Before reading more about Donna Edwards’ campaign for Senate,
First put on this soundtrack of mood+message music:
Second, the need for money, because Donna’s primary opponent Chris Van Hollen is a champion fundraiser -- which is precisely why he got so tight with party leadership so fast. Emily's List has done serious spending for Donna, perhaps as an olive branch to Progressives after so many Gender-over-policy endorsements they have made, but hard campaign money is indispensable. Donna's polling numbers have held up pretty well to the spending deficit, but this tends to be cumulative, and the homestretch is going to be expensive. My favorite place to donate to Donna is this combined list of Senate and House endorsees (including Joseline Pena-Melnyk, the wonderful Progressive Latina running for the MD-04 Congressional seat that Donna is giving up) of Blue America PAC, which is the publisher of the above pro-Donna video,
… and the following similarly-styled MSM-criticizing video.
Third, what’s so great about Donna?
Personal history as a single Black mom facing the challenges of law school and career advancement, and local community organizing, helps explain Donna’s commitment to fighting for her policies. In contrast, although Chris Van Hollen says most of the right things in this very Democratic state (but only after flirting with Grand Bargain softness on Social Security), his political career has been a smooth glide from well-connected parents to well-connected donors, and appreciation by connection-valuing party leaders.
The forces for business as usual are not ignoring this race. Al Wynn (who was the DailyKos poster-person for the Black sub-chapter of corrupt machine politics when Donna primaried him twice) reportedly, from his position as a lobbyist, persuaded the Congressional Black Caucus not to endorse Edwards.
Donna winning would immediately make her a nationally important figure, aided by Maryland's profile as a historically "border" state that now contains the DC suburbs, the NSA HQ and the Baltimore streets of the Wire, the Freddie Gray police prosecution, BLM (and DeRay's candidacy) and Martin O'Malley's reportedly statistically corrupted Mayoral policies. Donna would not only be the best possible face of ‘Black Maryland politics', and sole member of the US Senate’s ‘Black Woman Senate Caucus’, but would have limitless upside as a political figure uniting every Kog and virtually every stripe of Progressive.