had already run three losing campaigns against the Republican incumbent in a heavily gerrymandered district.
The white guy with organizing experience came along & began to organize the Democratic opposition. Committees that had previously not spoken to each other began talking. Field operatives showed up to knock on doors. Money was raised, volunteers signed on, because people could see that he was making things happen. The woman who had run previously had not raised money, not organized enough volunteers, did not get out of her section of this widespread district, did not campaign much. Nobody ever saw her knocking on doors in the district. She just put her name on the ballot & hoped that Democrats would turn out to vote, which is a losing strategy if ever there was one, especially in Texas, where Democrats have been so discouraged that they don't even bother to vote any more.
In our case, it is clear that the white guy is the better candidate. He is putting in the work, the time, & the money. He also never stooped to denigrating his rival, but praised her for her efforts, & pledged her his support if she won the run-off. To her credit, she pledged her support in return. Everyone recognizes that it is about solidarity with each other.
2
Preach! If you actually care, you will make space at the table. White people cannot do for us what we can. The end. Make space.
1
Tom Perez says one thing out of one side of his mouth then says another from the other. The DNC is clearly going to sell out regular Americans once again, it already is. Don't send them any money, send it to the candidates you prefer. And we see that the New York Times learned nothing in the last election as it sets up to flog the failed Clinton camp again. Of course this will include many messed up editorial decisions pretty much insulting any and all close readers of the paper. One can't help noting that the it looks like the DNC and Dem old guard are going to once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And the press will be there all the way.
39
Hillary Clinton was chosen by the American people to be president by more than 3 million voters. The inescapable collision of forces that knocked to its knees an overwhelmingly desired Clinton/Kaine administration have not disappeared.
The NYT, CNN, MSNBC and WaPo, along with the FBI's James Comey, Vladimir Putin, a pantload of misogynist Bernie Bros. and their many black/latino Democrat brothers, plus another pantload of evangelical and Catholic crackpots are who tipped those 3 key Electoral College states. Republicans long ago learned how to play 24/7/365 hardball while Democrats kept insisting shuffleboard every 2 and 4 years sufficed. The infusion of new GOP blood in the afterglow of Reagan has increased. Democrats have Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, with a weak back bench in 50 states. Hel-lo, what the heck was stopping the DNC from finally getting its own grassroots coalition act together during Nov. 2008 - Jan. 2017? Better late than never or counting on long shot lotto win is minimally blind irresponsible poor planning.
2
No matter how many voters vote for these fresh new faces, unless the ballots are made of paper and counted by hand in the presence of honest observers, the election results are too likely to be rigged by Russian hackers in service to their American clients, the GOP.
23
After donating money to Abrams' campaign, I read somewhere, maybe here, that the "better bet" was the "other" Stacey. I figured I made a donation with a good heart, but in ignorance. But maybe the better bet line was coming from the DNC. I say forget who the multimillionaire septuagenarians endorse and give the newcomers a chance. We lost over 60 seats under Obama and that got us Trump.
23
It isn't just the politically aware in Georgia, but also those elsewhere who opined as to the "better bet" and disparate strategy between Abrams and Evans of how to turn Georgia blue again.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-stacey-abrams-really-turn-georg...
My philosophy is to pay close attention to whom the septuagenerian multi(m/b)illionaires endorse, and then pick almost anyone else...
11
Would it be nice, and more fair, if all these candidates were funded equally? We desperately need a Constitutional amendment prescribing public financing of election campaigns.
Let them collect enough signatures, they get on the ballot and a certain number of dollars to spend. The attention might shift to policies, opinions, and character instead of negative attack ads. What's not to like?
29
Just sent in my June ballot and after careful research chose 95% of all qualified female candidates.
Now I need to get every other like-minded voter in my area to cast their ballot.
15
Be careful with that in California. If Democrats splinter to a large number of candidates, and Republicans can hold their voters to two evenly matched candidates, the two choices in November will be Republican, regardless of how big the Democratic majority is. I voted, and campaigned, against the "top two" referendum and desperately tried to get others to do the same. It passed, and the consequence is that if you don't vote for your party's front runner, you're helping the other party win.
6
The best course of action is simply to choose the best, most qualified, candidate without regard to gender.
7
Over the last 22 years I have lived in Atlanta, and also had the opportunity to own a small getaway place in rural GA about a two drive north from Atlanta. In those many years I have seen little change politically, Atlanta a bastion of liberal Democrats with a majority (47%) African-American community. Rural Georgia, the area I frequent, is about the same as it was 22 years ago, mostly white, mostly Republican.
