Winning In Red States With Marijuana Legalization

Remember a couple weeks ago there was an amazing legislative seat flip in Kentucky? Democrat Linda Belcher beat Rebecca Johnson for the open state House seat (49th district). On February 20th, Belcher won 68.4% to 31.6% in a district Trump had won 72% to 23% (and which Romney had won 66-33%). That's a really red district and Belcher's 45-point improvement on Hillary’s performance was engineered by a legendary Kentucky political figure, Mike Ward. Ward was Belcher's campaign manager. He had served in the state legislature himself, from 1989 to 1993 when he confounded a GOP wave election and won an open congressional seat, serving in Congress until 1996 when Bill Clinton appointed him Associate Director of the Peace Corps.

Today, Mike's son, Jasper Ward, is working on legalizing marijuana in Kentucky and, through his Greenwave PAC, helping candidates-- primarily in red states-- use the marijuana legalization issue to campaign for Congress. The PAC released two ads this week, one for Dan Canon in Indiana (up top) and one for Kendra Fershee in West Virginia (below). I thought this would be a good time to re-run a guest post that Jasper did for DWT last summer:


Green Wave
-by Jasper Ward

This waking nightmare that is America in 2017 is a disaster caused not just by President Trump, or even the criminal enterprise that is the Republican Party. Yes, Democrats share plenty of blame here, and 8 years of Obama in the White House covered up massive losses at the state and local level, like in my home state of Kentucky.

Democrats here managed to actually implement a popular health care program that drastically improved the lives of a lot of Kentucky voters, and then steadfastly refused to admit it on the campaign trail. Alison Lundergan Grimes famously refused to even cop to voting for Obama, which helped her with precisely no voters and lost her plenty of others. Now Republicans control the Governor’s mansion and both state houses for the first time in forever, and are going about ruining the lives of the people who put them in when they aren’t too busy going after trial lawyers and unions.

And who can blame them? Our esteemed Sen. Mitch McConnell has taught them that they should seek power for power’s sake, and then deftly manage using that power to reward contributors but not so much that you don’t have a reason to keep extorting money from them for the next cycle. It’s exhausting and depressing seeing how much bad Republicans can do in Kentucky and in Washington in such a short amount of time, and how hard it is to undo it.

Back to the Democrats. My God, the Democrats. I’m no stranger to Democratic politics, having worked as an intern and low-level staffer for the Gore campaign in Nashville, research director for Don Siegelman in Alabama in 2002, and then for various campaigns thereafter both as a staffer and wearing the dreaded “consultant” hat. Watching them steal Florida from Gore, Alabama from Siegelman (and then put him in jail on trumped up charges for good measure) and Democrats lose race after race from 2003 to the present, I come by my cynicism and despair honestly.

There are very few silver linings in the constant ongoing disaster that has befallen America. One that keeps me going is that there is a single issue that Republicans have handed Democrats on a silver platter, and the rise of wonderful non-DCCC fundraising and energy-challenging websites like this one means there are more candidates out there who might be willing to actually accept this wondrous gift. That issue is cannabis legalization, more commonly referred to as medical marijuana.

For Democrats to actually change America for the better, it is not enough to just get rid of Trump and the GOP Congressional majority. There must also be some sort of actual policy success in the 2019 or 2021 sessions. And while minimum wage, Medicare For All, postal banking, and trying to undo the damage of Trump are good progressive priorities, there is not one issue that affects so many people and so many other issues as marijuana legalization.

So my theory is this: Democratic candidates running in 2018 should run as “single issue” candidates whose sole issue is legalization, and ride this green wave to a majority with a mandate to actually legalize marijuana nationwide. And then actually legalize it. Because this is not really a single issue, it’s a way to talk about a number of other issues that most red state voters just won’t listen to Democrats talk about anymore. Here is why I think medical marijuana is the best possible issue for Democratic candidates to run on in 2018.

• It’s The Right Thing To Do

Obviously legalization is the right thing to do. That’s always a good starting place for a revolution.

