erm Races: 10 Progressive Candidates to Keep an Eye on //
Although most progressive candidates lost to incumbents in the Democratic primaries this year, progressives won more than half of the open-seat races.
One study showed that progressive candidates received many high-profile endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-N.Y.). They also received support from Indivisible, Justice Democrats and Our Revolution, Sunrise Movement or The Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Here are 10 progressive-backed candidates you should be looking out for in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner, Oregon’s 5th
Endorsements: Indivisible, Our Revolution, PCCC
Jamie McLeod Skinner was the only progressive-backed candidate to defeat an incumbent in this year’s Democratic primaries.
McLeod–Skinner defeated seven-term incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader in the Democratic primary for Oregon’s 5 th Congress District. President Biden endorsed Schrader.
McLeod Skinner’s policy priorities are affordable housing, rural economies protection from corporate takeover, and lowering healthcare costs. Her campaign website states that she has been endorsed also by Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She will “take on extremists such as [her] opponent, who would ban abortion, even before women know they’re pregnant — and keep the government out of our personal medical decision-making.”
In Tuesday’s general elections, she will be running against Republican candidate Lori Chavez DeRemer. McLeod Skinner did not respond by publication to The Daily Signal’s request.
Maxwell Alejandro Frost is Florida’s 10th
Endorsements: PCCC, Sanders
Frost, 25, won this August’s Democratic primary for Florida’s 10 th Congress District.
Frost declares that he is the first generation-z member to Congress and will fight to end gun violence, win Medicare for All, transform our racist criminal justice systems, and end climate crisis.
Frost will be running against Calvin Wimbish, a Republican candidate for U.S. House Representative in Florida’s 10 th Congress District.
Frost did not respond by publication to The Daily Signal’s request.
Jonathan Jackson, Illinois’s 1st
Endorsements: Our Revolution, Sanders
Jonathan Jackson, son and supporter of the Progressives, was elected to Congress. Jesse Jackson won the Democratic primary in Illinois’ First Congressional District. This district includes much of the South Side Chicago. Jackson’s victory comes 15 years after Bobby Rush , the district’s Democratic representative, announced his retirement.
Jackson stated that there are enormous challenges. He said this at a watch party in June. We are witnessing an epidemic of gun violence. Englewood is seeing grocery stores close. … We will take this to Housing and Urban Development; we will take it to the Agriculture Department; and we will continue to do this all throughout D.C. until our voices are heard and our lives matter.”
According to Jackson’s website, Jackson’s policy priorities include:
- To create a regulatory framework that makes Blockchain technology and other digital assets more accessible to communities of colour
- Affordable housing through the People’s Housing program. This program provides a progressive framework to housing by declaring it a fundamental right.
- A Green New Deal plan that “emphasizes social and environmental justice and acknowledges the fact that historically oppressed groups will be more likely to suffer from climate change.” It calls for “protection and protection of workers’ rights, community ownership and universal healthcare as well as a job guarantee.”
- Reduce crime by getting more guns off of the streets.
- To address the wage gap and “systemic racial/gender inequities”, raise wages for all women and provide pay equity.
Eric Carlson, a Republican Army veteran, will be facing Jackson in the general election on Tuesday. Jackson did not respond when The Daily Signal asked him for comment.
Delia Ramirez, Illinois’ 3rd
Endorsements: Indivisible, Our Revolution, Sanders
Delia Ramirez, Illinois General Assembly Fourth District Assistant Majority leader, won the Democratic nomination to be the U.S. Representative for the state’s 3rd Congressional District.
Ramirez has stated that LGBTQ+ rights are one of her policy goals. According to her campaign website, she will support and fight the Equality Act in order to fully guarantee nondiscrimination protections to the LGBTQ+ community throughout the United States, including housing, employment, education and federally funded programs.
- She plans to include “gender identity” and” sexual orientation” as protected classes in the federal Fair and Equal Housing Act.
- “She will support Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would end discrimination against LGBTQ+ families within the child welfare system.”
View her other policy goals at her campaign website. Ramirez did no respond to The Daily Signal’s request to comment.
Randi McCallian, Missouri’s 8th
Endorsements: Indivisible
Randi McCallian won Missouri’s Democratic primaries for the 8th Congressional District. McCallian stated to The Daily Signal that corporate greed and corporate price gouging are two major causes of the inflation of gas prices and food prices.
