Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez Is The Progressive In The Texas Senate Race Who Can Win The Primary And Beat John Cornyn

Blue America hasn't waded into too many Senate races this cycle. That's because our top concern is not replacing horrendous Republicans with somewhat less horrendous Democrats. Take my word for it, I feel confident that more-or-less-Democrat Mark Kelly will beat Trump-hugging incumbent Martha McSally in Arizona-- and go on to be almost as bad in the Senate as Schumer's last pick for Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema, if you haven't been paying close attention, is the Senate's worst Democrat, worst even than Joe Manchin. This is her voting record score at ProgressivePunch:

FiveThirtyEight shows her tied with Joe Manchin with the highest Trump Score of any Senate Democrat-- 52.4%. Can I be sure Kelly will be as bad? Sure; I always get these things right. Ditto for other Schumer conservative picks he's trying to ram through: Frackenlooper (CO), Theresa Greenfield (IA), Sara Gideon (ME), Cal Cunningham (NC) and M.J. (TX) Hegar. Any of these candidates would likely be better than the Republicans they're challenging, but not one of them would be a what I would call a "good Democrat"! All sub-par... every single one of them. Click the 2020 ActBlue Senate thermometer on the right. Those are the candidates Blue America has endorsed this cycle, each of whom I think would be someone who would make the Senate better. The Schumer candidates are all likely to work to block Bernie's platform. The candidate we've endorsed are running largely on that platform.

Yesterday, Jenna Johnson's article on Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez was published by the Washington Post. "After a career of organizing construction workers and young voters of color in Texas," wrote Johnson, "she was recruited to run for Senate last summer by fellow Democratic activists who worked on the 2018 Senate campaign of former state Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who lost but came close enough to show that the state’s politics are quickly changing. At first she laughed off the idea-- she had never run before and had no desire to do so-- but they reminded her of the need for more Latina voices in politics." We endorsed Cristina in December and feel sure she would be, not just better than John Cornyn, but better than anyone else vying for the chance run against him.

“There are many moments when I still doubt myself, that I think maybe I’m not smart enough, maybe I’m not the right person to be doing this,” Tzintzún Ramirez said at the brunch.

“I am the right person to be doing this. If we don’t step up, then maybe no one else will. We as Latinas are the right people at the right moment in the right state to actually step up.”

This year’s Texas Senate race-- which has attracted a dozen Democratic candidates looking to unseat incumbent John Cornyn (R) and who will face off in the state’s March 3 primary-- displays the tension playing out in the Democratic Party as its leaders and activists try to figure out what the party stands for, who leads it and, most importantly, which voters it prioritizes.

Calls for more candidates who look and think like the party’s emerging base of young, nonwhite and more liberal voters are inevitably colliding with a desire to win seats and states that have long been held by Republicans but are seen as gettable if candidates appeal to more moderate-- and often more white-- voters.

Those collisions are particularly difficult in places like Texas, where voters of color are crucial to any Democratic victory but diverse candidates have struggled to raise the money and attention needed to become the nominee.

The party’s presidential race has also shown the limits of identity politics. The field was once the most diverse in history-- yet all but one of the remaining candidates, and all of the top tier, are white and many have had difficulty connecting with diverse Democratic constituencies. Adding more complexity, many nonwhite voters have backed white candidates over candidates of color, either due to policy positions or perceptions of which candidate could compete more strongly with President Trump.

“Let’s go make history for Latinas,” Tzintzún Ramirez said in an Instragram video on the first day of early voting.

The front-runner in the race is MJ Hegar, a tattooed 43-year-old combat veteran who lost a congressional race in 2018 in the heavily Republican Austin suburbs but garnered national attention for a campaign ad about her boundary-breaking military career. Hegar, a former Republican who is white, has been more cautious in her positions and supports a public health insurance option, banning assault weapons and not allowing “aggressive action on climate change to get overly politicized.” She has focused on winning over independent voters and former Republicans-- and late last year received the endorsement of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is led by Masto [a 100% Schumer puppet].

That endorsement angered Tzintzún Ramirez and other candidates of color. Royce West, a longtime state senator from Dallas, called it a “slap in the face” to black Texans and his spokesman accused the national Democratic leaders of “trying to lock African Americans out of the process.” Amanda Edwards, a former Houston city council member, accused the committee of attempting to “put a thumb on the scale.”

“Democrats talk about diversity in their party, yet this latest move proves they are all talk and no action,” Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey said in a statement, seizing on the division. “Last we checked, there was an African American State Senator, African American City Councilwoman, and a Latina liberal activist running.”

Soon after Tzintzún Ramirez entered the race last summer, she traveled to Washington to meet with the committee’s executive director and Texas organizer and urged them not to endorse before the primary.

