The 2018 midterms ushered in the most progressive House majority in history, but there are still a couple of bad apples left in the Democratic caucus, and it’s time to give them the heave-ho.
That’s why Daily Kos is proud to endorse two fantastic women who will help us do just that: Marie Newman in Illinois and Jessica Cisneros in Texas.
Newman is waging a rematch against Rep. Dan Lipinski, a conservative “Blue Dog” who’s utterly out of place in today’s Democratic Party. Here’s just a small taste of Lipinski’s extremism:
Newman, by contrast, supports health care for all, universal child care, a livable wage, access to safe and affordable reproductive care, and greater protections for immigrants. She’s also a businesswoman and activist who served as a spokesperson for Moms Demand Action to advocate for commonsense gun safety reforms. Last year, Newman gave Lipinski the toughest primary challenge he’s ever faced, holding him to a 51-49 squeaker. That near-death experience pushed him to finally support the Equality Act, a bill to guarantee civil rights for LGBTQ people that Lipinski had long opposed.
Cisneros is taking on a similarly awful incumbent, Rep. Henry Cuellar. He’s got a long rap sheet, too:
Cisneros, a first-time candidate, couldn’t be more different. She’s a human rights attorney and daughter of working-class immigrants from Mexico who will fight to end family separation and create a pathway to citizenship. She supports universal health care, an assault weapons ban, the Green New Deal, expanding Social Security, and protecting reproductive rights. And she’s already put a major scare into Cuellar, because suddenly he’s started voting with Trump a lot less often.
What makes both Lipinski and Cuellar particularly galling, though, is the fact that they both represent blue districts. Illinois’ 3rd District, in the Chicago suburbs, voted for Hillary Clinton by a wide 55-40 margin in 2016. Texas’ 28th District, which stretches from San Antonio down to the U.S.-Mexico border, supported Clinton by an even wider 58-38 spread. These are districts that can and should be represented by proud progressives.
So why aren’t they? Lipinski’s father represented the same seat that his son now holds for decades until dropping out after the filing deadline 15 years ago so that his cronies could hand-pick his preferred replacement—his own son. Ever since, the younger Lipinski has been protected by Chicago’s old-school political machine. Cuellar, meanwhile, has shamelessly raked in massive sums of cash from the private prison industry, Big Tobacco, and even the Koch brothers, ensuring he’d always have a financial advantage against any opponents.
And that’s where we come in. Both Newman and Cisneros have pledged not to take any corporate PAC money, meaning they need support from the grassroots if they’re going to win. They don’t need to outspend their opponents in order to win, but they do need the resources to get their message out to voters. There’s not a lot of time left to do so, though: Texas’ primary is fast approaching on March 3 (aka Super Tuesday), while Illinois’ is just two weeks later on March 17.
Daily Kos’ mantra since our earliest days has been “More and better Democrats.” Newman and Cisneros are precisely the better Democrats we’re always looking for.
Please donate $4 today to replace two lousy Democrats with two awesome progressives!