No, Tulsi Is NOT Going To Run As A Third-Party Candidate For President

One of Tulsi's colleagues in Congress-- asked me for anonymity inorder to share some thoughts with me about her for DWT. I didn't ask her about Tulsi. She just brought her up on her own after she announced last week that she isn't running for reelection. Below are parts of the conversation that don't give away her identity.

She asked me to read this Igor Derysh piece at Salon about the foolish speculation that Tulsi may run as a third-party candidate. Last month I told you that Tulsi wasn't going to run for her House seat and that she's running for governor of Hawaii in 2022. People though I made it up; I didn't. And I can yell you as categorically that anyone talking about her running as a third party candidate is talking out of their ass. She isn't going to. Not under any circumstance. She wants to be president-- and is sure she will be-- and knows running as a third party candidate will give her as much a chance as ever becoming president as Jill Stein has. Being governor, on the other hand, would help.

My friend the congresswoman said that she thinks that "what’s happening is that she realizes that she can always run for Governor or Senator after this, but not if she’s defeated for her House seat. It’s also possible, however, that being the undercard at all of those Sanders rallies three years ago just went to her head, and she really thinks that she ought to be President."

No, she didn't need that. She was raised inside a bizarre cult by people who drilled it into her head that she would be president. Ever step she makes, every breath she takes is in furtherance of that inevitability.

"I don’t think that that’s going to work well for her," my friend replied. "She’s not Japanese or Filipino. Being a female combat veteran can get you elected to Congress, because no one really cares who represents them in Congress (and most people can’t even name their Member of Congress). But there are a huge number of special interests who care greatly who is Governor, especially in Hawaii (where the state government pretty much runs the state). Those special interests are going to back a compliant Japanese or Filipino candidate, to take advantage of the identity politics."

We had some back and forth about Hawaiian politics at that point and then she continued: "At some point, someone will check and see how many times she actually went back to Hawaii from DC during her terms in Congress. And someone else, someone besides you, will write about her and Michael Grimm. And someone else will write about her ties to Hindu extremist groups woven into her fundraising network. I actually think that she has come close to being what the country needs: a public critic of the military-industrial complex and endless military intervention. We spend billions of dollars bombing the crap out of people in countries that our idiot President couldn’t find on a globe, even if all the country names were on it, since he can’t read. But her level of self-absorption is so high that when she actually makes some useful point in that regard, it’s as though she’s emerging from a dream state."

I spoke with a friend of mine who's in the state legislature in Honolulu and follows Tulsi closely-- and warily. He agrees that the whole craziness last week isn't going to help her political ambitions. "Tulsi is in a no-win situation," he told me this morning. "If she stays in Congress, she'll continue to face withering criticism of her missed votes and lack of attention to her district from Kai Kahele, who had a real chance to defeat her in the primary. By giving up her seat, she blunts those attacks, but makes it much harder to get back into office by, for example, running for governor in 2022. Hawaii requires 70 percent of donations to a state candidate to come from in state, which means she'd no longer be able to rely primarily on her mainland Hindu nationalist donor base. Being out of office means the establishment support will dwindle. Last but not least, there are many well-known candidates already running, including Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, former State Senator Jill Tokuda, and potentially state Senator Kai Kahele, even if he wins the 2020 congressional race. Tulsi would be far from the favorite in the 2022 gubernatorial race."

Tulsi Isn't Going To Be President-- The QuestionIs Whether She Can Be Re-elected To Congress At This Point

Tulsi never seems to have any problems with genocidal fascists

Tulsi Gabbard's presidential campaign is going badly. Did anyone ever expect it to do better? She's a polarizing figure and I always guessed she was running for a cabinet or sub-cabinet position anyone. Her RealClearPolitics national polling average is 1.0. The new YouGov poll from The Economist. Brought more bad news when it was released yesterday. Only 5% of Democrats have a very favorable opinion of her. 23% of Democrats have a somewhat favorable opinion. 28% have an unfavorable opinion and 44% have either never heard of her or don't have enough information to make an assessment. That number goes up even higher among independents. Among Democrats and independents who say they plan to participate in the Democratic primary, only 5% say they would even consider voting for her. And when asked who they would vote for if the primary was today, her number is just 2%.

Could the news get any worse? Oh, yes. None of her colleagues have endorsed her-- no one from Congress and no one from Hawaii, other than her crackpot right-wing, bigoted father. Texas Republican Ron Paul endorsed her, which is a little tricky to use in a Democratic Party primary campaign, and so did filmmaker Oliver Stone and some guy from Russia's Sputnik News. But all that's good news compared to the PPP survey last week of her own congressional district, HI-02, the whole state outside of Honolulu and southern Oahu. Not only do most of her constituents think she should drop out of the presidential race, 50% of Democratic primary voters in the district say they would prefer to vote for someone else, compared to just 38% who say they want to back Tulsi.

Dean Debnam, President of PPP noted that "Hawaii has open primaries and given the hopelessness for Republicans of electing their own candidates to most posts in the state, a lot of conservative leaning voters participate in the Democratic primary because it's their best chance to influence who their elected officials will be. Trump voters are one segment of the Democratic primary electorate that Gabbard is leading-- she gets 26% with them to 15% for Joe Biden with nobody else in double digits." Because she stumbled into backing Bernie in 2016-- part of her war with Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- many progressives on the mainland have always assumed she was a progressive, something Hawaiians find humorous and ignorant. Mainland progressives have started waking up a little as the presidential campaign brought her into clearer focus. The video in this tweet from Monday was enlightening for many since it was clear she was denouncing the impeachment inquiry with Republican Party talking points:

My concern all along has been that impeachment has been something that has been used as a partisan talking point to undo the results of the 2016 election... I think that there certainly have been a lot of voices who've been looking for a reason to impeach Trump because they did not want to impeach the outcome of the 2016 election..."

Who talks that way? Fox News? The Freedom Caucus? The NRC? Trump and Giuliani? Her father?

