Authenticity Counts-- A Guest Post By Dayna Steele

Everyone at Blue America thought that the longest long shot we were taking this cycle was backing Alexandria Ocasio. "That's impossible," people told us. "If you couldn't take a nobody like Dan Lipinsky down, how you going to take down Joe Crowley?!?!" Well, to start, we didn't take down Joe Crowley. Alexandria did. The voters in the southwest Bronx and north Queens saw the contrast between the two candidates and made the easy choice. Alexandria and her team worked hard and worked smart. Our efforts were negligible in comparison. In fact it wasn't 'til we saw how smart and how tireless they are that we decided to back her. That Bernie platform she was running on... lots of people run on that-- and don't get nearly as far as Alexandria did. She has the authenticity-- and the secret sauce-- that makes it all come together in the minds of voters.

And now that she's won, who's the next biggest long shot? Old friend, Dayna Steele from Houston, running in a deep red district with an R+26 PVI, where Trump beat Hillary 72.0% to 25.2%. In 2016, the folks in TX-36 were not interested in even considering what the hallmark of the status quo was peddling. Dayna Steele has nothing to do with the status quo. Earlier today she wrote a guest post for us explaining how she's beating GOP extreme right backbencher Brian Babin in a district as red as her's is. She won her primary in a landslide... and the DCCC has ignored her ever since. Read what she has to say below and if you want to give her a hand... that's what the brand new 2018 "Abandoned by the DCCC" thermometer on the right is for. (Do you have any friends that might be interested too? This thing is getting close now-- and a lot is at stake.)

Trying To Be Republican-Lite Is A Losing Strategy
by Dayna Steele

If you listen to the "experts" and the "political pundits," I am in a very red district and they don't give me much of a chance of winning Texas Congressional District 36. If I listened to these so-called experts and political pundits, I would not have even bothered to run in the first place. But here I am, the first Democratic woman ever to run for Congress in this Southeast Texas district. I won the primary with 72% of the vote and just crossed $500,000 raised for this campaign. That is nearly 100 times more than any previous Democratic candidate in the district. In fact, I just had the best fundraising quarter of any TX-36 Democrat since the district was drawn.

 When I first started to run, the advice was fast and furious:

"Don't ever talk about guns."

Then multiple school shootings happened and a host of parents and sensible people joined me in talking about common sense gun legislation.

 Medicare For All is too socialist, just say healthcare."

Announcing I am 100% in support of Medicare For All gets the loudest cheer everywhere I speak.

"Stop saying you support Planned Parenthood."

No.

"Everyone has Internet these days."

A vast majority of my district has little to no Internet access. Those who do, outside of the Houston and Baytown metropolitan areas, usually have one provider, high prices, and slow speeds.

It is as if the established political operatives wanted me (and still want me) to run as a "Republican lite." After spending over a year on the ground, listening, shaking hands, talking to people, and traveling the district, I can tell you there are a lot more people interested in the same issues as our campaign than these political operatives would lead you to believe. There are MANY of us and we are growing stronger and louder.

My opponent Brian Babin is one of two Republicans who quit the Freedom Caucus because they "weren't conservative enough." He voted for the tax cuts for the wealthy, voted repeatedly to repeal the ACA, and said, "Sometimes a lady needs to be told when she is being nasty." He doesn't hold town halls, most of his offices are "by appointment only." and he rarely meets with anyone that is not a big donor. He takes money from corporate PACs and appears to be now getting funding from the Koch brothers.

The blue voters are coming out of the shadows in Southeast Texas. Our team has given them a safe haven and the knowledge that they are not alone. No one even bothered to run as a Democrat against Babin in the 2016 race. Why? Because Democrats have been sold a bill of goods that we are a "red state." We are not, we are a "do not get out and vote state." And, it's not because we are lazy or have given up, it is because Democrats have been bullied in this state. The more I learned about that, the more I knew I had to take a stand and run. To give people a voice in this state.

In the past and still today, if you run as a Democrat or anyone knows you vote Democrat, especially in the rural areas, your kids are bullied at school, your business is avoided, eventually driving you out of business, you are ostracized at church, insults are hurled your way. Well, that stops on my watch.

Let's be very clear here-- I am not running to be a politician. I am running for what is good and what is right. I am running for healthcare, education and jobs. I am running to make sure that Internet is accessible by everyone, that we continue to look at job training for the future, harnessing of solar and wind power in Texas. And, I run to help those still trying to rebuild not only from Hurricane Harvey but also from Ike, Rita, and several floods.

We are doing this. We are doing this with the grassroots support of people like you and we can only continue to do this if that support grows. The national party doesn't believe; the state party is overwhelmed. That's okay, we aren't doing this for the party. We are doing this for the people and we need their support, your support. We the People. Stand with me and Rock the 36th!