“I let them know that in Texas, we are hungry and desperate for representation,” Tzintzún Ramirez said. “I let them know that if they did endorse [Hegar], I would hate for it to backfire on her in the general election to voters of color who had already felt underrepresented and ignored and were actually the majority of the Democratic Party in Texas.”

DSCC officials said that the decision was based on which candidate had the best shot at beating Cornyn, who has held the seat since 2002 yet is not well known in the state, especially compared to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Hegar got into the race months before the other major candidates and has raised $3.8 million-- more than all of the other candidates combined. Tzintzún Ramirez has raised more than $988,000, while West has raised $1.1 million and Edwards more than $935,000.

Tzintzún Ramirez has been tapping donors who gave to O’Rourke and those who helped support her organizing work over the years. She has been aided by actor Alec Baldwin, an enthusiastic supporter whom she first met in 2013 when she was the executive director of the Workers Defense Project in Austin. She has been surprised that some donors who long supported her organizing work were hesitant to support her running for office.

“So many donors ask: ‘How do we get out more Latino voters?’ Then some of those same donors say: ‘Oh, I don’t think a Latina can win [in Texas],’ ” she said. “You can’t want our votes and not our voices.”

Tzintzún Ramirez’s identity is at the center of her campaign. She opens her stump speech with her story: Her mother, Ana Tzintzún, is the oldest of nine children from a poor farm-working family in southern Mexico. Her father, Tom Costello, is “a white American hippie” who met her mother while traveling through Mexico in the 1970s.

...In trying to win over voters, Tzintzún Ramirez urges Texans to think ahead to the general election and the stark contrast that she could provide if put up against Cornyn. Tzintzún Ramirez often campaigns with her 3-year-old, Santiago, whom she calls “Santi” and talks openly about struggling to pay bills and piecing together child care when she became a single mother. She recently showed her staff members one of Cornyn’s 2008 campaign videos, titled “Big John,” that featured him in a cowboy hat and a leather coat with fringe.

“I do not think John Cornyn reflects the Texas of today. And I think that there is no better way to show that than me being the candidate,” she said. “Trump is going to run his campaign villainizing, targeting people that look like and have last names just like me. This race is going to get heated real fast, and I think it’s going to become the race that really is reflective of who we are becoming as a country and who we’re making space for.”

O’Rourke opted not to join the Senate race despite widespread calls for him to do so. His advisers believed that running against Cornyn in a presidential year would be more difficult than running against Cruz in 2018-- plus, O’Rourke had a strong working relationship with Cornyn and would struggle to cast him as a villain as he did with Cruz. O’Rourke has made clear that he will not endorse ahead of the primary, and he regularly talks with several of the candidates, including Hegar and Tzintzún Ramirez.

Tzintzún Ramirez wrote O’Rourke’s Latino outreach strategy in 2018-- and then watched in frustration as he waited for voters to come to him instead of sending paid canvassers into Latino neighborhoods, diversifying his staff and campaigning more heavily in urban areas. She credits him with listening to her and making last-minute changes. Many of those who worked on the campaign said that O’Rourke would have had a better shot at winning had he courted diverse communities sooner in his race.

In her own campaign, Tzintzún Ramirez’s staffers are nearly all women and people of color, and she has focused on campaigning in Texas’s major cities, especially those with large Latino populations. If she were to become the Democratic nominee, Tzintzún Ramirez said, she would invest much more heavily in voter registration and mobilizing communities of color than O’Rourke did. Hegar’s campaign says that it plans to amplify and build on voter registration efforts of nonprofit groups.

Tzintzún Ramirez said she has long been frustrated that the Democratic Party has failed to fully engage Latino voters. Following Trump’s election, she founded Jolt, a nonprofit focused on helping young Latinos and other voters of color become activists on issues that matter to them. Jolt couples politics with culture, setting up photo booths at quinceañera celebrations and pushing young women to see voting as another way to honor their commitments to their family and their communities. Jolt became a gathering place for young Latinas, especially those who are of mixed ancestry, like Tzintzún Ramirez.

It does not base its decisions solely on race, however. During the 2018 Democratic primary for governor, Jolt endorsed Andrew White, who owned a company that developed border security technology, over Lupe Valdez, the former sheriff of Dallas County who had cooperated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and allowed undocumented immigrants to be detained in her jail.

“Representation matters and lived experience will often lead you to a different result... but above all, it matters where you stand on the issues that matter to people’s everyday life,” Tzintzún Ramirez said.

For months, Tzintzún Ramirez has bounced around the state with a small group of young female staffers. A recent weekend took her from a county party meeting in the Fort Worth area where she waited more than an hour to speak to the group for just a few minutes, to the Latina networking brunch where all of the women wore nametags labeled with their super power (Tzintzún Ramirez’s superpower was helping others to see their power) to a meet-and-greet in a Fort Worth bar that attracted dozens of former O’Rourke volunteers, and eventually to an intimate gathering with black and Afro-Latino voters at a coffee shop in Houston, where tears flowed amid a discussion of systemic racism and poverty.