Right now Elizabeth Warren is leading the presidential contest in Tulsi's district:

Elizabeth Warren- 25%
Status Quo Joe- 22%
Bernie- 13%
Tulsi- 13%
Mayo Pete- 5%
Andrew Yang- 5%
Kamala- 3%
Beto- 1%
Cory Booker-1%

Tulsi's rival for the congressional seat, state Senator Kai Kahele, was in L.A. for meetings yesterday and he popped by for a chat. I asked him a few questions about the issues he's campaigning on. Most of them are also on his official campaign website. Medicare-for-All, for example... he said he's all in and his website? Read it yourself:

Same with the Green New Deal. All in when he sat in my office talking with me about it and all in on his website:

I asked him about gun control. He said he would co-sponsor David Cicilline's sales ban on assault weapons "in a heartbeat." Affordable housing is one of the biggest issues in Hawaii and he starts the conversation by recognizing that "housing is a basic human right." And when I asked him if he backs a $15.00 minimum wage his only hesitation was that he thinks it should be $20/hour.

Aloha! A Guest Post From State Senator Kai Kahele, Who Has Announced For Tulsi's House Seat

Lee Cataluna, one of Hawaii's top political commentator's penned a column for the Star Advertiser Wednesday: Political Winds Of Change Are Felt, covering the announcement that state Sen. Kai Kahele will be challenging Tulsi Gabbard's reelection in a 2020 primary. "It might seem," wrote Cataluna, "like he timed the launch of his congressional campaign to take advantage of the political winds that suddenly made incumbent Tulsi Gabbard seem vulnerable. As soon as Gabbard announced her run for president, all the dirt from her years of virulent anti-gay activism and lack of focus on the district and the people she represents rose up again."

It might look like Kahele saw the opening and swooped in to target the seat Gabbard doesn’t seem to want anymore (though she can simultaneously run for re-election while trying for the nomination for president).

But Kahele said he’d been thinking about it for a while.

At the Mooheau Bandstand two months ago, during the Democratic Party Grand Rally in Hilo, Kahele gave a speech that in hindsight sure sounded like he was aiming for higher office.

He talked of universal preschool, debt-free college, health care for all and immigration reform, lamenting the treatment of immigrants at America’s southern border.

“I want to know what happened to the message ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.’ What happened to that message? There is something profoundly wrong in American today. We are better than this,” he said.

Kahele makes a compelling candidate. He has more years in military combat than Gabbard. He has a real job-- Hawaiian Airlines pilot-- which makes his political aspirations seem more like a call to service than a hunger for power and status or a way to pay his bills. He speaks Hawaiian and set a goal together with his wife and children to be fluent in five years. He was on the winning UH men’s volleyball team in the 1990s, a bit of Hawaii cred that goes a long way with a lot of folks. His father, the late Sen. Gil Kahele, was a beloved leader who spent his life in public service. While Gabbard threw her father and his bigoted beliefs under the bus last week, Kahele’s father was a champion of same-­sex marriage rights.

The night of his speech in November, Kahele had child-care duty while his wife, Maria, a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines, was off island. His two youngest daughters, ‘Iolana, 4, and Namaka, 2, came on stage with him. They tucked themselves into the base of the podium at their father’s legs and listened quietly as he spoke. A photo of that moment made the rounds on social media, the image of a modern political candidate balancing work and family.

Gabbard cruised to re-election this year without spending much time at home or deigning to debate her opponent. If she wants to keep her seat in Congress while she runs for president, she’s in for a rougher ride in 2020. She’s going to have to do more than give scripted interviews to CNN. She’s going to have to actually fly home and talk to real people and answer real questions and prove that she wants to represent the district, not just keep it as a fallback in case the presidential thing doesn’t pan out.

I spoke with Kai on the phone this week, about Medicare for All, about the Green New Deal, about why he feels he will make a better representative for the 2nd district (basically, all of Hawaii outside of Honolulu) than Tulsi Gabbard. I invited him to introduce himself with a guest post. If you want to follow him on twitter, you can do that here and in you'd like contribute to his campaign, you can do that on his ActBlue page. There is no Ed Case-type conservative in this race, at least not so far. This is shaping up to be a primary battle between two Democrats who are likely to vote identically on all domestic progressive issues. It also promises to be a very contentious and personal race that will be fascinating to follow as Americans are being asked to overlook Tulsi's conservative past and consider voting for her for president.


Aloha!
by Sen. Kai Kahele

I am truly honored to be able to post my first blog for Down with Tyranny! For those reading this and wondering, "who is this guy?" Let me tell you a little about myself.

My name is Kai Kahele. I am currently the Hawaiʻi State Senator representing the district of Hilo on the island of Hawaiʻi (commonly known as the Big Island). I am not a career politician. I am a combat veteran who flew in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I currently work as a commercial pilot for Hawaiian Airlines (simultaneously to serving in the Senate and the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard). I previously served as Executive Director for a small nonprofit. I have an extraordinary wife, Maria, who is a flight attendant. We have three beautiful daughters.

I am running to represent Hawaiiʻs 2nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives in 2020.

As a father who has needed to juggle multiple jobs for years to make ends meet for my family, I personally understand the everyday struggles of families in America. Hard working people like those I currently represent deserve a livable wage. Parents should be able to be home with their children in the evenings, instead of running to second, or even third, jobs.

Health care is one of my highest priorities. I support Medicare for All. Hawai‘i has enjoyed near universal health care since 1974. The system works. All Americans should have access to affordable and quality health services. We should ensure that we have adequate services for expecting mothers, children, people of all abilities, and the aging. We should encourage programs that support active aging, so our parents and grandparents can enjoy active, healthful lives as long as possible. As a veteran, I know we need to do better by those who have sacrificed so much for this country. We need to expand VA services for military families.

I strongly support climate justice. We need more than just a plan to fight global warming, but programs that stop the disproportionate impacts of climate change in vulnerable communities. Therefore, I support the idea of a Green New Deal, where we are simultaneously stimulate our economy, while addressing social inequality.

As a strong union member (ALPA), I believe that the economic stimulus stemming from the Green New Deal must work thoughtfully and actively with our unions so that we are aggressively offering union members opportunities to build capacity and transition into new work sectors that honor their skills, years of service, and dedication to hard work.

My family has a proud legacy of supporting civil rights for all people. As a native Hawaiian, I strongly support the rights of indigenous peoples. As an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, I have never had any question as to my support of all people, of all gender identities, and sexual orientations. Universal human rights should never be in question in the United States.