Not sure what chance Stacey Abrams has, but it is refreshing to see her make a run for Governor, we surely need change here. This will be a most interesting and possibly pivotal election this November, particularly here in the South. Looking forward to November.
40
My black college educated paternal grandparents and their kids including their youngest who was my father fled Jim Crow Atlanta, Georgia for Jim Crow Chicago, Illinois in 1930. Their parents were enslaved. And their heirs including me have never looked back.
2
Abrams has less of a chance that Jason Carter did, despite all the NYT and WaPo celeb fan mag PR story after another. It's May, let's dial back the victory dance till after the next 6 months of grueling hard work.
5
I believe that people can see truth when a candidate runs for her or his beliefs. Parties should read these signals and start supporting real candidates, not puppets they can manage and silenced when not convenient. Is a careful dance that needs to be played out and candidates must continue to fight on for what they believe is right.
9
I have mixed reactions to this as I expect many others do too. While I'm glad to see more women running, especially the high quality of those profiled, I also see getting carried away by the idea of running just to replace a man with a woman when there is no real ideological difference as in the case of the MA Congressional races. That kind of thing can lead to wasted resources, growing cynicism and pushback, the winner of that dynamic is the GOP and the 1% that wants control of everything.
23
Having a woman, even one with the exact same ideology, makes a difference. Women bring a different perspective. And it's more than high time we were represented in proportion to our numbers.
15
Hillary Clinton stumbled on the way to her coronation. Because while she won 98% of the votes of black women, she lost 54% of the white women vote to Donald Trump.
How much of the the white women vote can Stacey Abrams expect in the general election? Abrams is no Hillary Clinton nor Michelle Nunn.
1
I'll just say that these women do in fact seem to have ideological differences with the people they're trying to replace.
6
“I feel like I’m running more against the Democratic Party in my state than against Stephen Lynch at times.”
Yup, reports from the field yield a number of stories like this one, which is also reminiscent of the Sanders Presidential campaign. See Matt Taibbi's very interesting feature story on this very subject: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/jeff-beals-new-york-midte...
Note to the Democratic Party: the recent study published right here in the NYT demonstrating that racism, xenophobia, and misogyny are moving us ever closer to authoritarianism means we can no longer hug the middle in Democratic platform. The job should be to get POC and young people to the polls, not trying to win over racists who would never vote for inclusive policies anyway. And every time you call for "unity" for the good of the party, you are implicitly stating you don't care about justice, about the wages of working people, and about equal opportunity. THAT's why they sat home in 2016. Hillary Clinton was more of the same as far as the non-voters were concerned. When, exactly, do the Democrats who continue to vote for centrist candidates against their own interests actually get rewarded for their loyalty?
22
People who sat home in 2016 helped get Trump elected. Real believers in democracy, real opponents of authoritarianism go out and vote and take responsibility for their democracy.
13
I don't disagree. That said, we know what it takes to get people to the polls. So why aren't they?
To add to the point, The Intercept recently published a conversation between House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Colorado congressional primary candidate Levi Tillemann, in which Hoyer tells Tillemann in no uncertain terms that the DNC has already decided that another candidate will win the primary, and Tillemann should drop out if he knows what's good for him: https://theintercept.com/2018/04/26/steny-hoyer-audio-levi-tillemann/
From this, I think it's safe to conclude that the DNC would really like to get rid of primaries altogether and go back to smoke-filled back rooms. In short, they don't believe in democracy anymore and would like to scrap it. And that's why they keep losing elections.
3
I saw Stacey Abrams speak last year at an Emily's List luncheon--along with several other women running for high profile office and the keynote speaker Kirsten Gillibrandt.
Let me tell you something: Stacey Abrams is the real deal. She could go all the way.
In the midst of all those accomplished women, Ms. Abrams stood tall. After she spoke, the line to congratulate her was out the door. Hers are the only remarks I remember.
What was it about her? She spoke with courage and conviction mixed with pragmatism. She told things "like they are" without embellishment and let us in on her negotiating strategies. She could do that because her eye is firmly on the ball---and that ball is doing right by all people.
I would vote for her to do anything I can think of--we need more women like that. I am in NJ, she is Georgia but I found myself talking about her for about a month after listening to her. Moreover, our youngest guest member, 13 year old, was also smitten.