“For so long we have had politicians that don’t represent us at all, especially in Texas. I know people like to say that Latinos are a minority but in Texas they’re not, they’re the majority,” said Krissia Palomo, 19, a college student who brought two friends to the Fort Worth meet-and-greet. “This might be a little bit of identity politics, but I do like seeing myself in somebody that’s running for such an important office.”

There will be a runoff after the March 3rd primary, likely between Hegar  representing the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- she is a so-called "ex"-Republican herself-- and Cristina representing the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Cristina founded Our Revolution Texas, while Hegar was voting for Carly Fiorina in the Republican primary. (Yes, she switched parties after that 2016 election so she could run for Congress.) Right now the RealClearPolitics Texas polling average looks good for progressives among Democratic primary voters:

• Bernie- 22.3%
• Status Quo Joe- 20.7%
• Elizabeth- 15.3%
• Bloomers- 13.3%
• Mayo Pete- 8.3%
• Klobuchar- 6.3%
• Tulsi- 3%

Texas Is Turning In A More Purple Direction-- Is 2020 The Year A Democrat Will Win Statewide?

The Texas AFL-CIO is meeting in Austin's Omni Hotel this weekend, the only union hotel in the city. On the umbrella organization's agenda is endorsing 2020 election candidates. Many locals already have done so but these endorsements are for the state organization. And there was a problem right from the start. Many for the conservative building trades unions and unions in the fossil fuels industries are vehemently opposing progressive canddiates backing the Green New Deal. It's got to be incredibly frustrating for the union activists who are strongly campaigning on the Green New Deal.

As we mentioned when we first endorsed her, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez is a Latina labor organizer and the line you hear about her is that she represents the future of Texas. Reporting for In These Times on Friday, Steven Greenhouse wrote about meeting Ramirez 7 years ago when she was running the Workers Defense Project and how he found her "whip smart, a born organizer and an inspiring speaker... The WDP brought national attention to the fact that Texas construction workers have the highest on-the-job death rate in the nation, and then in Austin won Texas’ first municipal ordinance requiring rest and water breaks for construction workers. It got Apple and other companies to guarantee workers on their Austin construction projects receive raises, safety training and workers’ comp, not required in Texas. Tzintzún Ramirez proved adept at working with undocumented workers, union leaders, construction industry execs and lawmakers." You can use the Take Back Texas thermometer below to contribute to federal campaigns of Texas progressives. Take a look at who Blue America is recommending in the Lone Star State.

Greenhouse interviewed her about... well, about how a labor organizer with a progressive agenda is going to defeat Republican Party heavyweight John Cornyn. She started by expelling that she's "spent a decade and a half thinking about how to make policy solutions for real-life problems that politicians often didn’t even know existed. I learned how to build coalitions. I learned how to raise resources for campaigns. I learned how to work around the clock to win-- because the only thing I have that those in power don’t have is time, and the knowledge that you can defeat powerful people by building movements of ordinary people."

Steven: At WDP and Jolt, you developed a reputation as a fighter for Latinos. How would you assure all Texans you will fight for them?

Cristina: I don’t think that disqualifies me to be Texas’ next senator-- I think it makes me uniquely qualified. The things that Latino families want are the exact things that every other family wants: Making sure the education system is affordable and accessible. Making sure people have good, living-wage and safe jobs. Making sure families can be together. Making sure our democracy works for everyone.

Steven: What are some ways you would work to help white and African-American communities?

Cristina: We have a senator, John Cornyn, who only wants to represent the interests of one ethnic group, one income bracket and one gender: the interests of white wealthy men.

I want to be the senator for everyone. I stand up for Medicare for All because I believe it is the best way to have the highest quality healthcare and to make sure every single American can go to the doctor. I want to tackle the student debt crisis and make sure every single Texas family can send their children to college or trade school. I want to make sure that Texas becomes a leader in transitioning our economy to green energy in a way that creates millions of great jobs for Texans.

I was really proud of my work at the Workers Defense Project. I brought union and non-union workers together, immigrants and American-born together, black, brown and white together to pursue their common interests.

I understand the way Republicans use racism and xenophobia and sexism to distract us. That’s how they get away with not giving us healthcare. That’s how they get away with divestment from our education system. That’s how they get away with an economy that doesn’t work for everyone.

Steven: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has endorsed one of your 11 opponents, M.J. Hegar, presumably thinking a centrist Air Force veteran has the best chance. Why would a progressive like yourself fare better?

Cristina: There are two strategies to change Texas. One of them has been tried for 20 years and failed every single time-- which is to run a moderate Democrat to try and swing white Republican voters.