I was so proud to kick off my campaign earlier this week surrounded by hundreds of friends, family and longtime supporters in my hometown. I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, not only here in Hawaiʻi, but from across our great Nation. I was also honored today when I found out that the Daily Kos endorsed my candidacy, their first endorsement of the 2020 election cycle. As they said in their announcement, "Kahele is a combat pilot with the Air National Guard whoʻs flown missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and now flies commercial jets for Hawaiian Airlines. Heʻs also a solid progressive who supports Medicare for all, a Green New Deal, and the Equality Act."

I look forward to engaging with you as we embark on this journey together. Please visit www.kaikahele.com to learn more about me or to sign up and keep in touch.

Mahalo!

Kai Kahele

A.L.O.H.A. Homes-- Guest Post By State Senator Stanley Chang (D-HI)

Stanley Chang is a progressive Democrat representing the 9th District in the Hawaii State Senate, which-- until he won his election, was the last Republican Senate district in Hawaii. Recently, he was named Chair of the Committee on Housing, which is tasked with finding solutions to Hawaii’s chronic housing shortage.

A recent poll from the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center lists housing as the number one issue for voters in the State of Hawaii. If you are from Hawaii, this wouldn’t surprise you. At least as long as I’ve been alive, the headlines and news coverage have lamented our island community’s lack of housing and the growing need for affordable units.

There are many reasons for the housing shortage. But they are not primarily technological, economic, or even legal. They are political. In the private sector, the mantra goes, “The customer is always right.” In government, the voter is always right. The political stalemate that exists today is because all of the existing proposals have gone against the interest of some important group of voters. I hear three main reasons why voters in Hawaii oppose new housing supply.

• “You’re blocking my view.”
• If the proposed project is near you and will potentially block your view, there is a high likelihood that you’ll never support it. Fortunately, even the most ambitious project would only block the views of a small fraction of the state.

• “No more growth.”
• Many Hawaii residents don’t want large amounts of new housing stock. In fact, they want the housing stock to go down, because they believe that Hawaii is already too crowded with too much traffic, too many tourists, and too many tall buildings. They believe Hawaii has already reached its “carrying capacity.” I wouldn’t be surprised if this were a majority of Hawaii voters, but I still think it’s a minority. When I ask them if they believe their children and grandchildren should be able to live here, they still say yes, and that implies acceptance of some level of population growth.

• “Wealthy investors from overseas.”
• The largest group-- and I believe a majority-- of Hawaii voters fear that any new homes will be snapped up by wealthy investors from overseas before local people are able to buy. Often, these investors will convert these units into vacation rentals, removing from the housing supply a unit that could otherwise house a local family. To address this concern, my housing plan is designed to ensure that newly built homes will be available only to local people.

Often in Hawaii, we look to mainland jurisdictions like California for ideas and precedents. The only problem is, places like Southern California and the Bay Area have even greater housing shortages than we do. Luckily, there are other places that have solved housing crises and today provide an abundance of affordable, high quality housing. By taking inspiration from successful existing models, we can craft a housing solution that will both 1) move the needle and 2) be politically realistic.

Two of the major success stories in affordable housing today are Vienna, Austria and Singapore. In Vienna, 62 percent of the population lives in public housing. In Singapore, 82 percent of the population lives in public housing. Interestingly, these two models are opposite in their approach. In Vienna, as in much of Europe and the United States, the public housing system is a high tax, high subsidy, rentership system. Singapore has a low tax, low-to-no subsidy, ownership model. Both are extremely successful and popular among their respective populations. A key element to the popularity of both systems is that they are available to a large majority of the population. In Hawaii, I believe Singapore’s unsubsidized, ownership for all model would be the most politically viable.

Let’s take a look at how it works in Singapore.

Central Provident Fund

It starts with the Central Provident Fund. Singapore requires all working citizens to save 37 percent of their pay (23 percent for housing, 8 percent for healthcare, 6 percent for retirement) into the Central Provident Fund (CPF). It’s a bit like our Medicare and Social Security, which are mandatory savings programs. The difference is, Medicare and Social Security go into a black hole and come back out of the black hole. In Singapore, the CPF is your money. You keep track of how much is in your own accounts, you have some flexibility in how to invest it, and you have flexibility in how to spend it.

Qualification

You’ve been working and saving into your CPF accounts. Once you pass certain milestones, you become eligible to buy public housing.

• Married and over 21 years old OR Single and over 35 years old
• Own no other real property
• Must be an owner-occupant
• Must be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident

Housing Development Board

In the meantime, the Housing and Development Board (HDB), Singapore’s public housing agency, has been building a ton of new housing. A ton. During the 1980s, at its height, HDB built 322,000 apartment units in 10 years, or over 10,000 units per year. Currently, they build about 20,000 units a year, which is actually more supply than they have demand for. By contrast, Hawaii’s housing demand is about 5,000 units per year, and we only build about 2,000-3,000 units per year, so our shortage grows by 2,000 every year.

A 969 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit, new construction, in Singapore will run about US$180,000. On top of that, the down payment is only 5 percent, not 20 percent, so you move in with $9,000. Most Singaporeans already have that much saved in their CPF account, and for over 90 percent of Singaporeans, the monthly mortgage payment is less than the mandatory 23 percent CPF housing savings. For most people, there’s nothing “out of pocket” to buy a home. That is how Singapore has been able to achieve 90 percent home ownership. In contrast, the US home ownership rate is 63 percent, and in Hawaii, the lowest state, it is only 57 percent.

A.L.O.H.A. Homes

In the coming legislative session, I will propose a bill to create a new public housing system that adopts many of the best practices from the Singapore and Vienna. The system will be called ALOHA, an acronym standing for Affordable, Locally Owned Homes for All.

Under the ALOHA plan, a state agency will redevelop existing state lands near stations of the forthcoming Honolulu rail line with very high density housing. For example, McKinley High School can be redeveloped with 20 towers and 10,000 housing units. These homes will be distributed under the ALOHA system:

• Affordable
• These homes will be affordable with a target cost of $300,000 for a 3 bedroom unit. Existing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs allow a down payment of only 3 percent for those making 100 percent of the area median income (AMI) or less, so residents can move in with just $9,000. Under current HUD guidelines, such a unit would be affordable to those at the 50-60 percent of AMI, or about $64,000 for a family of four. While that’s still a lot of money, we’re now within reach of school teachers, bartenders, or bus drivers--the middle class.

