One of the common questions/criticisms from the mainstream media when discussing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans running for Congress is can they prove they're more than just an idealist with a nice resume? The conventional wisdom is that when facing professional politicians, they'll show how green they are, and just fade away.
Conventional wisdom, meet Ashwin Madia.
Ashwin, who is endorsed by VoteVets.org, scored some landslide wins this weekend in the Minnesota State Senate District conventions, in his home, the 3rd Congressional District of Minnesota.
I'm not going to go into all the inner-workings of how the Minnesota DFL selects its nominees (partially because I can't even understand it all myself), but the senate district conventions are where candidates show they have the mettle to compete in the political process or not. It's all about organization. And, this weekend, Ashwin proved his worth.
MNBlue reports:
Yesterday the delegates across MN-03 sent a resounding statement that they prefer Ashwin Madia. He garnered 41.5 of 62.5 delegates available. If it weren't for the superdelegates, mostly made up of Terri Bonoff's colleagues at the state legislature, this race wouldn't even be close. Ashwin even made it close in Terri's home district (SD43) garnering 8 delegates to Terri's 10. Remarkably, this was the only district that was close -- Ashwin ran away with every other district.
[And...]
"Really sharp guys don't come along all that often," John Hendrick explained to me when I asked why he supported Ashwin. "Plus he personally called me and none of the others did. I think these candidates are pretty similar on the issues so it comes down to things like charisma and energy. Ashwin's campaign has a tremendous amount of energy, doesn't it?" and he motioned to the convention behind me.
Ashwin has built a tremendous grassroots organization in MN-3. It's not just a rag-tag bunch, either, but a highly motivated, superbly organized operation. It stands repeating again – this is Ashwin's first run for office, ever. So, let's finally put to rest all the talk from the elites that motivated veterans can't succeed in politics. They can (see Reps. Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak, Tim Walz, and Chris Carney), and they will continue to.
Ashwin is now on the threshold of being the nominee with a very good chance of taking the seat now held by Rep. Jim Ramstad. You can help him.
Donate to Ashwin Madia for Congress, right here.