• Legalization Cuts Across Democratic Factions

There’s a good reason there is no consistent Democratic economic message: the party leadership is influenced by big money and the economic ideas and interests of rich folk, if not to the extent of Republicans, at least sufficiently enough to prevent things like Medicare for All, high frequency trading taxes or similar Wall Street-focused revenue raisers, minimum wage increases and other basic working class progressive ideas. Even if we get majorities in Congress, I fear getting more “art of the possible” language coming from the leadership as half-measures and Rube Goldberg public-private partnership machines pass by a few votes. Honestly, if you are a Democrat running in a red district in Kentucky or statewide in Alabama, what can you offer voters from an economic standpoint that would cause them to even give you 10 seconds attention, much less their vote?

Legalization cuts across this dynamic. The big money against legalization is the big money that generally speaking all but a few Democrats aren’t hooked on: opioid drug makers and distributors, private prison conglomerates, the FOP/right-wing police organizations. As a pure economic message, legalization is an actual jobs creation program that would sell across the party, and there are few issues that check that box.

From a civil rights, personal freedom and racial politics standpoint, this issue can help heal the wounds from 2016 and ongoing coastal v. heartland democratic outposts like my hometown of Louisville, allowing Democratic leaders to talk about civil rights in an expansionary and proactive way, and not just defending rights from Trump and the rest of the GOP or trying to have it both ways on issues like police brutality.

• Legalization, the Opioid Crisis and Rural America

Where does economic growth come from in the 21st Century? Do any Democrats have actual ideas for this? We know Republicans don’t yet somehow they are the ones that talk about economic growth and people believe them. If you are a Democrat, how do you expand persuadable voters in the red state districts and states that we need to actually take back Congress? How about an issue that would be just as beneficial for rural America as it would for people everywhere else?

Of the many, many “how did we get here?” thinkpieces post-Trump, the despair from the towns and counties across America ravaged by the loss of manufacturing jobs, the rise of the opioid crisis and the lack of any real long-term policy answer rang the most to me. Lost in the day to day personal lies and awfulness, Trump was able to close the campaign by lying constantly about policy and promising the moon to people, and damned if they didn’t vote for him based on the hope that at least he’d try to do something about opioids.

Legalization actually does something. The connection between medical marijuana for chronic pain and the reduction in opioids is a real phenomenon. Trump will likely make the opioid epidemic worse, or at least do nothing so that it gets worse on its own. Talking about legalization as a specific policy promise to fight opioids is both true and lets Democrats at least try to talk to communities that are hurting.

Finally, farmers, farming communities and small towns, will have to replace the economic bump they are getting from national reporters identifying every single Trump voter and interviewing them for newspaper articles. Growing, processing and distributing marijuana can take place in areas that don’t have another potential growth industry, unless they discover bitcoins in the hills of Eastern Kentucky or rural Ohio.

• Legalization and New Ideas

There are a number of other policy issues that legalization effects and that Democrats have no ability to talk about to white voters in red states without looking like they are just trying to Sister Souljah-virtue signal their way to the top. Crime is an easy example: it’s not just dumb marijuana arrests, it’s the pretext stops, the probation revocation, the random drug tests for people on parole, the overcrowding of prisons, and all of the other nonsense hassles that criminalization puts (disproportionately African-American) citizens through. And cutting off easy money for drug dealers will actually reduce crime: making marijuana illegal increases illegal drug sales because you have to have a drug dealer to get it, and drug dealers can use horizontal marketing to leverage pot customers into increased sales of harder drugs.

The next time I hear a Democrat say they aren’t just “tough on crime, but smart on crime” the next words out of her mouth better be “legalize marijuana” or that politician has not gotten one new red state white voter and has probably alienated plenty of Democratic voters who might as well stay home.

Talking about legalization and legalization only helps Democratic candidates run on a message, instead of running on their own biography. Democratic candidates time and again lose elections because they make it about themselves and how much they want everyone to like them and how great they are. Republican candidates are fungible and easy to replace and all look alike and own a small insurance business back home; they are simply the messengers, the less interesting the better.