• Locally
• These units will only be available for Hawaii residents who will be owner-occupants and own no other real property at the time they buy them. These three conditions alone should eliminate all of the overseas investors. It’s true that one can become a Hawaii resident the moment you step off the plane. But given the planning and permitting process, even if the bill were to pass tomorrow, and people signed up for the waitlist tomorrow, it would probably take at least 5 years for the first units to open to the first buyers. That’s a de facto durational residency requirement. If someone moves here and lives here at least five years and disposes all their real property, I’d say that person is now a part of our community.

• Owned
• ALOHA homes will be for sale, not for rent. Buyers will receive a 99 year lease on the unit, which means they will not have to worry about having to move before the end of their natural lives. Like any other property interest, the lease can be passed down to one’s heirs. Although the property will revert to the state after 99 years, buyers will still be able to build their net worth. The biggest source of wealth-building in home ownership is not the price appreciation of the property-- which increases in value more slowly than the stock market--but the freedom from paying an ever-increasing amount of rent. And after 30 years, no more rent will be due, which means that one can spend or save a much larger proportion of one’s paycheck.

• Homes
• ALOHA homes will be true homes, not just empty boxes in the sky, or tiny homes, or warehouses for people. They will be large enough to raise a family, with two or more bedrooms. They will have a number of amenities, such as swimming pools, playgrounds, state of the art vertical schools, tennis courts, community gardens, and music practice rooms. A luxury developer might provide one pool for every 200 units. ALOHA homes would have one pool for every 2,000 units, for example, which brings the cost way down per unit. But with so many units using each of these amenities, there will be much more social integration through communal interaction. In addition, by using design competitions instead of awarding the designs to the lowest bidder, there will be a much more direct incentive by the planners and architects to compete on the basis of providing the best amenities for the same cost.

• All
• Last but not least, these homes will be for ALL. Remember the qualifications: Hawaii resident, owner-occupant, owns no other real property. That’s it. There will be no other requirements, such as a first-time home buyer requirement, or an income caps. Now, some people say our current public housing system is too socialist. Actually, that’s exactly the wrong perspective. In the US, public housing comprises only a low single digit percentage of the overall housing stock. Whatever the definition of socialism may be, giving benefits to three percent of the population is not socialism, it’s the opposite of socialism. Socialism is for all. Look at the three biggest pieces of the federal budget: Medicare, Social Security, and defense. What do they have in common? They’re for everybody, no means testing, no income caps. Even Donald Trump is eligible for Medicare and Social Security, and of course everyone is protected by our armed forces. That’s why these programs are wildly popular, and even Donald Trump has pledged never to cut Medicare, Social Security, and defense. If health care, retirement, and defense should be available to all, why not the basic need of housing?

I am hopeful that we’ve devised a plan that helps all the stakeholders in housing issues: environmentalists, neighboring residents, real estate developers, realtors, construction unions, and most importantly, the grassroots voters of Hawaii. It’s a narrow political path to satisfy all these groups while at the same time moving the needle on the housing shortage, but the ALOHA proposal is the only plan currently being discussed to do both those things.

Actually, the problems of growth are good problems to have. Problems of decline are much, much worse. In 1992, Japan had about 2.1 million 18 year olds. Today, Japan has only about 1.1 million. Japan and other countries must deal with the reality that their civilizations could simply cease to exist over time. They are facing a huge shortage of people even to care for their elderly.

In America, we assume population growth, which is fairly unusual in the developed world. What most people don’t know is that Hawaii has lost population for not one, but two straight years now. Every single day, 37 more people move away than move here. I believe the primary reason is the high cost of housing. I refuse to stand by idly as Hawaii dwindles to the very rich and the people who serve them. But without a dramatic change to our housing policy, that’s the legacy we’ll leave to our future generations. I was not elected to do nothing, but to at least address the biggest problems in our society, and the ALOHA homes plan is one way to do just that.

Join me in my fight to solve the housing crisis in Hawaii. Contact me directly at senchang@capitol.hawaii.gov or 808-586-8420. If you’re interested in learning more, you can watch my full presentation on YouTube here:



To access the presentations and materials from our housing conference, “How to Achieve 65,000 Housing Units by 2025,” or to express interest in our upcoming Singapore-Hong Kong delegation May 21-30, 2019, scan the below QR code or visit https://bit.ly/2zS7HAn.

New Series: The Worst Democraps Who Want To Be President-- Part I, Tulsi Gabbard

As I mentioned a few days ago, there are a shitload of really terrible candidates jumping into the quest for the Democratic nomination for president (and vice president). Today starts a new series to introduce you to the worst of them. Tulsi Gabbard may be the worst-- or maybe the 2nd worst of 5th worst-- but I only picked her to start with because someone today told me she would never run against Bernie, which caused me try to explain the role opportunism plays in the life of careerist politicians like Tulsi. So she was fresh in my mind. And also because she plans to raise millions of dollars online from Bernie supporters before anyone realizes she's a fraud.

Before a feud with Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the DNC exploded and brought her over to Bernie’s then-struggling campaign, few people outside of Hawaii had ever heard of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. But once she endorsed Bernie, she became an instant hero to his grassroots army of supporters. That grassroots army that was so quick to embrace her was largely unaware of a long record of political conservativism going all the way back to her days in the Hawaii legislature where, among other things, she led the fight against LGBTQ equality and as a crusader against anti-bullying efforts. (Yes, led, which is quite different from “voted badly once or twice.”) In fact, like her mother and father, she won office primarily on anti-gay campaign messaging.

Now that she’s about to declare a bid for the presidency— a ploy to get on a ticket as vice president— it’s important to take a closer look before her p.r. people re-define her. Few people know she first won a seat on the Honolulu City Council with the backing of the Hawaii Rifle Association, the local NRA affiliate. She was a conservative who shifted left to run against another— better-known— conservative. More than a conservative or a liberal, Gabbard is, above all else, an inauthentic opportunist. One week she’s a regular Fox guest bashing Democrats for not being xenophobic enough, dating Michael “Mikey Suits” Grimm and trying to get a job in the Trump Regime… and then she’s a Berniecrat. Now she’s organizing an L.A.-based presidential campaign for herself. Will her pals the Adelsons support her? Steve Bannon?

