New Progressive Candidate Alert: Kaniela Ing

With New Dem Colleen Hanabusa giving up the HI-01 congressional seat for a run at the governor's mansion, Hawaii has a chance at a real representational upgrade. The primary may get crowded in this deep blue Democratic district but the already have one of the best candidates running for office anywhere in the country. 28 year old Kaniela Ing has been in the Hawaii state House of Representatives since 2012 and he's already a seasoned political leader know understands and embraces his role as a tribune for working families.

Obama won HI-01 with 70% both times he ran and Hillary beat Trump 63.1% to 30.5%. The PVI is D+17. Although most of the Hawaiian elected leaders and the whole Democratic establishment backed Hillary-- except Kaniela (watch his endorsement video below)-- Hawaii's voters went for Bernie in a 70-30 landslide, one of his biggest wins anywhere. It says something about the kind of Democrats voters want.




Kaniela's first opponent is one of the worse excuses for a Democrat in the state, Donna Kim, a conservative and very bigoted religious nut pretending to be a Democrat. She has been a fanatic opponent of LGBT equality and is well known for railing against public-employee unions and what she regards as excess in social services and public education. In fact, that's probably what she's most known for (in addition to corruption). Opposition to public investment is certainly what she wants to be known for, as she brings it up at every opportunity. It’s why she’s called "outspoken." And she regularly appears on right-wing media to argue for cuts in government programs with the type of impassioned outrage that would make a Tea Partier blush. She always seems to love talking about how educators are overpaid and the Christian Coalition loves her and describes her as "fantastic." She's exactly what Hawaii doesn't need and the polar opposite is Kaniela.

Take a look at his campaign website. On the front page he makes it clear that "Standing up to Trump is important, but it's not enough." That leads right to his issues page where he "champions a bold vision of universal ‍‍‍basic income, tuition free college, equal rights, and medicare-for-all.‍‍‍" There is no candidate running for Congress anywhere in America with a better or more complete issues page. No one will have to guess where Kaniela stands on anything important likely to come up before Congress. He starts with Affordable Housing, getting big money out of politics, Medicare-For-All and Tuition-Free College and ends up talking about GMO labeling, legalizing cannabis and impeaching Donald Trump.

When Kaniela ran for the state House, he was grossly outspent, but won by knocking on over 15,000 doors. "While in office," he told us, "I stood on bold progressive values and actually got things done. I emerged as a leader on issues like marriage equality, climate change, regulating superpacs, voting reform, and reducing our economic reliance on war. I put myself on the line to endorse Bernie Sanders, faced a re-election primary where I was grossly outspent, and smashed my opponent by 26 points."

Blue America has been urging him to run, but before he jumped in this week, he told us that if he did decide to run, "it will be on the boldest progressive platform Hawaii has ever seen. I will champion Our Revolution's People's Platform of Medicare-For-All, repealing Citizens United, legalizing marijuana, making college tuition-free, regulating Wall Street, opposing bad trade deals and oil pipelines, and investing trillions into infrastructure. This will be paid by ending expensive, counter productive wars-of-choice, savings and tax revenue from criminal justice reform, and demanding billionaires and corporations pay their fair share. If I run, my platform will further include banning corporate PAC money, guaranteeing jobs or a universal basic income, a national 100% renewable energy goal by 2050, and nationalized childcare. Hell yes, people here in Hawaii need a Representative to stand up to Donald Trump or any billionaires, but I can tell you this: if I do run, my campaign is going to go way beyond resistance. It won't be worth running unless I can offer the voters here a bold vision, and a new generation of progressive leadership for America... Hawaii is becoming a place for the super rich, and leaders must stand up to the elites and billionaires' corporations, in both parties, in order to give everyday people a shot. I have always put the people ahead of powerful big-money donors, because it's the only way we will win the world we want to see."

It should surprise no one to see that Blue America's endorsement came immediately. Please consider tapping on the thermometer above and contributing what you can to his very grassroots campaign.