McCallian stated, “I believe that our district deserves a representative who wants to see more opportunities here, a Congressperson which fights for us instead of against us.” “It is an honor that I can offer a choice to voters in the election, regardless of party.”
She stated that the 8th district should vote for her if they are looking for someone to direct their tax dollars into the district for investment in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. “My policies are what the majority of Americans want: to end corporate greed, to bring back manufacturing jobs, and to improve health care. Corporate greed is a major factor in the rise in food and gas prices. My policy stance is to protect Americans against corporate price gouging.
McCallian’s other policy priorities can be found on her campaign website.
Summer Lee, Pennsylvania’s 12th
Endorsements: Ocasio-Cortez, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, PCCC, Sanders, Sunrise
Summer Lee, a Pennsylvania state representative and Democrat representing Allegheny County beat Steve Irwin by less than a percentage point in the state’s 12 th Congressional district primaries. Her victory comes just a few days after Mike Doyle, the incumbent Democratic congressman, announced his retirement.
Lee has made voting rights one of her policy priorities. Her campaign website states:
We must end racism in voter ID and suppression laws, restore full power of the Voting rights Act and end gerrymandering. But we must go further and give every citizen the right to vote, from immigrants to people who were previously in prison. Everyone deserves to have a voice in our democracy.
She also wants to “ward off the right-wing Supreme Court, which could poke holes in LGBTQ Rights based on’religious freedom,’ and address the many disparities the LGBTQ+ community faces when it comes to affordable, inclusive health care.”
See Lee’s other policy goals at her campaign website. The Daily Signal asked her for comment by publication. She did not respond.
Jasmine Crockett, Texas’ 30th
Endorsements: Our Revolution, Sanders
After U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson’s retirement, Jasmine Crockett (Texas State Rep.) stepped in as the Democratic nominee to Texas’s 30 th Congressional district.
Crockett’s areas are expanding voting access and codifying Roe V. Wade. You can also view her campaign website to see other policy priorities.
Crockett did no respond to The Daily Signal’s request to comment.
Greg Casar, Texas’ 35th
Endorsements: Ocasio-Cortez, Indivisible, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Sanders, Sunrise
Greg Casar, a former Austin City Council member, won the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional district. Casar will be running against Dan McQueen (a Republican) in Tuesday’s general election.
Casar’s policy priorities include Medicare for All, tuition-free higher learning, and legalization of marijuana.
Casar’s other policy goals are, according to his website, increasing access for abortion in Texas. Casar has previously passed amendments to pay for abortion travel costs in The Lone Star State. His campaign website states that he is dedicated to increasing access and reproductive health care, repealing Hyde Amendment and codifying Roe v. Wade via the Women’s Health [Protection] Act.
Casar stated that “Together we’re taking the fight to Congress — to fight for Medicare for All, to protect reproductive rights, to create good jobs, and to fix our power grid,” he said to a March viewing party. He said that progressive policies are popular and that they would be passed for Texas’ working families.
The Daily Signal reached Casar but he did not respond. You can see his other policy goals at his campaign website.
Becca Balint, Vermont At-Large
Endorsements: Our Revolution, Sanders
Becca Balint, Vermont state Senate President and Majority leader, won the Democratic primary in August for Vermont’s At Large Congressional District. Our Revolution and Sen. Bernie Sanders are among the progressives that supported her in the midterm elections.
Sen. Balint has previously supported transgender bathroom bills in the Senate and banned “conversion therapy” for LGBT youth in Vermont. Her current goals include support for the federal Equality Act, codifying federal law on abortion, and supporting a Green New Deal against climate change.
The Daily Signal asked Balint for comment by publication but she did not respond. Her campaign website also lists her other policy goals.
Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate Race
Endorsements: Ocasio-Cortez, Indivisible, PCCC, Sanders
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes won the August Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. Barnes is running against Sen. Ron Johnson will be running in the general election on Tuesday.
Barnes stated that he didn’t see many politicians who looked like him growing up.
He stated that “we need more real people in America’s Senate” and added that Sen. Johnson was a “self-serving out-of-touch politician” who continues to “stacked the deck against us” as well as “wants to take the country backwards.”
Barnes did not respond when The Daily Signal asked him for comment.
This is a breaking story that will be updated as soon as the election results are in.
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