As I warned Bernie supporters 2 years ago, ProgressivePunch's algorithm grades Gabbard's voting record an "F," while giving Bernie’s voting record an "A" (and both Hawaii's senators also "A"). An "F" isn't a "B" or even a "C." You have to be really bad, really anti-progressive, to get an “F.” No one is more of a Putin booster and a Barack Obama detractor than Señor Trumpanzee. But Gabbard was ranking a close second. A few months early, while bizarrely invoking 9/11 as a basis for bombing Syrian civilians ("them," in her terminology), she praised Putin for his willingness to bomb and blasted Obama for his alleged unwillingness to do so. That's strange behavior for any Democrat. But it was working for her. Gabbard's willingness to attack Obama from the right on foreign policy has made her a darling of Fox News, which she proudly acknowledges.

In Hawaii, she earned a reputation among her former colleagues in the State Legislature as one of their most bigoted contemporaries. She defined her local career as an outspoken anti-gay and anti-reproductive rights politician. Volumes of official records from the Hawaii State Legislative Reference Bureau tell Tulsi’s story in her own words. Here, Tulsi, then Representative Tamayo, presents a floor speech against a measure supported by local hospitals that resolved to study the needs of LGBTQ students, who suffered the highest rates of suicide in the state:

In this same speech, Tulsi is also recorded as describing gay rights advocates as “homosexual extremists.” Tulsi is no grassroots phenom. She represents the state’s main conservative political dynasty, which successfully campaigned to ban same-sex marriage through constitutional amendment. Her father, Senator Mike Gabbard, led the anti-gay movement in the state and also founded Stand Up For America, a non- profit that promoted nationalism through “the concept of how we are one nation under God.”

Tulsi was also defined by her consistent opposition to basic rights for women. Here, Tulsi joins a Republican bloc to oppose emergency contraceptives for rape victims. This was one of several instances where she attempted to restrict reproductive rights for women on the grounds of religious freedom.

In 2016 she used her speech at the People’s Summit not to advance anything to do with a progressive agenda, but to advance any progressive cause, but to defend the murderous and tyrannical Assad regime. At the time, people started noticing that despite her willingness to chastise Obama, she was making it a point to avoid criticism of Trump. This is all she would say when pressed by the Honolulu Civil Beat: "The problem with Donald Trump is that no one really knows what Donald Trump stands for and what his polices will be if he’s elected. So, I’ll leave it at that."

Her gentle treatment of Trump, her attacks from the right on the Obama Administration and her admitted ambition for national prominence led some to wonder whether she was angling for a spot on the Republican ticket or a cabinet post in the Trump Administration. At the time, the Trump-Gabbard affinity was based on their shared Islamophobia. And a shared admiration for Steve Bannon. She joined with Republicans to vote against Syrian refugees. She was regularly using the resources of her congressional office to promote disdain for Muslims.



John Bickel, treasurer for Progressive PAC, a Hawaii state organization that endorses candidates on the left, doesn’t trust her and sees the gross opportunism shining through. “Tulsi Gabbard shows up in places and gets in front of the camera, spinning herself as a progressive-- but I’m not sure her record backs up what she’s created as a public persona. I am little skeptical about how deep her progressive roots run.”

Long before her sudden transformation into a Berniecrat, Gabbard called me to ask for a Blue America endorsement. She didn't really try to paint herself as a progressive and, other than sounding good on the environment, she came across as a garden variety careerist Democrat, not especially bad and not especially good. At the end of the interview, I asked her about the process by which she had come to change her position on LGBT equality. She immediately said she'd call back and then hung up abruptly and... never called back. And we never endorsed her.

Eye On The Ball This Week: 2 Special Elections, 5 State Primaries

As you know, Blue America raises money for progressives running for office, primarily for the House, but also for the Senate, for a handful of worthy incumbents, for governors, for state legislators who look like they will have careers beyond the state level, and, in one, case, for presidents. Oh, yeah... and for progressives who have won their primaries and have been subsequently abandoned by the DCCC. Keyword: progressives. However, this cycle, there is a special circumstance: the existential threat to our democracy, our country, our world posed by Trump. So this cycle while sticking to our rule of raising money just for progressives, we're also rooting for all candidates with a "D" next to his or her name running against a Trump enabler. Actually, there are 2 exceptions, where even holding our collective nose and closing our eyes won't work: Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)... but that's a separate story.

The point is: we need Democrats-- even imperfect (and very imperfect) Democrats-- to put a check on Trump. In primaries though, like the ones coming up this week in Michigan, Kansas, Hawaii, Washington and Missouri, its all progressive all the way. In the OH-12 special election, a conservative Democrat, Danny O'Connor, is pitted against a very conservative Republican backed by Trump. To our friends in northern Columbus and it's suburbs and in Dublin, Worthington, Westerville, Pataskala, Mansfield, Bellville, Etna, Newark, and Zanesville... on Tuesday vote for "Danny Boy," as the orange orangutan called O'Connor on Saturday night in Lewis Center. Whatever else it is, it's a vote that will help hold Trump accountable and help keep him from pushing the U.S. in an ever more fascist direction. That overrides everything else. As Trumpanzee said: "Get your friends, get your neighbors, and get your family." Here's the kleptocratic ape's brilliant and inciteful political critique of the OH-12 election Tuesday:

The PVI is R+7. Trump beat Hillary 53.2% to 41.9%. Obama only took 43.9% in 2012 and 44.8% in 2008. It's a solid red, solidly gerrymandered, district. If O'Connor wins tomorrow-- and support for him is surging as of this morning-- the NRCC will be begging Trump to stay out of non-Southern states from now until November 7. And this special election is all about Trump-- which is exactly what he wants, what he always wants. In fact, yesterday, on ABC's This Week John Kasich said the hapless GOP candidate told him that he didn't invite Trump to Saturday's Delaware County rally. Kasich said the Trump appearance may lose the race for Balderson because of "the chaos that seems to surround Donald Trump has unnerved a lot of people... Suburban women in particular here are the ones that are really turned off, it's really kind of shocking because this should be just a slam dunk and it's not."

Last week, DCCC West Coast regional vice chair Ted Lieu tried to lure Trump into doing some of his crazy rallies in California. "I would pay the permit fees for Donald Trump to come to California and do one of his toxic rallies," he told us. "Can't wait for him to explain how the GOP tax scam increases taxes on millions of Californians; the random Trump tariffs hurt Californian farmers: and the rollbacks to environmental laws hurt our air and water. Trump's presence in California would help all Democratic candidates." Aside from the Ohio special election, 4 states have primaries on Tuesday and Hawaii has its primary on Saturday. Let's go through the House races first.