The other strategy is to embrace the state’s diversity. We are a state that is majority people of color, a state with a long populist tradition, where progressives are hungry for change. Beto O’Rourke was the most progressive statewide candidate I can remember, and he got closer than anybody. In our Senate campaign, we try to speak to everyone-- the Black Lives Matter movement, Latino and immigrant communities, the LGBTQ community.

Everybody knows that you don’t win in Texas unless you drive up voter turnout among Latino voters. No Democrat wins without us. Yet there are Democrats running who don’t want to speak to us, who don’t want to fight for us.

There are some people in Washington who think that they know Texas better than Texans. We will prove them wrong on Election Day.

Steven: Cornyn will no doubt have a huge campaign chest. How will you defeat him?

Cristina: Republicans know if they lose Texas in 2020, it’s game over for them nationally. So I think every single dirty trick will be played in this race.

Unseating the second-most powerful Republican in the Senate doesn’t come without hard work or substantial resources. It’s my intention to raise those resources from small-dollar donors across the country who understand what’s at stake in Texas. Texans have the ability to change the course of not just our state’s history, but our entire country’s history, when we flip Texas.

Steven: What do you hope to achieve in the Senate?

Cristina: A state as large as Texas can dream big because we are big. I want to position Texas to be a leader in our nation’s transition to renewable energy. We are already the largest wind energy producer. I want to make us the largest solar energy producer and create nearly two million green jobs in Texas-- good jobs-- over the next decade. I want to tackle income inequality. In Texas, we work more hours than most people in other states. Yet most Texans struggle to get by.

The other big issue is Medicare for All. In Texas, we have the highest uninsured rate in the country: one in six. Even Americans with health insurance struggle to pay their co-pays, deductibles, premiums. This past week my son was in the hospital twice, and we had a $500 co-pay.

Steven: Texas’ economy has been built in large part by fossil fuels. How do you persuade Texans that the Green New Deal is good for them?

Cristina: As Texans, we don’t run away from big problems. We take them head on. I see climate change as a big problem, but I also see it as a real opportunity, especially for Texas. John Cornyn opposes the Green New Deal because he says it’s too expensive, but he doesn’t calculate the catastrophic cost of doing nothing-- the cost for our economy and our environment, and the human cost and suffering, which is incalculable.

No state has more to gain or lose than Texas. Texas has 250,000 workers in the oil, gas and mining industries and 233,000 workers in advanced energy, which will outpace the oil and gas industry in the next few years. So it’s just basic common sense for Texas to support the Green New Deal.

Steven: I deliberately haven’t asked whether it’s hard running with a 3-year-old son-- I imagine male candidates don’t get that question.

Cristina: I don’t mind you asking, because it’s the truth. Deciding whether to run was hard. I know that, when men run, they get thanked for their sacrifice of being away, but when women like me run, we get villainized as bad mothers But I think I could be a great senator and a great mother. I’m running with my little guy, Santi. I taught him how to hand out flyers and say “Vota Mama.” He likes to do that at all the events.

When I’m going out and fighting for the policies and solutions I believe are in the best interest of Texans and Americans-- doing that with my son next to me, I know I’m fighting for his future as well.

So How Many More Seats Will The Democrats Win In Texas Next Year?

John Cornyn and Cristina Ramirez

It’s bizarre predicting who will win congressional seats even before primaries determine who the candidates will be in November. Texas has especially spirited primaries all over the place, starting with the Senate race. Incumbent John Cornyn isn’t especially popular but Texas is still a Republican state and it’s hard to imagine a Democrat beating him-- unless it’s the right Democrat rat with the right strategy and execution… and a nice healthy Democratic wave. Cristina Ramirez might be just the right person to do that. She’s easily the best of the 11 confirmed candidates. How does this sound? “The best way to get people motivated and excited to actually participate in our democracy is by talking about policies that will actually change their lives. I know that because I’ve been fighting for working people in Texas for over a decade. When I was 24, I founded the Workers Defense Project, a labor organization that represents workers, not an easy task in a right to work state like Texas. But even so, I went up against big bosses of the construction industry, and local city councils to advocate for and secure victories for working people. During my tenure, Workers Defense Project recovered almost $1 million in wages stolen from workers, secured paid rest breaks for construction workers and got wage increases for public school teachers. John Cornyn doesn’t represent working people. He’s voted against minimum wage increases, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and sided with pharmaceutical companies instead of helping to lower prescription drug costs. I, on the other hand, know that it’s not too much to ask, that in the richest country in the world, everyone’s healthcare is covered through a Medicare for All system. I know that a Green New Deal would create millions of jobs while combating climate change.”

OK, now let’s go down all 36 congressional districts, move of which are not yet seriously contestable.

