Your Vote is your Voice, when it comes to a government Of, By and For the People.
Help Progressives Win is a WEEKLY column,
posting at 9 am Pacific Standard Time each Saturday.
There are thousands of Progressive candidates running for office across America in 2016, and they need your help to win.
Please don’t forget those running for office in your city and county this coming year — those down-ballot races make a big difference in your daily life, from deciding which Traffic Engineer to hire this spring which translates into which potholes get fixed on your daily commute to work; to which Port Commissioner gets elected and has a massive amount of influence determining if a foreign corporation wins a bid to build and maintain a new Oil Terminal at the port in your town, putting the safety and health of your family and those of all your fellow residents at risk, just to line the pockets of investors on another continent!
So please step up and make some time in your busy schedule to help local candidates, who often have no resources or staff. You can find a local candidate by contacting your Local County Democratic Party. If you don’t know how to find yours, start at at the website of the DNC and their link to State Parties.
Click on your state and look for a Get Local link, like this:
It begins right at home in our towns and cities and with our own family, friends and circle of acquaintances. Far too many of our fellow citizens refuse or forget to vote regularly. They tell themselves “it just doesn’t matter if I vote, no one listens to me anyway. Besides, I HATE politics. None of those politicians know what my life is like and they don’t really care about my family or our problems.”
The following candidates for office in 2016 DO CARE and they are espousing the policies and ideas which will help those dejected non-voters. But they need your help to be successful, to reach out to the millions who just can’t be bothered to be participants in their own democracy. So please, consider helping these candidates in any of the following ways…
VOLUNTEER
DONATE
SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
All three of these actions are helpful to a candidate trying to reach a larger audience or promote an event or action. Candidates need money to put on events and to pay salaries for staff and to buy the signs and ads which help to spread the messages they are putting out to the prospective voters in their city, county or state.
We need to start banging the drum for next year’s Progressive candidates today in order to have enough victories next November to stave off or even undo the advancement of the conservative lunatics who inhabit the current version of what’s left of the Republican Party.
Here are this week’s PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATES
They need your help TODAY, to win this November
For today’s special edition of Help Progressives Win, I am featuring Women for Washington, for the US House and the WA State House, all of whom are progressives seeking a better future for working and middle class families.
Darcy Burner
Candidate for Statehouse Representative
State of Washington, 5th Legislative District
Campaign website: www.DarcyBurner.com
URL Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/darcy.burner
Campaign Twitter: @DarcyBurner
Where is the District?
The 5th Legislative District of the State of Washington is within King County, and includes the cities of Snoqualmie, Issaquah and Carnation.
Every person who works hard and plays by the rules deserves a shot at the American Dream.
I’ll let Darcy tell you about herself in this story posted here to Daily Kos on Friday, March 10, 2016, in her announcement of her entry into the race:
Why I decided to take the leap: Holding the state house in Washington State
I thought I had run my last campaign. (In fact, when people asked me when I was going to run again, I was occasionally a little cranky with them. If you asked and I was cranky to you: I’m sorry.)
After running for Congress as a bold progressive, I had moved on to other things: I remarried, gaining a husband and stepson, and helped my son Henry launch a cool button making company that now employs nine people. (As of today, we’re even a union shop!)
But Washington State is at a tipping point.
Please see the full story at the link above. Before you go, please use these handy links to volunteer or donate to Darcy’s campaign.
Volunteer | Donate
Joe Pakootas
Candidate for US House
Washington State
5th Congressional District
Campaign website: www.PakootasForCongress.com
Facebook page: Facebook.com/pakootasforcongress
Twitter: @JoePakootas
Communications/Field Ops, Ryan Hand, Twitter: @HandRyan1992
Where is the District?
Full Scale GovTrack Map of the 5th District
The 5th CD of Washington State encompasses the Eastern Washington counties of Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Whitman, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin. It is centered on Spokane, the state's second largest city.
FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO CEO, THIS SELF-STARTER IS READY TO WIN!
Ever since Lewis and Clark rolled down the mighty Columbia with a presidential writ, politicians and the judges they appoint have controlled the fortunes of Joe Pakootas’ people. Executive orders confined his ancestors to the Colville Reservation, acts of Congress deprived them of gold-rich foothills, and federal judges ruled from afar about their basic rights as Americans. Now, for the first time ever, a registered tribal member is making a serious bid to represent the people of Washington state’s 5th District in Congress.
That he managed to become the man he is today — the Colville CEO who helped turn around tribal finances and helped lead a successful lawsuit against a Canadian mining firm that was polluting the Columbia River — is a testament to his character. For the first time in its history, the Colville Corp. is managed entirely by Native Americans, from Washington state and beyond.