Kansas has 4 congressional districts and there are 3 that have Democrats running. KS-01-- the entire western and most of the central part of the state-- is so godforsaken (R+24 PVI), that no Democrat is even running. In the other 3 districts there are 2 Bernie carts and a Blue Dog in contention. KS-04 (Wichita) seems to be on the way to nominate James Thompson, the Kansan Blue America has endorsed. An oddity of this race, for the Koch brothers seat Mike Pompeo left to join the Trump regime, is that incumbent Ron Estes' Republican primary opponent is also named Ron Estes (and he's a registered Democrat!).

There is also an excellent progressive running against Republican Kevin Yoder in KS-03 (Topeka, Lawrence, Atchison, Pittsburg), Brent Welder. It's the least red district in the state (PVI-- R+4). Brent has a bevy of standard variety Democrats to get through tomorrow before he can face Yoder. For KS-02 (Kansas City), the DCCC has heavily backed a right-of-center Blue Dog, former state House minority leader Paul Davis, for the open seat, and his has no primary opponent. There are 7 Republicans in the hunt. Davis has raised more than the 3 top Republicans in the race combined.

The big race statewide in Kansas is for governor. After Sam Brownback bankrupted the state and ran off to become Trump's so-called "Ambassador for International Religious Freedom," Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer, a relatively mainstream conservative became governor. Neo-fascist Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has his head planted up Trump's ass, is challenging him. Both Hannity and Trumpanzee, Jr have endorsed Kobach, of course.

In Michigan, there is also a big gubernatorial primary tomorrow. The status quo establishment pick is Gretchen Whitmer and the progressive in the race is Abdul El-Sayed (endorsed by Blue America). There's also a fake-progressive multimillionaire in the race, Shri Thanedar, who has helped fund Republicans. On the GOP side, Trump has endorsed a vile extremist, Attorney General Bill Schuette, against more mainstream conservative, Lt. Governor Brian Calley (who's being backed by outgoing Gov. Rick Snyder.

Michigan has 14 primaries (one of which-- in Detroit-- is a special election to replace John Conyers). The front runner is AAA progressive Rashida Tlaib (endorsed by Blue America). These are the primary candidates in Michigan, all progressives, we recommend voting for:

• MI-06: Matt Longjohn
• MI-09: Ellen Lipton
• MI-11: Haley Stevens
• MI-12: Rashida Tlaib

There's not much going on for progressives in Missouri,other than a long shot chance to replace corrupt Democrat Lacy Clay with progressive Cori Bush in St. Louis.

Washington state has 10 congressional seats-- 6 held by Democrats and 4 held by Republicans. With the exception of Pramila Jayapal in Seattle-- one of the best members of Congress-- the Democrats are all status quo conservative New Dems. The big news though is that 3 of the 4 Republicans are vulnerable in November. Imagine a Washington delegation with 9 Democrats and 1 Republican! One of the New Dems, Adam Smith (WA-09), is being primaried by progressive Sarah Smith. Now, what we all want is to see 3 Republicans replaced with 3 Democrats-- in WA-03, where Carolyn Long is poised to oust Jaime Herrera Beutler; in WA-05, where Lisa Brown (endorsed by Blue America) is poised to oust the 4th highest ranking Republican in the House, Cathy McMorris Rogers; and in WA-08... well, that's the complicated one, which will be solved tomorrow. Dave Reichert, the Republican incumbent in this district-- with an even PVI (and where Obama won both times and where Hillary beat Trumpanzee 47.7% to 44.7%)-- is retiring. A more conservative Republican, Dino Rossi, has his nomination locked. The 3 top Dems in the primary, Kim Schrier, Jason Rittereiser and Shannon Hader, are all decent progressives. The Democrats in the district, which stretches from Seattle and Tacoma's eastern outer suburbs-- 75% of the voters live in King and Pierce counties-- and then east past the Cascades as far as Wenatchee, Chelan and Ellensburg, will render their verdict tomorrow.

And then comes the one primary next Saturday, where there is a gubernatorial battle and a congressional race in Honolulu. The Honolulu primary pits one of the most progressive candidates anywhere in the country, Kaniela Ing (endorsed by Blue America) running against 4 conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. One, Beth Fukumoto was the actual minority leader of the House Republicans until recently, fighting every progressive bill Kaniela proposed. Now she claims to be a "Democrat." The other 3 are Ed Case, a former far right/Republican-lite Blue Dog member of Congress (the Kyrsten Sinema of his day and a cousin of AOL's Steve Case). He may be the worst in the race, but Donna Mercado King is a close runner-up-- a vicious anti-gay sociopath and a Republican in every way except for the "D" next to her name. Doug Chin is the corrupt corporate Attorney General who was appointed to his job and never won a race for anything and likely never win. We'll be talking more about this crucial race later in the week. Please consider contributing to Kaniela here, while considering why this poster-- and Alexandria's decision to travel to Hawaii next weekend-- is so important.

Kaniela Saito Ing-- Now THIS Is An Inspiring Campaign Video!

The day after Alexandria Ocasio's political earthquake-- her "unlikely" victory over a hack politician who had first been elected to office before she was born-- Chris Hayes had her on his MSNBC show for an interview. She made sure to endorse Kaniela Saito Ing on the program. A week later she dispatched one of her most trusted staffers to Honolulu to give Kaniela a hand with his campaign. The political establishment in Hawaii isn't enamored of the populist agenda that has powered boh Alexandria's of Kaniela's underdog races. In Kaniela's case the corporate media isn't even hiding it-- pushing out every bogus, twisted lie they can dig up against him in order to put doubt into the minds of voters. Why? Watch the video. It tells the whole story of what the establishment fears.

And now that he's going after developers-- the biggest part of the political donor establishment-- the war against him has ramped up to max in front of the August 11 primary. This is a note Kaniela sent to his supporters that has been driving the luxury developers over the top:

We were so sick and tired of “affordable housing” proposals ghost-written by luxury developers and corporate donors.

So, my campaign team consulted with economists and organizers to write a bold and visionary solution to the housing and homelessness crisis. I’m proud to introduce: Housing for all.

Housing for All is the Medicare for all of housing. Read the plan and and watch the Now This video explainer about our vision here.

