Aaron Regunberg, Rhode Island's Contribution To A Better American Future

We talk a lot here at Blue America about the need to primary conservative Democrats and replace them with bold progressives. And there's a powerful example of that action happening right now in Rhode Island. We've never endorsed in a Lt. Governor's race before but Rhode Island's leading young progressive voice in state government, State Representative Aaron Regunberg, recently announced a primary challenge to the incumbent Lieutenant Governor Dan McKee. This is a race Blue America wants to get involved with. Please consider contributing to Aaron's campaign by clicking on the ActBlue thermometer on the right. Why? Because Aaron and his crooked conservative opponent are a classic study in the battle that's being fought today all over the country for the soul of the Democratic Party-- and the future of the United States.

Dan McKee is a stereotype of a conservative DINO. He's supported right-to-work; championed corporate school privatization; received hundreds of thousands of dollars of support from the Waltons (that's the WalMart family). He's even refused to speak critically of the Trump tax plan. And he's a Democratic statewide elected official in one of the most Democratic states in the country.

Aaron Regunberg, on the other hand, is exactly the kind of candidate that gets us excited at Blue America. Aaron comes out of community organizing. He founded the Providence Student Union, a youth organizing organization which empowers public school students and has won real progressive policy change-- free student transportation, ethnic studies classes, a fairer use of standardized testing, healthier school lunches, and more.

Since his 2014 election as state representative, Aaron has led winning campaigns to increase the minimum wage, expand renewable energy programs, reform the use of solitary confinement, and pass earned sick days for over 100,000 RI families who did not have them before. And he's been a leader in pulling the policy conversation in Rhode Island to the left by introducing single payer, carbon pricing and tax-the-rich legislation every year since he was elected.

Aaron's led the effort to build a stronger progressive infrastructure in his state. He helped found Rhode Island's chapter of the Working Families Party, and supported several winning Our Revolution-supported candidates in 2016. He was also one of the only Rhode Island elected officials-- and by far the earliest and loudest-- to endorse Bernie in the presidential primary (Bernie won Rhode Island by double digits, 54.6% to 43.6%.)



Regunberg's race is already being seen as a referendum on this bold progressive agenda, and that's just fine with him. "I believe Rhode Islanders want to guarantee healthcare as a right, not a privilege for those who can afford it," he told us earlier in the week. "They want to make sure the top 1% pays their fair share. They want to protect a woman's right to choose, and put Rhode Islanders to work transitioning to 100% clean energy, and fight for a living wage for all working families. We can win these battles, and I'm running statewide to send a message to every elected official in our state that these are issues they need to pay attention to, because their voters are demanding it."

This is a very big race for our movement. CNN recently highlighted Aaron's race, and the Boston Globe recently wrote, "If Regunberg were to unseat McKee, it would say a lot about the future of the Democratic Party." Let's say a lot about the Democratic Party's future by supporting Aaron Regunberg for Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor! If you haven't done so yet. please go back to the top of the page and contribute what you can by tapping on the thermometer. Aaron is-- at least so far-- the only candidate for Lieutenant Governor we're backing anywhere in the country.