One of seven children, his father was a shipbuilder, Joe worked in forestry as a teenager, cutting logs and manufacturing other timber products while employed by the National Youth Corps. He put off college so he could work a union job and support his young family. Later in life, Joe went back to school and earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Washington.
Joe is running to replace the 5-term incumbent Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R). His campaign has already acquired over 300 volunteers working to help him achieve that goal. His List of Endorsements is an impressive display of the trust he has won from many, many individuals and organizations alike. Help Joe become the first Native American/First Peoples candidate to represent the people of the State of Washingtonin the other Washington in 2016!
Volunteer | Donate
Pramila Jayapal
Candidate for US House
State of Washington
7th Congressional District
Campaign website: www.pramilaforcongress.com
URL Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/...
Campaign Twitter: @pramilaj
Where is the District?
Full Scale
The 7th Congressional District of the State of Washington is located on Puget Sound within King COunty and includes Vashon Island, most of Seattle and the cities of Edmonds, Shoreline and Kenmore.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR A BOLD, PROGRESSIVE FIGHTER
The corporate special interests have their voice in Washington, DC. What Washington State needs is a bold progressive voice who will fight for you.
I have spent the last 25 years fighting to expand the middle class and lift up working people all over Seattle and across our state, and that’s exactly what I’ll do in Congress.
I will fight for a higher minimum wage because working families deserve a pay raise; paid sick and safe days so workers don’t have to worry about losing a job when they are sick or dealing with domestic violence; and equal pay for equal work, because women deserve every penny they’ve earned.
I will fight to expand Social Security and Medicare instead of letting the special interests cut them and break the promise made to seniors who paid in with every paycheck.
I will fight for cleaner air and water, and for a clean energy economy that creates jobs and preserves our environment for generations to come.
I am an immigrant. And like so many immigrants before me, I am an American. I came to the United States as an immigrant from India when I was 16 years old. My parents took all the money they had and used it to send me to this country - because they believed this was where I would get the best education and have the brightest future.
They were right. I’ve worked on Wall Street and know exactly what needs to be done to protect consumers and punish those who crashed our economy. I’ve been a community organizer, and know the challenges families face just trying to get through the week. I’ve been a state senator, and know how to get things done while standing my ground.
I’ve lived the American Dream, and I’ve devoted my life to fighting for others to have the opportunities they need to achieve their own American Dream.
Having served as a WA State Senator from the 37th Legislative District, Pramila is endorsed by a number of legislative colleagues, individuals and organizations.
Volunteer | Donate
Finally, your host, who is also running for office.
Angela Marx
Candidate for US House
State of Washington
3rd Congressional District
Campaign website: www.Angie4Congress.com
Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/Angie4Congress
Twitter: @AngieinWAState
Where is the District?
Full Scale GovTrack Map of the 3rd District
The 3rd CD of Washington includes the counties of Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat, and a small sliver of southern Thurston county. Vancouver is the largest city of the region.
BELIEVE WITH ME AND TOGETHER, WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS!
Here in the 3rd District of Washington State, I want to see us develop a Clean Energy Hub, with manufacturing of the machinery to build wind turbines and solar arrays and geothermal residential heating and cooling. With our extremely low-cost hydropower and other advantages we can entice the manufacturers of these products to come here and employ our people at decent paying jobs, while producing the products which will help our entire nation become less dependent upon dirty coal and petroleum. This is a plan to help us maintain a good standard of living while promoting the energy sources of the future. It’s a good idea for us and our children and the healthy environment of southwest Washington, which we all cherish.
To that end, I want to become the next Congresswoman in Washington State's 3rd District - because I know that I can help the rest of the people of the 3rd District rise up to meet the challenges of the coming years with a reverence for our natural resources and an eye towards sustainable, decent paying jobs for our families and well-funded educational opportunities for our children.
Angela Marx lives in Vancouver, WA and she has two adult children and two grandchildren.
Volunteer | Donate
I will not be available until after 4:00 pm PST today, I have a full schedule of meetings and events:
10:00 49th LD Monthly meeting where I will be doing Caucus training for those interested.
12:00 to 2:00 PM Bernie Sanders Grand Opening for the 3rd District Field Office & canvassing event
But I will come and respond to any comments left in the threads.
Please share with your friends and family in WA State and beyond.
Because no matter which of our candidates becomes the nominee of the Democratic Party in July, they will need some fresh, new progressive faces and ideas to help them in the US Congress starting in January of 2017.
If you have a favorite progressive candidate who should be featured here, please leave me a name and a race (State/County/City) in a comment, so that I can feature them in a future edition of Help Progressives Win.
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