For the first time in the history of American presidential campaigns, eight of the candidates from a major political party appeared at a forum held by, and for, America’s poor and low-income people. The candidates didn’t just drop by and give speeches during the Monday event kicking off the first Poor People’s Congress hosted by the national Poor People’s Campaign. Each one, from former Vice President Joe Biden to self-help guru Marianne Williamson, was first given exactly four minutes to make their case to activists from across the U.S. Then, rather than just breezing to their next event, the candidates were expected to answer direct and pointed questions about what they plan to do for the 140 million Americans who are poor or low-income.
Former Vice President Biden promised that as president he would make sure that every person in the United States has access to Medicaid—and admitted that in the past he had “vastly underestimated ... how deep and systemic the racism [in the United States] is and why in fact it never gives up.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren vowed that she would not “waste their pain,” and discussed her plan to require the country’s richest people to chip in $.02 of every dollar they make after $50 million a year. While talking about the need to stop America’s endless wars, Warren added, “Every time we decide we’re spending our money on this instead of that, we’re making a very concrete statement about our values.”
During his turn at the podium, Sen. Bernie Sanders told the activists that when it comes to creating an economy that works for everyone and not just the wealthy, “You are the answer,” because “there will never be any real change in this country unless there is a political revolution, and that means that millions of people have got to stand up and fight” to take on the corporate class and the 1%.
Sen. Kamala Harris said that the 2020 election is “about what are our morals, what is right, what are the teachings of Christ and other leaders who teach us the importance of living a life not about ourselves but of service to and for others,” and called out the Trump administration’s policy of kidnapping migrant children from their parents “a human rights abuse being committed by the United States government.”
The candidate forum, and the Poor People’s Congress as a whole, is the latest initiative from the revived Poor People’s Campaign, which was re-birthed last year by the Rev. Dr. William Barber and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. The forum, held at Trinity University in Washington, D.C., was livestreamed on MSNBC.
Eight Democratic candidates took the stage during the event, including four of the five most well-known names seeking the presidential nomination: Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Mayor Pete Buttigieg did not attend; however, he took part, silently, in the June 12 “Moral Witness Wednesday” protest in front of the White House held by Repairers of the Breach, a major organizational co-sponsor of the Poor People’s Campaign.
In addition to Williamson, other lesser-known candidates at the Congress included entrepreneur Andrew Yang; Miramar, Florida Mayor Wayne Messam; and Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.
After the forum, which ran until Monday evening, organizers planned on formally presenting the Poor People’s Campaign’s Poor People’s Moral Budget during an event at the Trinity Center. The Congress will close on June 19 with the formal announcement of the Poor People’s Campaign’s next planned major action—a mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington in June of 2020, and a national tour and organizing drive.
Unsurprisingly, questions during the forum focused on the uniting principles of the Poor People’s Campaign—not merely economic issues and income inequality, but the systemic racism, voter suppression, lack of health care, environmental devastation, and militarism that have combined to produce a country where 140 million Americans, or 43.5% of the population, is poor or low-income.
But the questions were also highly strategic. Candidates were asked whether and how they plan to build coalitions across racial and other divisions in the South—because, according to the Rev. Dr. Barber, “We’ve figured out that racialized voter suppression and gerrymandering is not just a black issue. Once [politicians] get the power, they use the power mostly to hurt white people” by opposing everything from Medicaid expansion and reproductive freedoms to LGBTQ equality. Many of the candidates were also asked how they plan to pass progressive reforms if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wins re-election.
In addition to questions from the three co-moderators, each candidate also faced at least one question from audience members ranging from a millennial woman struggling with issues of homelessness to two children from a poor school district whose school grounds are frequently covered with used needles. While talking about her fear of being pricked by a needle while on school grounds, 10-year-old Jay’dha Rackard of Boston summed up the mood of the entire Congress asking Marianne Williamson: “I’m fighting for my life—how are you going to fight for me?”
With affiliated branches of the Poor People’s Campaign in 40 states and now a proven ability to summon a respectable number of presidential candidates to what was its first presidential candidates’ forum, American politicians may soon learn they’d better have an answer to that question.
NOTE: A link isn’t available for the full, seven-hour candidates’ forum as of the deadline for this article. You can watch presentations including those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Kamala Harris here, while Biden’s address is available here, Andrew Yang’s presentation is available at this link, and Marianne Williamson’s can be found here. The entire forum will be available at the Poor People’s Campaign’s Poor People’s Congress web page in the coming days.
Dawn Wolfe is a freelance writer and journalist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.