Bernie On The Road For Midterm Candidates

I talk to congressional candidates all day. Sometimes I am amazed that I can get any posts done for my blog at all. One question candidates are always asking me is if I can get Bernie (or Elizabeth Warren) to campaign for them in their districts. Invariably the answer is no. It's not like Bernie calls me up and says, "Hey dude, remember PS 197 in Brooklyn? Got any candidates this week you want me to go campaign for?" If I'm lucky I can get Bernie's chief economic advisor, Stephanie Kelton to do a call with a candidate to explain how to message progressive priorities like Medicare for All, Job Guarantee or Free state colleges.

Last week, I turned the tables on candidates. I asked them, strictly as an intellectual exercise, who they would like to have come campaign for them. Virtually everyone said Bernie and/or Elizabeth Warren. Many said Michelle Obama. A couple said Michelle's husband. No one said Pelosi. No one said Hillary. So I asked, "Would you like Pelosi or Hillary to come campaign for you?" No one said yes-- no one-- not even in districts that Hillary won. Bill and Hill are going on a North American tour soon, but Democrats breathed a sign of relief when it turned out the tour doesn't start until the midterms are over.

Democratic candidates and voters are extremely excited that Bernie is off on a national tour to help bolster progressives running for office. Yesterday CNN reported that so far he's got more than 15 planned events in nine states.

The pre-midterm-election blitz begins on October 19 in Indiana, where the Vermont independent will stump in Bloomington for Liz Watson, who is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, and ends October 27 in Oakland, California, with a rally for Rep. Barbara Lee, a longtime progressive stalwart who could join the House Democratic leadership next year.

In between, Sanders is slated to hit the ground in a series of key 2020 primary and general election states, including Iowa-- he'll make three stops there over two days for J.D. Scholten, who is challenging GOP Rep. Steve King-- and Columbia, South Carolina, for a rally with Our Revolution, the group that emerged from Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. He will host a pair of town halls, in Iowa and Indiana, to warn against cuts to Social Security.

Sanders will also return to Michigan to campaign for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gretchen Whitmer in Ann Arbor on the second half of the tour's first day. In August, he endorsed her primary opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, and headlined a pair of events for him days before the vote. But Whitmer, a former state Senate minority leader, won easily and Democrats quickly coalesced behind her.

On October 22, Sanders will head to Wisconsin for a rally with Sen. Tammy Baldwin and other Badger State Democrats in Milwaukee, before heading west to Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.

His Western swing begins with a pair of events with progressive favorite David Garcia, who is challenging Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. The incumbent has a comfortable lead in most polling, but Garcia, who is Mexican-American, has touted his candidacy as a means of engaging and energizing the Latino vote in a state President Donald Trump won by less than 4 percentage points.

A stronger-than-expected showing by Garcia in November could also help Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who is locked in a tight Senate race with Republican Rep. Martha McSally.

Then it's off to Colorado, a state Sanders won in the 2016 primary, for rallies in Boulder and Fort Collins backing Rep. Jared Polis, who is favored to become the first openly gay man elected governor in US history.

In Nevada, Sanders will hit Reno and Las Vegas to support Rep. Jacky Rosen in her race to unseat Republican Sen. Dean Heller. For the Democrats to have any chance of taking over the Senate next year, Rosen would need to oust Heller in a campaign CNN has rated as a toss-up with early voting less than two weeks away.

Before Sanders wraps his nationwide swing in California with Lee up in Oakland, he will rally down in San Diego with House candidates Mike Levin, who is vying to take over retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa's seat, and Ammar Campa-Najjar, whose bid to flip the district held by Rep. Duncan Hunter got a major boost when the Republican and his wife were indicted in August on charges of spending campaign cash on personal expenses like travel and clothing.

Hunter has denied wrongdoing and remained in the race.

Randy Bryce reminded us that Bernie is extremely popular in Wisconsin, especially so in his district. "He won 71 out of 72 precincts in the 2016 primary election. Both events he did with me packed the venues to capacity on opposite sides of the district. Having been endorsed early by Senator Sanders has been a huge help. Republicans think that the progressive ideals both of us fight to advance are 'radical.' If making sure people can see a doctor is radical or, if promising not to make cuts to Social Security is 'far left' I’ll take that title. It just shows how out of touch these extremist Republicans really are."

Randy's campaign manager, David Keith, is also very excited about Bernie's third trip to speak directly with WI-01 voters. "Bernie speaks directly to the issues voters here care about-- he doesn't speak in soundbites, but rather he speaks in kitchen table reality. He knows what working people feel and he delivers a message that makes sense to people. He beat Hillary and beat Trump in our corner of the state because he talks to working families and what they care about, no beating around the bush, the same way Randy campaigns. He's been here with Randy twice before and the statewide solidarity event in Milwaukee is going to be crucial-- even beyond our base.