Democrats Need Unity And A Strong Positive Platform To Beat Mike Coffman In CO-06

A few weeks ago we looked at why the DCCC recruit to oppose Colorado Republican Mike Coffman is the wrong guy for the nomination. Since then, one of the two progressive Berniecrats in the campaign, Gabriel McArthur, decided to withdraw from the race and run for Colorado Secretary of State instead, leaving Levi Tillemann as the progressive choice against the corporate Democrat the DCCC dug up to run. Sunday evening McArthur, in a Facebook note, decided to try to strengthen and unite the Democrat Party in CO-06 around Tillemann and his platform of positive values and programs.

Gabriel McArthur: I Am Endorsing Levi Tillemann for Colorado District Six's Primary Fight

At a joint event held earlier this month by Our Revolution Metro-Denver, Colorado Political Revolution, and The Colorado Working Families Party I announced that I will be bowing out of the race for Colorado district six and that I intend to run for Colorado secretary of state instead.

While my focus will be zeroing in on election integrity and innovation in the run for secretary, I remain fiercely passionate about single payer healthcare, tuition free college, automation preparedness, economic attention to traditionally ignored groups, and a number of other progressive issues. As such, I have examined who of the remaining candidates is will speak to these issues with conviction. Additionally, I've considered which Democratic candidate understands the best strategy to best Rep. Mike Coffman--a strategy that does not involve moving to the political center. A boldly progressive vision is the only viable path to victory.

Jason Crow, the candidate ordained by traditional media as the front runner in the primary, has come under fire from Republican opposition as a hand-picked candidate by The DCCC and the Democratic establishment. This is a sentiment that, accurate or not, presents a striking liability for Crow, especially in the wake of Jon Ossof's loss in Georgia's sixth district. It's also a sentiment that I believe to be true.

The American people are completely fed up with politics as usual, and while this certainly should be obvious, the political elite seem frustratingly oblivious to this fact. Their efforts on the Democratic side to edge out progressives in favor of cookie cutter candidates like Crow are not only contradictory to the values they claim to espouse, but have only resulted in a Republican supermajority that threatens our way of life.

I had the opportunity to speak with Levi Tillemann about his plans for district six, and I find his candidacy to be the most promising by far. Levi is the only other politician I'm aware of that understands the urgency in addressing the effects of automation on the workforce. He would be also be aggressive in working to transform our energy system, a move that not only would help conserve our natural resources but would create promising new industries and jobs.

Levi understands the necessity to work towards single payer healthcare as our current system faces challenges both from within its own framework, and Republican efforts to further privatize a preciously vital service.

District six is one of the most diverse in Colorado with a proud immigrant population that I identify with deeply. I'm a mixed-race American myself, whose maternal grandmother came from the Philippines and whose paternal family came from the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation not far from Standing Rock. As a minority, I'm often skeptical of Democratic leaders who give lip service to our needs but very little action. I stressed this frustration to Levi, and I believe he is sincere in his understanding that minority votes are not a given for Democrats, and must be earned.

I will be supporting Levi in his fight against establishment favoritism, and endorse his candidacy in the hopes that he can turn the tide in a district Coffman should have lost several cycles ago.

Probably not the message the Papa John's Pizza Party wants circulating this week. But one Democratic and independent voters in the Denver suburbs should consider carefully.