Yes, There Is A Progressive Candidate In Colorado's Reddest District-- Meet Stephany Rose Spaulding

by Bob Lynch

Having meaningless conversations with boring politicians is something you get used to in my line of work. However, some phone calls are impossible to forget. My phone call with Stephany Rose Spaulding, the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in Colorado’s 5th congressional district, was one of those. She is amazing. Colorado Springs is an Evangelical hotbed and Stephany is a Baptist pastor. Oh yeah, she is also a Black Woman with a PhD from the South Side of Chicago...

Stephany Spaulding sits at the confluence of many different concepts that the Democratic Party is currently struggling with. The Cook Report has labeled her district as an R+14 (the reddest in the state) so the DCCC decided it isn’t in play and won’t dedicate any of their resources to helping her give current Representative, Doug Lamborn, the ass kicking he deserves.

She is also not “progressive” enough for certain wings of the Democratic Party. Why doesn’t the media push that story??

Apparently running on a platform of abolishing ICE may work in Queens and The Bronx, but the things that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran on won’t necessarily always work in Colorado Springs.

The GOP and the Evangelical institutions that have ruled Colorado Springs have led to a situation where El Paso County is ranked 2nd in the entire nation for suicides, which has been almost entirely driven by the skyrocketing rate of suicides by their young people. According to 2015 UCCCS Economic Forum data, the county had a suicide rate of 21.4 people per 100,000, which is almost double the rate in the state (12.7) and almost four times the national average (5.9).

The institutions have failed the American people-- and the Democratic Party is one of them. The reason that the GOP has a 51-49 majority in the Senate and not a 52-48 one is because of black women in Alabama. Everyone knows this. They are the most reliable base of the Democratic Party, have been for a long time, and need to be listened to. Not just to access a specific demographic.

So we are all just ok with black women being leaders only when they can lead us to black women voters and not white people???

Something Stephany told me really resonated amidst all of the vanilla nonsense we normally hear candidates say.

“In essence my candidacy is a culmination of having persevered throughout my life being told what tables, rooms, and experiences were not for me. Others have tried to tell me when and where I don't belong because of race, class, sex, whatever. This race reflects that we all belong. We all sing America and our nation is made better, stronger, and greater when we inclusively embrace our full diversity and complexity. Our District deserves this level of representation as does our country.“

Many people keep holding out hope that fellow Chicago legends Michelle Obama or Oprah will get involved in politics yet they ignore the fact that Stephany Rose Spaulding IS involved. Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller love it when Dems play identity politics because they know that Dems don’t know how to give a woman an actual political identity. My head is literally about to explode just writing this. Listen to HER!

Maybe the “failing” New York Times should save some money on the complete hoax of a journalist, Jeremy Peters, writing 15 pieces about the left alienating Trump voters and flying all the way to Martha’s Vineyard to have a cup of coffee with the disgraceful Alan Dershowitz and not even bother to ask him about the underage girls on Epstein’s plane. The media is another important institution and they should do their job. Why is nobody writing about someone who has a workable blueprint for 2020?

The die has been cast and it is probably too late for Stephany to win the race for Colorado’s 5th district (although she has collected $187,487, a good start in raising the kind of money she'll need for a grassroots field operation that will get her message out). Going up against every institution possible in one race is a tough task. The Democratic Party has already decided not to listen to her and abandoned a district of the country that has a lot more in common with the Millennials, who got priced out of Manhattan that voted for Ocasio-Cortez, and are experiencing the same exact thing in Denver which is why they are moving to Colorado Springs. In a perfect world some of the $3 million dollars spent on Joe Crowley being sent out to pasture could have been spent on Stephany flipping a seat from Red to Blue. It would only take a fraction of that amount.

The extremely questionable retirement of Justice Kennedy and his son's Deutsche Bank ties to Donald Trump has largely boiled this election down to a referendum on Women’s Rights. Shouldn’t we start listening to them?

She can still win. Let’s help her.