• TX-01- Solid red- Louie Gohmert (PVI is R+25)
• TX-02- Leans red- Dan Crenshaw (R+11)
• TX-03- Likely red- Van Taylor (R+13)
• TX-04- Solid red- John Ratcliffe (R+28)
• TX-05- Solid red- Lance Gooden (R+16)
• TX-06- Leans red- Ron Wright (R+9)
• TX-07- leans slightly blue- Lizzy Fletcher (R+7)- worthless New Dem who has done nothing to deserve reelection and will be in mortal danger in 2022
• TX-08- Solid red- Kevin Brady (R+28)
• TX-09- Solid blue- Al Green (D+29)
• TX-10- Swinging blue- Michael McCaul (R+9)- If Democrats choose Mike Siegel, this is a likely flip; neither of the other two candidates is electable but the DCCC (and EMILY’s List) don’t care if they win the seat. They just want to keep it away from a progressive.
• TX-11- Solid red- Michael Conaway- retiring (R+32)
• TX-12- Solid red- Kay Granger (R+18)
• TX-13- Solid red- Mac Thornberry- retiring (R+33)
• TX-14- Leans red- Randy Weber is- retiring (+12)
• TX-15- Solid blue- Vicente Gonzalez (D+7)
• TX-16- Solid blue- Veronica Escobar (D+17)
• TX-17- Leans red- Bill Flores- retiring (R+12)- local GOP is a mess and fatally flawed crooked Republican Pete Sessions could be vulnerable if he wins the GOP primary
• TX-18- Solid blue- Sheila Jackson Lee (D+27)- she could be in danger in the primary
• TX-19- Solid red- Jodey Arrington (R+27)
• TX-20- Solid blue- Joaquin Castro (D+10)
• TX-21- Toss Up- Chip Roy (R+10)- Wendy Davis could beat Roy if the wave is big enough
• TX-22- Leans red- Pete Olson- retiring (R+10)- very flawed Democratic primary frontrunner
• TX-23- Likely to flip blue- Will Hurd retiring (D+1)- If Gina Jones loses again, perhaps the Democrats will run a Latino in 2022 and win the heavily Hispanic district
• TX-24- Leans slightly red- Kenny Marchant- retiring (R+9)- clusterfuck Democratic primary but Candace Valenzuela looks like the best candidate to flip the seat blue
• TX-25- Leans red- Roger Williams (R+11)- 2 very strong
progressives in the primary
• TX-26- Solid red- Michael Burgess (R+18)
• TX-27- Likley red- Michael Cloud (R+13)
• TX-28- Solid blue- Henry Cellar (R+9)— Cuellar in jeopardy in the primary with strong challenge from Jessica Cisneros
• TX-29- Solid blue- Sylvia Garcia (D+19)
• TX-30- Solid blue- Eddie Bernice Johnson (D+29)
• TX-31- Leans slightly red- John Carter (R+10)- another clusterfuck of a Democratic primary
• TX-32- Leans slightly blue- Collin Allred (R+5)- another worthless New Dem who has done nothing to deserve reelection and will be in mortal danger in 2022
• TX-33- Solid blue- Marc Veasey (D+23)
• TX-34- Solid blue- Filemon Vela (D+10)
• TX-35- Solid blue- Lloyd Doggett (D+15)
• TX-36- Solid red- Brian Babin (R+26)

OK, so aside from the $1,000 on Christmas she gave you to enjoy, granny gave you another $1,000 to help turn Texas more progressive. What to do? What to do? Glad you asked. I would give $250 to Cristina Ramirez’s Senate campaign, $250 to Mike Siegel’s TX-10 campaign, $100 to Candace Valenzuela, $100 to Jessica Cisneros, and $100 to each of the TX-25 candidates, Heidi Sloan and Julie Oliver and maybe light a candle for Wendy Davis, who is absolutely raking in the money and and doesn’t need yours as much as the other candidates. She’s taken in $939,038 already and is sure to get tons from EMILY’s List and the DCCC. Conveniently, that Turning Texas Blue ActBlue thermometer on the right is nice and handly-- whether you have $1,000 to contribute or just $10.

Both The Public And The House Want Marrijuana Legalization— But Moscow Mitch Has Prohibited It

Mitch McConnell, with apprarent support from most Republicans, shut down bipartisan marijuana normalization bills this year. Several pieces of legislation passed the House as part of the must-pass spending bills. The most important of the riders would have allowed legal marijuana businesses to access banking services in the 10 states (11 next year when Illinois’ legalization law goes into effect) where marijuana is fully legal, allowing them to operate as normal businesses. Moscow Mitch found that unacceptable and won’t even permit a Senate debate.

Another crucial law McConnell-- who does nothing without the OK from Trump-- quashed an attempt to prevent federal law enforcement stopping states where marijuana is legal to implement their one laws authorizing distribution, cultivation and even possession.

