I am a Bernie Sanders supporter. I usually find myself arguing with Bernie Sanders supporters here on DKos, but here’s something we can all agree on. Zephyr Teachout is in the rumor mill for the open 19th district in New York state. As a resident of Syracuse, I consider everything north of Poughkeepsie to be upstate (that makes 9 upstate and 18 downstate districts, a fair distribution), so to me this is the first genuine Upstate district and it is quite competitive . Normally I would not care about some failed statewide liberal primary candidate who was thinking about running in a non-urban swing district. However, upstate New York is trending more and more blue and this is a marginal open seat I think a real progressive can win.
If you don’t know, Teachout ran against Andrew Cuomo in the 2014 New York gubernatorial primary as the liberal alternative. While Cuomo racked up the margins he needed in NYC, Teachout actually ran ahead of Cuomo in most of the state, including the counties that make up NY-19. If Berniacs really want to foment a revolution, it starts by getting candidates like Teachout on the ballot and supporting them in the primary. She can actually win here and flip this House seat’s position from tea party enabler to progressive champion. Here is the Draft Teachout facebook page.
I am a skeptical leftist, but also a tactical leftist. We have a chance to put a real progressive in the House in a tight seat. If she loses, I’m not that worried, someone else can win it in the next couple of cycles. But it would be awesome to have a real progressive take it and solidify it.