This article does her a disservice by focusing on her gender and race. Really.
If you want to talk about not playing it safe, speak instead of her candor, her impeccably moral convictions and on the fact that she embodies the best of America: Pragmatic can-do spirit.
69
Shame on Emily's List for playing the race card and denying equal funding to the white female Democrat candidate, Stacey Evans, who came with the same bona fides and state legislative experience AND who openly stated she supported Planned Parenthood and a woman's right to choose.
3
Women, get to WORK. We can do this, we must do this.
17
Let's disabuse ourselves of the idea that women are somehow inherently liberal. Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Betsey DeVos, Gina Haspel - I wouldn't vote for any of them. As it happens, my own Representative in Congress is a woman of color, Rep. Jayapal, but I voted for her because I felt she was the best candidate.
2
Want to know my thoughts on this:
1) Bernie Sanders cost the Democrats the election in 2016 by fragmenting the party during the primary campaign and not getting his supporters to support Hilary during the general election. Many stayed home instead of voting and enough did in key states that Trump won.
2) The same thing is going to happen again with the congressman elections. Liberals think they have an opening now with Trump, but the truth is the DEMS need to run moderate candidates who can win over the middle of the road voters. Instead, they run Cynthia Nixon in NY and Stacy Abrams in Georgia, who have little chance of winning a general election.
3) The DEMS have an excellent chance to take back the congress. I hope they don't blow it.
6
They didn't stay home because Bernie fragmented the party. They stayed home because Hillary Clinton was the embodiment of centrist, corporate Democratic establishment politics that bears no resemblance to what actual working people want in their liberal government. Obama was as centrist as they come--in fact, tough to really distinguish between him and Hillary--but at least he represented what any American could be. How is it that so many working class people of color were Bernie supporters? Because most of his message was inspiring and spot on. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/12/its-tim...
13
I am an Independent. I used to be a Democrat. In other words, I used to be part of the base until the neoliberals took over.
I will not vote for any candidate who does not support Medicare for all. Sanders speaks for me. The DNC does not.
8
So, they stayed home because they got a workhorse and not a pony, and now we're stuck with Trump, a Supreme Court justice and loads of federal judges who can help undo decades of progress on everything from women's rights to LGBTQ rights to worker's rights, government policy decided by whims and Fox News, and emboldened white nationalists and Christian dominionists spreading hate, ignorance, fear, and death.
Thanks, purists.
And Bernie did not (and still does not) have the support of people of color: https://www.theroot.com/bernie-sanders-black-women-problem-1796995081
2
Again and again, women voters have been let down by the people they helped elect to public office.
Again and again, women have felt powerless to change the political system to better represent them.
Today's emergence of many women candidates at state and federal levels is encouraging and motivating to other women who have stayed on the sidelines for too long.
Ladies: you can be a political novice and still get elected. And, if you won't run for public office, please be sure to VOTE!
13
Women, who generally end up being the caregivers, possibly have a better appreciation for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Women's Health Clinics, access to Obamacare which at some point in the arc of life, those services are going to be the difference between basic survival or destitution either for their parents, themselves and their immediate family or their children.
Is their concern (and mine) about those programs a liberal cause? I don't think so. In fact you might want to consider that a conservative cause.
28
Women know that paying the bills is important for the well-being of the next generation. The $20 trillion+ debt gifted to them by Obama and now Trump will continue to erode the lives of all American, reducing the quality of life and opportunities of the next generation that will get stuck with the bill because they're still in grade school.
2
Somebody wins the prize for awkwardly worded headline.
Do you mean "Neither Do These Female Candidates," i.e., they're also not playing it safe? Or is there something about them or their positions in themselves that isn't safe? Either way, it's pretty clumsy.
13
Yes! I was just about to make the exact same comment. I expect this from British tabloids (my all-time favourite being the Evening Standard's "Shocking Figures on Women Victims", causing me to wonder "is there something so shocking about these women's figures that makes them victims?"), not the NY Times.
1
NYTimes, I'm noting your lie by omission here.
You wrote an entire article about talented candidates running as Democrats in places that have been ignored for decades, and managed to completely omit the organization that has been supporting and financially backing many of them, namely Our Revolution. Many of them were also either ignored or actively opposed by the Democratic national leadership.