McConnell, an elderly, sick and untreated closet queen, has decided on his own standard: medical marijuana is OK but recreational is not-- regardless of what voters in the states say. States rights? Not in the purview of MoscowMitch. One of the bills McConnell killed is targeted towards making life better for veterans, a group he has long detested-- ever since he was caught fondling a private’s privates and kicked out of the army.

A bill introduced in the Senate by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) was silently sidelined by McConnell and a bill by Ed Perlmutter passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, only to run into the Grim Reaper, as McConnell styles himself.

McConnell may run into problems in his own state when, already dramatically unpopular among Kentucky voters, he seeks reelection in November.

An eastern Kentucky lawmaker has proposed a bill to legalize the recreational use of marijuana and dedicate tax revenues from the industry to the state’s cash-strapped pension systems.

The proposal is a long-shot in the Republican-dominated Kentucky legislature, but Democratic Rep. Cluster Howard of Jackson says that citizens are more receptive to marijuana than they have been in the past.

“I think that a lot of people make this a moral issue. To me, we know as a society that times have changed. People are more apt to accept legalization of the product,” Howard said.

The bill would allow the state to regulate marijuana growers, processors, testers and retailers. It would also decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and expunge the criminal records of those with marijuana-related misdemeanors.

Howard predicted the bill could bring in more than $200 million per year in tax revenue. The bill would dedicate revenues to the state’s struggling pension systems, which are short about $37 billion.

So far, 11 states have legalized marijuana use for adults over age 21 and 33 states have legalized it for medical use.

Howard said he doubts the bill will get a hearing in the Republican-dominated legislature, but encouraged citizens to call their lawmakers about the issue.

“I think it depends on how much people actually call their reps and their senators and insist that it be heard. I do think that the chance of the bill being heard is much greater this session than it was last session,” Howard said.

Newly-inaugurated Gov. Andy Beshear has signaled support for medical marijuana but says he doesn’t favor recreational use.

A medical marijuana bill passed out of a Kentucky legislative committee earlier this year, but never received a vote in the house. The bill would have not allowed patients to smoke marijuana.

Adult marijuana use will be legal in Kentucky’s northwestern neighbor Illinois starting on Jan 1, 2020. Officials there predict it will bring in about $375 million a year in tax revenue and create a path to clear 700,000 low-level marijuana convictions.

This is a losing battle for Republicans-- and it is sure to have electoral ramifications far beyond Kentucky. There are a lot of Democrats running for the two Georgia Senate seats. Teresa Tomlinson is there progressive one taking on Trump/McConnell lickspittle David Perdue. She has a far more enlightened approach to marijuana than Perdue. “Marijuana is now legal at some level in 33 states,” she said. “In Georgia, 77% of those polled support medical marijuana and 50% support recreational marijuana. Accordingly, it is time we address at the federal level the decriminalization, legalization, and regulation of marijuana as a medicinal and recreational substance. Our state and federal laws should not be in conflict. We are informed by a post-Prohibition legislative model of states and the federal government working together. For instance, we can provide federal market guidance to prevent abuses, ensure regulated access to the market for all adults and alleviate the impact of harsh and racially disparate criminal sentences for minor marijuana offenses.”

Cristina Ramirez has a very different perspective on this than drug warrior John Cornyn, the incumbent Texas senator, she’s running to replace. “Mitch McConnell,” she told us today, “won’t permit a debate on marijuana issues because he knows that public opinion favors the legalization of marijuana. The only thing that the criminalization of marijuana has done is create the largest prison population in the world, composed disproportionately of black and brown people. We must stand up to the for-profit prison system that makes millions of keeping Americans imprisoned and end the failed Drug War by legalizing marijuana and expunging the records of those who were locked up for low-level drug offenses.”

Organizing To Flip Texas-- A Guest Post By Progressive Senate Candidate Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez

Beto did well in Texas last year-- but not well enough to beat Ted Cruz. Almost... but almost didn't do it. Today Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez is building on some of the foundations his campaign put in place. There are close to a dozen Democrats who want the Texas senatorial nomination. Many of them are the same old centrist hacks who always know just how to lose statewide races; one sure loser was already endorsed by Schumer and the DSCC. Cristina has been endorsed by the Working Families Party and she's running to unseat someone even less popular than Cruz, John Cornyn, Moscow Mitch's No. 2.