Our generation is not set up to succeed like our parents were. The median cost for a single family home in Honolulu is now $795,000, which means residents need to make $200,000 a year to afford an average home in my district. And it’s not just Hawaii. For every 100 low-income families in America, there are just 35 affordable homes.

Our Housing for All proposal outlines three goals: build 10 million social houses over next 10 years; keep rent under control; and provide a home for every American.

The money is here. We have multi-million dollar condos popping up every few months. Scarcity does not occur naturally; it is a political choice. Luxury developers, their corporate tenants, and price-gouging landlords have been buying out our politicians for decades.

This is why our campaign refuses all corporate money and why we are building a movement. We are championing and creating bold ideas. We’re really excited to continue pushing the conversation forward and I welcome my colleagues and opponents to jump on the bandwagon.

We are now 18 days until the primary election.

Blue America invites you to help Kaniela bring his bold ideas like Housing for All to Congress by chipping in whatever you can afford at the 2018 congressional thermometer on the right. There is no candidate for Congress running this cycle who can make a bigger impact on Congress than Kaniela. He is the personification of the kind of real change and reform American voters always say they want. the mob of corrupt conservative candidates opposing him are the opposite.

Not Every Red District Is Susceptible To The Blue Wave-- But Blue Districts Are Susceptible To The Progressive Wave

After Blake Farenthold was forced out of Congress earlier in April for being a workplace perv, there was a vague hope Democrats could win his seat in a special election-- very vague. The DCCC gave the seat a thumbs down and refused to engage, especially after it was clear that the leading Democrat, Eric Holguin, is a progressive. The very gerrymandered district (TX-27) stretches along the Gulf from Corpus Christie and Port Aransas up through Victoria and Port Lavaca to Bay City and, incongruously, west through Shiner and Gonzales into the exurbs southeast of Austin. The PVI is R+13, very safely red, and Trump won the seat 60.1% to 36.5%.

In the 9-person jungle primary on Saturday, the winner was Michael Cloud, who was already primarying Farenthold when he resigned in disgrace.Saturday, Cloud won enough votes to avoid a runoff. He spent $326,449 compared to Holguin, who came in second, after spending $65,722. Virtually all the outside spending, around $700,000, was in support of Cloud. Neither the DCCC nor any other outside groups helped Holguin. All 3 Democrats combined didn't get to 40% Turnout was very low. Cloud, this time as an incumbent, will face Holguin again in November for a full two-year term. Every Beltway pundit rates TX-27 as "safe Republican."

Cloud has been endorsed by the far right-- Club for Growth and the Freedom Caucus, which he is expected to join. Like Holguin, Cloud came out against Trump's family separation policy. Holguin took a very strong stand against Trump's child abuse policies, making Cloud nervous. Holguin on election day: "The human rights violations that are occurring on our borders right now is reprehensible, inhumane, and against everything that we as Americans stand for today When our children and grandchildren look back on our history, they will be asking 'Why?' we terrorized children. Now is our opportunity to unite to speak out."

Holguin's issues page on his campaign website looks pretty progressive, especially for such a red district. He comes out for single-payer healthcare for example.

Eric is a real long shot for the November election. But he's been a long shot before. In the original March 6 primary, he just barely made it to the runoff with 23.31% of the vote, while the frontrunner, a perrenial candidate with plenty of name recognition, received 41.22%. Then came the May 22 runoff and Holguin went on to win with over 60% of the vote, putting him in position to become the first openly gay Latino congressman.

He's campaigning for the November general election already.

These long shot races are still long shots, "a venture," says the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "unlikely to succeed, an entry (as in a horse race) given little chance of winning, a bet in which the chances of winning are slight but the possible winnings great." When Alexandria asked for a Blue America endorsement I thought she was a long shot. In fact, I thought she had almost no chance to win. Blue America endorsed her because we hoped she would build up skill and name recognition and run again in 2020 and win then. We saw something special in her, worth investing in for the long game. She's a hard worker and a smart worker with a dedicated crew around her. We decided to do more than endorse her; we spent money in the campaign independently. There were only two outside groups that did-- the Sierra Club spent money-- albeit just a small symbolic amount-- on behalf of Crowley and the establishment they always suck up to. And Blue America put down our biggest investment of 2016 (so far) on behalf of the candidate we felt was working the hardest and earned our support... even if we didn't think she had a chance. Even as the votes started coming in on election night, the returns in her favor appeared to be to be errors that would soon be corrected by the Department of Elections. But that isn't what happened. The distance between her and Crowley continued to grow. I thought it was impossible and that maybe the early votes were from the Bronx where our I.E. had been concentrated and where she worked incredibly hard and where no one has ever heard of Crowley. But I was wrong again-- she was winning in Queens as well... by a lot. A long shot that paid off.

That pay off is giving hope to candidates and campaigns across the country. Pelosi tried to tamp it down, calling it a fluke and an outlier (while working her knuckles to the bone to sabotage Kara Eastman who won her primary in Omaha and who Pelosi's DCCC absolutely refuses to assist. NE-02 was a must-win district when Pelosi was backing disgusting Blue Dog Brad Ashford but as soon as progressive Kara Eastman won, the district vanished as a DCCC priority. Pelosi will be pleading with Democrats to unite for November but that's a one way street for the lousy corrupt establishment. We have to united around their crap candidates while they work to crush ours.

I saw another Democratic Socialist, Kaniela Saito Ing in Hawaii, renew his efforts after after Ocasio gave him a shout out on Chris Hayes' show the day after the election. The establishment candidates, a bunch of establishment conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, are ganging up against him, with the assistance of the establishment media. But Kaniela is flighting harder than ever now to win the crowded August 11 primary, which includes conservatives Ed Case, Doug Chin, Donna Mercado Kim and Beth Fukumoto. While the establishment freaks out at the thought of a Democratic Socialist representing Honolulu, Civil Beat featured him in an OpEd as The real progressive in the race. Before you read this, keep in mind that Hillary was endorsed by every single Democratic politician in Hawaii who endorsed at all except by two Kaniela and then Tulsi Gabbard. Bernie beat Hillary by a preposterous margin-- 69.8% to 30.0%. Hawaii was clearly ready for an alternative to the status quo the establishment was offering again. Last week:

For those inspired by Bernie Sanders’ mantra that we deserve better than career politicians who are bought and sold by corporations, we can now wrap our enthusiasm around Kaniela Ing, candidate for U.S. Congress-- the only real progressive in the race.