But I guess it doesn't fit your "Bernie Bro" narrative to notice that the main outgrowth of the Sanders campaign has been a whole lot of people inspired by Sanders, many of them not white and female, decided to run for office, got support from the people who backed Sanders, and are having substantial electoral success.
69
There is zero place for "Bernie level" politics anywhere in this country. There is also no place for far right religious level politics in this country. No one group should be completely left out but we should always vote to benefit the whole. If we vote for just the liberal voice we steal from the workers. if we vote just for the right we steal from the middle class. If some parts of the country are left and some are right we meet in the middle. For 4 or 8 years we have left leaning politics then we switch to right leaning based on who wins the White House. What I see is a change in who the poor are thinking of voting for and it's not for the liberal left. November will be very interesting.
7
What American will not benefit from Medicare for all? Tuition free college education ? Living wages? Modern public transportation?
These are benefits that cities in other nations have enjoyed for decades.
35
Let us know how you intend to pay the bill for 330 million on the taxpayer dime. No other nation has single payer/universal health but Canada and Taiwan - with stable, educated predominantly homogenous respective populations of 36 million and 23 million. Every other nation has a combo private/public. What ails the U.S. is the ongoing and obvious corrupted medical industry and insurance industry, as well as the vast amount of fraud in the government health industry - which ACA/Obamacare made worse not better.
We've doubled our population since the 1960s and are staring down the barrel of $20 trillion+ debt, crumbled infrastructure, unchecked predatory crime, broken schools and a near lawless society that cannot keep up with the ever increased costs of the constant influx of 1 million new immigrants every year. The ones this toxic stew unforgivably will land on and crush are our children currently in grade school.
1
The infusion of not only liberal candidates who are women is just what the Democratic Party needs even if its leadership under Tom Perez, an establishment Democrat, can't or won't acknowledge it. His recent endorsement of Andrew Cuomo here on Long Island over the insurgent progressive candidacy of Cynthia Nixon illustrates the battle between the establishment Clinton-Obama wing and the Sanders progressive, populist wing of the party. This is very healthy for the Democratic Party if Mr. Perez, who was installed by President Obama, will stop interfering with the process. That interference is what led to the disastrous Clinton nomination, her fatal choice of a centrist for Vice President rather than a progressive Sanders supporter to unite the party, and an historic defeat and the consequent incessant trauma of the Trump presidency. As in 2016, the Sanders wing has the energy, excitement and the ideas to take back Congress. Let's not repeat the catastrophe of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in 2018.
55
We are sick of having both parties fetishize the "working class" white male. There are more "working class" minorities and women than men.
Democrats have been ignoring every non-caucasian with the excuse that they don't vote and if they do, there are no other options anyway. Who wouldn't sit at home when you have party heavyweights like Bernie and Pelosi claiming any issue which doesn't put put white men front and center is "identity politics." Leaders who see blatant racism and give vague non-responses followed by ".. I'll leave it at that."
Get rid of them.
39
Well put.
1
Minorities and women also would benefit from Medicare for all and tuition free college education, living wages and modern public transportation.
6
Hear, hear!
What voters crave is authenticity. This desire crosses race, party, and gender. Whether correct or not, Trump was viewed as authentic because he spoke to whatever thought crossed his mind at the moment. Hilary Clinton, with her studied answers and carefully worded responses was the exact opposite. Ironically, Trump's impulsivity is what makes him so unstable and so dangerous, and what raises the stakes so immensely. I understand the desperate need to flip either one or both houses and check the power of this president. But the solution does not lie with choosing bland candidates who walk a centrist tightrope. It means candidates who speak to their convictions and the convictions of those in their districts, rather than carefully threading the needle so as to insult no one. Catering to White working class men, while assuming women and minorities will vote for Democrats because there is no where else for them to turn, is a losing battle plan. The latter group will just remain home on election day. Voters need candidates to inspire them to the polls. The old rules no longer work.
18
This is an exciting time for the Democrats with all this new blood running for office. For too long the national party has been spineless, afraid to go toe to toe with the Republicans, calling them out on their garbage. These new candidates are putting forth the real message that the party should be screaming from the rooftops, not worrying about upsetting the old money donors.
My wife and I have made it a point to financially support those candidates we feal are representing us, not the rich who are destroying this country.
We need candidates who put forth a real message of improving this country, not the lies of the Trump administration and the people who support him. This madness will not end until all Republicans are voted out of office.
38
Yes indeed. Now, please step aside, gerontocrats who fail to know when their exit is way past due.
4