Texas is the ultimate 2020 battleground state; it's been a Republican stronghold not because it is full of conservatives, but because of rampant voter suppression and a lack of attention to a younger, progressive generation of potential voters. "In Texas," Cristina told me, "there’s not a left choir to preach to, only a bunch of nonbelievers to convert, and I know that the best way to get people motivated and excited to actually participate in our democracy is by talking about policies that will actually change their lives. I know that because I’ve been fighting for working people in Texas for over a decade. When I was 24, I founded the Workers Defense Project, a labor organization that represents workers, not an easy task in a right to work state like Texas. But even so, I went up against big bosses of the construction industry, and local city councils to advocate for and secure victories for working people. During my tenure, Workers Defense Project recovered almost $1 million in wages stolen from workers, secured paid rest breaks for construction workers and got wage increases for public school teachers. John Cornyn doesn’t represent working people. He’s voted against minimum wage increases, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and sided with pharmaceutical companies instead of helping to lower prescription drug costs. I, on the other hand, know that it’s not too much to ask, that in the richest country in the world, everyone’s healthcare is covered through a Medicare for All system. I know that a Green New Deal would create millions of jobs while combating climate change."

Demanding Dignity for Working People
-by Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez

When I first started organizing, it was for people like Francisco.

Francisco is a primarily-Spanish speaking immigrant worker, who like many in Texas worked as a construction worker, working hard building our homes, schools, and workplaces with his blood and sweat. When I met him, his daughter was a small child, and his young family depended on him and his work to pay their mortgage, groceries, and other bills.

Francisco came to me at the Workers Defense Project, an organization I founded when I was just 24 to advocate for workers, because he had recently worked for someone, remodeling a house for over two weeks - and had not gotten paid. His employer had canceled his check, which he only realized when he got to the bank, ready to cash in his hard-earned dollars for his family’s needs.

At first, he thought it was an honest mistake, either on behalf of the bank or on behalf of the employer, and it was only after talking to other workers that he realized that the employer did this regularly and he did it on purpose.

He was stealing their wages. I was outraged when I learned Francisco’s story and realized what was happening. One of my driving forces is that when things are unjust or unfair, I get angry - and I get to work. Many of the people Francisco had talked to were unwilling to speak publicly about the employer for fear of retribution. Many of them were low-income and many of them were undocumented. But I wanted to right this wrong, and so I kept talking to workers and persuaded them to come on board. Because I knew there was power in organizing, power in workers, power in people.

Eventually, we built up a case against the employer, who had stolen wages from countless workers. He got arrested for theft of services, and more importantly, we were able to get workers like Francisco the money that they needed to support their families.

We won that battle, but we are still losing the war. Because this isn’t just about one lost paycheck, it is about demanding dignity for all working people. That employer felt that he could get away with not paying Francisco because he saw him as replaceable. Employers everywhere force workers to take a minimum wage that isn’t a living wage, they force workers to go without sick days, or call them “contractors” to avoid paying for health insurance.

In order to demand dignity for all working people, we need to fix the imbalance of power. As one of my friends and mentors, Jim Hightower, has said: “politics isn’t about left versus right; it’s about top versus bottom.” And I’m ready to take on those at the top. Because while I was making $43,000 a year representing construction workers like Francisco, my opponent John Cornyn was taking in millions from the construction industry.

We need officials who aren’t beholden to corporate donors, and instead are used to representing and fighting for people. I have stood side by side with workers. I’m not going to ask for the minimum, I’m going to advocate for full dignity for everyone.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask that in this country, everyone can go to the doctor if they are sick-- not just if they are sick and able to pay. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that every job provide a living wage. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we address the climate crisis and invest in the green economy.

People told me that it wouldn’t be possible to recover Francisco’s paycheck. That there would be no way to prove wrongdoing, that no one would care about Latino construction workers. But we built up a grassroots army and we won. I am confident that we can win the bigger political battle against injustice the same way, bringing together working people who are going to demand dignity for all.

Most Americans Want Drug Prices Lowered-- But The Republicans Just Will Not Permit It

Bernie has been advocating cutting prescription drug prices in half for decades. His Medicare-for-All proposal would do that. Ge wrote in his plan that "to lower the prices of prescription drugs now, we need to:

• Allow Medicare to negotiate with the big drug companies to lower prescription drug prices with the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act.
• Allow patients, pharmacists, and wholesalers to buy low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other industrialized countries with the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act.
• Cut prescription drug prices in half, with the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, by pegging prices to the median drug price in five major countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.

Earlier this year, Bernie (+ Ro Khanna in the House) introduced the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act> Bernie: "The United States pays, by far, the highest drug prices in the world for one reason: we let drug companies get away with murder. In 2017, the pharmaceutical industry made more than twice as much money in the U.S.-- $453 billion-- than in all European countries combined. The top five drug companies alone made over $50 billion, while the top five American pharmaceutical CEOs made more than $113 million in compensation. This legislation would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make sure that Americans don’t pay more for prescription drugs than the median price of the following five countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. If pharmaceutical manufacturers refuse to lower drug prices down to the median price of these five countries, the federal government would be required to approve cheaper generic versions of those drugs, regardless of any patents or market exclusivities that are in place. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, if this legislation were to become law, the prices of most brand name drugs would be cut in half. For example, under this bill:

• Premarin, for menopause, which currently costs about $165 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $83.