For so many of us, the Democratic Party’s charge to advocate for working families has been totally undermined by its refusal to directly challenge corporate power, enabling our current president to masquerade as a voice for working people.

Prior to and since that election, progressive candidates have risen up in record numbers offering a different kind of Democrat who will truly represent and look like America, by virtue of  gender, race, religion, profession, economic status-- and most importantly-- who represent people, not corporations.

We’re fortunate to have one such candidate running for Hawaii’s 1st District seat in Congress-- Kaniela Ing. When Kaniela, a Justice Democrat, and his fellow progressive legislators arrive in Congress, they will start on day one, united around an agenda focused on people, not profits, to enact policies that the majority of Americans support:

Ending the corruption of big money in politics, allowing everyone access to a Medicare-For-All single-payer system, providing free tuition for public colleges, creating a renewable energy revolution, enacting common sense gun legislation, fighting for women’s equality and our LGBTQ family, enacting comprehensive immigration reform, implementing a real infrastructure plan, and more.

Not all Democrats are the same. A Democrat who takes corporate money, who’s been a Republican just before they became a Democrat, who talks about being “for the people” but whose votes imply influence by special interests, are not in this fight for the benefit of Hawaii residents and the American people.

It’s only Kaniela who has demonstrated the political courage to turn his back on big corporate donors. It’s only Kaniela’s track record that is long and strong in fighting for working families. Kaniela is the only candidate who supported and aggressively championed marriage equality for Hawaii, while one of his opponents, who claims to be “revolutionary,” opposed marriage equality, and another opponent’s history includes homophobic rants.

Kaniela is a long shot worth gambling on. Blue America is-- and you can support his campaign by clicking on the 2018 congressional thermometer on the right. But, alas, not every candidate inspired by Bernie has an equal chance to win, nor is every one of them as smart and as hard a worker as Ocasio and Ing are. If deploying your limited resources wisely is a factor, it's probably better to concentrate them strategically. (If you have unlimited resources just go wild and write checks for every candidate endorsed by Blue America, Our Revolution, Justice Democrats, DFA, People For Bernie, PCCC, etc.)

I want to point to a low-key campaign in Washington state that I hadn't really looked into until this past weekend-- the primary in the 9th district, which is a heavily Democratic area in the southern and eastern Seattle Metro including Mercer Island, Kent, Bellevue and Renton. When Adam Smith, a conservative Democrat first won the seat in 1996, it was a more competitive district. Now the PVI is D+21. Hillary won 70.5% to 23.3% against Trump, even stronger than the 68% Obama got both times he ran. The district's minority make-up has grown tremendously and it is now just 50% white. A trajectory not unlike Crowley's 14th in New York, although not as developed... and Smith isn't as bad as Crowley. Bad not but as bad. There are a couple of Washington state Dems in Congress who are even worse than he is. Smith has a lousy voting record and ProgressivePunch rates him "F." He's a New Dem, a corporate tool and a stooge for the Military Industrial Complex. The district has outgrown him.

The only way to replace Smith is through a primary. No Republican is ever going to win that district. Adam Smith has raised $426,466 and Sarah Smith, his very progressive opponent, has raised $36,968. $37,000 isn't enough to let voters know who you are-- or even that you are. But there's still time. The local Fox channel (Q13) reputed on the race last week: Could progressive newcomer Sarah Smith upset 11-term incumbent in Washington primary?. She could like Ocasio:

Thirty-year-old Sarah Smith and a team of volunteers are hitting the pavement, knocking on door after door to spread the word: She's running for Congress and taking on 11-term Democratic incumbent Adam Smith in the primaries.

"I had to struggle to overcome this thought in my head of: I'm not from a political dynasty; I'm not supposed to go into politics; I'm working class; I haven't gone up the ladder; I haven't done it the right way; I haven't asked for permission," Sarah Smith said. "I had to really get out of that mindset because at the end of the day, we don't need to ask for permission to run to represent our neighbors."

Sarah Smith is a candidate under Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, the same slates that supported New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who just dealt a crushing defeat to 10-term Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley.

"I cried when she got elected. I'm a sucker," Sarah Smith said.

Both women are part of a push to elect progressives aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders. In a state that caucused strong for Sanders in 2016, Sarah Smith's platform is gaining ground.

"I am for single-payer medicare for all; I am for debt-free education; I am for abolishing (Immigration and Customs Enforcement); I am for investing in our infrastructure; and I am for getting us out of, what is it, nine to 11 different military occupations we're in?"

Her opponent is on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman Adam Smith has a long history in the 9th Congressional District. So who is Sarah Smith?

"I work full time," Sarah Smith said. "I manage a mechanic garage. I have student debt. I have a husband. I can't afford to have a kid. I'm every person in this district."

This political novice is putting the Democratic establishment on notice. The full-fledged progressive told Q13 News Correspondent Simone Del Rosario that compromise is a last resort.

"If you are elected to Congress you are not just representing the progressives in District 9, you will be representing everybody who lives in District 9. Are you prepared to do that?" Del Rosario asked.

"Absolutely I am," she replied. "I recognize that my platform is going to get me elected, so I want to commit to my platform as much as possible and as strongly as possible, because if I get elected it's because of my values and it's because of what I stand up for."

That's what she hopes to take to Congress.

Rep. Adam Smith has served in Congress for 22 years. Q13 News spoke to him over the phone to talk about the progressive movement, his opponent and the upcoming primary.

"For me, this is not about a national movement," Rep. Adam Smith said. "This is about the people who live around Sea-Tac Airport who deal with the noise problems. This is about helping the very large immigrant community that I have with immigration issues. This is about helping the education system in the city of Seattle and south King County.

"I've lived my entire life in the district; raised my children here; sent them to public schools in the district; and I have a very, very strong connection to the people there and I have been very, very effective in being their voice in Congress."

Again, Bernie won Adam Smith's district; Adam Smith was out of touch with his own voters. While Sarah Smith volunteered and then caucused for Bernie's campaign, Adam Smith endorsed Hillary and was a super-delegate for her. Ocasio didn't have a great deal of money-- around $300,000-- but it was enough to get her and her message out to the voters. Sarah is going to need more if she's going to square the circle in time for the August 7th primary.