Time For A Bolder Democratic Party? The Case For Brianna Wu Over Stephen Lynch

Earlier this morning we saw Albert Lee make a pretty compelling case for himself as a candidate for the Portland, Oregon congressional seat, admitting the incumbent, Earl Blumenauer, isn't the worst Democrat and a couple of weeks ago Frances Motiwalla here in L.A. made a similar kind of case for her candidacy against Jimmy Gomez, basically, he's not terrible but that his constituents deserved someone much better. Like them, Brianna Wu, is running an uphill primary campaign in a solid blue district (PVI is D+10) that voted for Bernie in 2016. But Brianna's case is drastically different in one sense: her opponent, New Dem Stephen Lynch is the worst Democrat, or at least one of them.

Lynch's district (MA-08) includes most of Boston-- the West End, the North End, Beacon Hill, Jamaica Plain, the Financial District and South Boston and suburbs and small towns south of the city like Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Dedham, Walpole, Scituate, Brockton and Bridgewater. It's a well-off, vibrant and diverse district-- and far more progressive than the conservative Democrat it's been sending to Congress as a matter of habit for nearly 2 decades. During that period he's accomplished next to nothing for his constituents but has made a name for himself as one of the anti-health care Democrats who fought the Affordable Care Act but who voted for the toxic Stupak-Pitts Amendment, guaranteeing that ObamaCare would not be used for women seeking an abortion-- no matter what the reason. Lynch's anti-Choice record that he's trying to hide now should have come as no surprise since he was one of the Democrats who backed Tom DeLay's desperate bid to hold onto power by using Terri Schiavo's tragedy as a rallying cry for right-wing crackpots. ProgressivePunch has given Lynch an "F" year after year after year. Brianna Wu makes a very compelling case why she will make a far better member of Congress than Lynch has been. If you like what she has to say below-- and in the video she made for us above-- please consider contributing to her campaign by clicking on the Blue America thermometer above.

Just Four Votes
by Brianna Wu

Nancy Pelosi and I agree on one thing. Four votes is not enough.

The recent comments from Pelosi in the New York Times regarding the four progressive women of color elected to congress have caused quite a stir in Democratic circles. “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”

There’s a charitable and an uncharitable way to interpret Pelosi’s statement. For myself, I’m willing to take it at face value. We have a fierce disagreement in the Democratic Party about the direction of our party. We believe that Medicare for All is the future of our party. We believe the Green New Deal is the 21st equivalent of the 1960's space race, and the best hope for a habitable planet. We believe liberty and justice for some is not enough, and want racial and economic justice.

And that’s why I’m running for the House of Representatives.

Myself and an army of progressives are taking on establishment Democrats. We have a fundamental disagreement on where this party needs to go.

My opponent, Stephen Lynch, is the poster child of an establishment Democrat fundamentally out of touch with the policies Democrats believe in. He was elected immediately after 9/11, and helped cheerlead us into the war that got my friends killed. He voted against Obamacare. As housing costs in our district have skyrocketed, he enthusiastically takes cash from the developers causing the problem. 

Kids in cages? Lynch is silent. He said we should wait and see with Donald Trump. He’s against impeachment. And most shockingly, he got into politics to destroy LGBT rights in Massachusetts. In the same era when Matthew Shepard and Gwen Araujo were being murdered by homophobic bigots, Lynch was trying to remove hate crime prosecution in Massachusetts.

This is a democracy, and Lynch is not owed that seat in Congress. Our Founding Fathers designed the House of Representatives so members had to answer to their voters every two years.

I’m running to make the Democratic Party bolder, because I don’t accept that the best the Democratic Party can deliver are half-measures and political band-aids. I think we can deliver big, structural changes, but we can’t do it alone.

Most people got to know me nationally during Gamergate, a hate campaign crusaded by Steve Bannon and the alt-right to silence women in the tech industry asking for a fair shot. There’s no good way to have a Law and Order episode made about your life, and that’s how serious the threats on my life were. They tried everything in their power to make me sit down and shut up, and they failed.

When Trump was elected, I realized it wasn’t enough to only fight for women in the tech industry. I needed to fight to save this country. And that’s why I am all in, and why I’m asking you to stand with me.

You want to be a real hero? This is what we do.

We go back, and we put the pieces of this country together. We tune out the naysayers that say we can’t, the ones who tell us our sights are too high. And we accomplish what the status quo can’t and won’t. We serve our country, serve our communities and we never EVER give into cynicism.

That would take so some real guts. That would make us real heroes. I can’t wait to be standing shoulder to shoulder with all of you on election night.