• Januvia, for diabetes, which currently costs about $436 for 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $218.

• Advair Diskus, for asthma and COPD, which currently costs about $390 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $195.

• Xarelto, for blood clots, which currently costs about $432 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $216.

• Lantus, which is insulin for diabetes and currently costs about $387 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $194.

• Humira, for arthritis, which currently costs about $2,770 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $1,385.

• Enbrel, for arthritis, which currently costs about $4,941 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $2,471.

• Ventolin, for asthma, which currently costs about $60 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $30.

• Xtandi, for cancer, which currently costs about $101 for a 30-day supply in the U.S., could cost $51. 


Bernie added that "Although President Trump recently proposed gradually lowering the prices of certain drugs covered by Medicare Part B to international price levels, his proposal does not help the over 150 million Americans who get private health insurance from their employer, many of whom struggle with high deductibles and copayments, or the more than 30 million Americans who are uninsured and must pay the full cash price of their prescription drugs at the pharmacy. Today, a full 80 percent of Americans say that drug prices are unreasonable and just nine percent think that drug companies put patients over profits. The pharmaceutical industry will continue to rip off American patients as long as it can. The Prescription Drug Price Relief Act puts an end to this highway robbery, and will help save lives and reduce premiums by lowering drug prices."

On Wednesday, the Trump Regime proposed a rule-- the "Safe Import Action Plan"-- that will allow states to import medicine from Canada. Trump and his Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, say this will lower the cost of drugs. But will it actually lower the cost of drugs?

Jim Greenwood, current head of biotech industry group BIO and a former Republican congressman, said that importation would not result in lower prices for consumers, citing nonpartisan budget experts and past FDA commissioners.

“Today’s announcement is the latest empty gesture from our elected lawmakers who want us to believe they’re serious about lowering patients’ prescription drug costs,” Greenwood said.

The Canadian government has also criticized the plan. The country’s ambassador said last month that importing medicines from Canada would not significantly lower U.S. prices. Reuters previously reported that Canada had warned U.S. officials it would oppose any import plan that might threaten the Canadian drug supply or raise costs for Canadians.

Drugs approved to be imported from Canada would exclude many prescribed drugs, such as biologic drugs, including insulin, controlled substances and intravenous drugs.

Trump, a Republican, has struggled to deliver on a pledge to lower drug prices before the November 2020 election. Healthcare costs are expected to be a major focus of the campaign by Trump and Democratic rivals vying to run against him.

The Trump administration in July scrapped an ambitious policy that would have required health insurers to pass billions of dollars in rebates they receive from drugmakers to Medicare patients.

Also in July, a federal judge struck down a Trump administration rule that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to include the wholesale prices of their drugs in television advertising.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are putting forth drug pricing bills that contain some of the proposals Trump has advocated, such as indexing public drug reimbursements to foreign drug costs.

But Trump has said he will veto the Democrat-led House bill if it comes to his desk on the grounds that it would slow down innovation.

And, so far, McConnell has refused to allow any bills to actually lower the cost of drugs to even come to the floor of the Senate for a debate. McConnell has even refused to allow a modest bill written by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and approved by the Senate Finance Committee, on which Grassley is the chair.

I asked some of the progressive Democrats for their own perspectives on how best to lower the cost of medicine. Cristina Ramirez, the most-- and only viable-- progressive in the Democratic primary to win the nomination in Texas to face anti-healthcare fanatic John Cornyn, was the first to reply. "I know," she said, "that the high cost of prescription drugs are hurting American families-- particularly ones with chronic illnesses, like my own mother, who has diabetes and has had to split her pills because they are so expensive. John Cornyn has repeatedly said that he wants to address the cost of prescription drugs, yet when he has introduced legislation, he has always been willing to change it if the drug industry, which has given him over $900,000 in campaign contributions, asks him to. I will listen to the people, not drug companies, when it comes to lowering prescription drug costs. I will advocate for a Medicare-for-All system that lets people who are sick go to the doctor and get the medicine they need without having to worry about the cost, and I will make sure the government holds Pharma companies accountable to lower drug prices overall in the long term."

Betsy Sweet is the progressive taking on Maine's Susan Collins. "First," she said, "I stand with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna and will fight for Medicare For All and the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act because these are our best hope at delivering quality health care to all Americans. Second, we have to look more closely at intellectual property law, right now, the government has provided over 1 trillion dollars to the research and development of life-saving medicines, yet allow private industries to control the intellectual property and reap record profits. We need to reevaluate this system to ensure that everyone benefits from the research we fund collectively. Third, we need to get big money out of politics to stop big pharma from legally bribing politicians to rig the rules in their favor."