Because the message is not just about legalization, jobs, civil rights and opioids. The message can easily be this: “I’m a candidate who has strong beliefs and actual, honest-to-goodness new ideas. Legalization is so obviously good for everyone, but the current generation of elected officials still won’t do it. What other obvious solutions are they ignoring and blocking? The leadership of both parties have spent the last 2 decades presiding over multiple disastrous wars, deregulating everything and crashing the world economy, increasing income inequality to unsustainable levels, and handing over control of government to a handful of psychotic billionaires. The last election was ultimately a choice between someone promising orderly and responsible management over the decline of America and someone who specifically promised to set everything on fire and loot the treasury. Legalization is the exact opposite of more of the same.” Maybe too long for a bumper sticker, but you could fit that into a 30 second ad.

Conclusion

Democrats, especially in red districts and red states, can run against Trump in 2018, can run on the ideals of democracy and other high-purpose sounding messages that appeal to people’s better natures. Some may pull off a surprise, but more likely than not, they will run really cool ads that go viral on Twitter and raise a bunch of money that they can pay their consultants and then lose by 5-10 points in 15-20 point GOP advantage districts. That’s the safe play, and I understand why people do it.

There’s another option though. Louisville’s own Hunter S. Thompson wrote the wave speech looking back, seeing the crest and the aftermath. He earned his cynicism and depression too. I may be crazy, but I can see a green wave building across this country. Hopefully there are enough Democrats who see it too, and who are willing to hop on and ride it until it crests.

Meanwhile, Randy Bryce told me he favors marijuana legalization and yesterday he called on Ryan's campaign to return the money-- money we call bribes at DWT-- from opioid manufacturer Allegan. Allegan, which has been dumping opioids into the market and addicting people gave Ryan's joint fundraising committee another $2,500, having addicted him to their bribes long ago. Allergan is currently being investigated by 41 state Attorneys General for marketing and distributing their products illegally. The overprescription of opioids and misleading statements by pharmaceutical manufacturers like Allergan have been identified as a leading cause of the opioid crisis. Bryce, who accepts no contributions from corporate PACs: "The opioid crisis has torn apart families and cost local governments, and their taxpayers, billions of dollars. It is unacceptable that Speaker Ryan would take a contribution from the manufacturers partly responsible for that. If Paul Ryan does not return these contributions, there can be no doubt that 20 years in Washington have changed him. He is no longer looking out for the Wisconsin families and communities who are trying to fight back against this crisis, he is looking out for the donors and lobbyists he's seen every day for the last two decades."

Roger Stone: Sessions' Anti-Pot Agenda: "A Vote Loser And Inconsistent With What The President Promised The American People"

I spent 4 years of college getting high-- very, very high. It was like my major. And then I stopped. Boom-- one day, sitting on the border between Pakistan and India waiting for paperwork so I could drive my car across the border, it was over. Barely out of my teens, my tortured prayers were answered. Decades went by and I never felt the slightest temptation, Then, a few years ago, I started some pretty severe treatment for cancer. The doctor fought the cancer; I fought the side effects. I was a mess-- couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, pain everywhere... My doctor suggested marijuana oil. It worked. It's mostly CBD not THC, so I don't get high. But it does what it needs to do. I just got back from Thailand and I had brought a sealed bottle with me, I only used about a quarter of the bottle and it broke my heart to dump it out into the sink as I was getting ready to leave. I knew there could be pot-sniffing dogs at LAX and I didn't want to take any chances smuggling the rest of the bottled back into the U.S. Bastards!

A few days ago, Roger Stone sent out a Vice News article by Keegan Hamilton, The GOP has a marijuana problem only Trump can fix. Trump, he reminded his readers, "said multiple times on the campaign trail that the issue of marijuana legalization 'should be up to the states.' So it came as a bit of a surprise when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a major policy change on Thursday that makes one thing clear: Under the Trump administration, legal weed isn’t up to the states at all. In another rollback of an Obama-era policy, Sessions gave federal prosecutors the authority to pursue marijuana cases at their own discretion, even in places where weed is now legal under state law. Sessions’ move has left several Republican lawmakers and Trump allies fuming. They warn that not only does the president appear to be breaking a campaign pledge and putting himself at risk of alienating a swath of his base, he’s jeopardizing the long-term future of the GOP, since young voters overwhelmingly support legalization. Former Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone, who formed a bipartisan group called the U.S. Cannabis Coalition to push for legalization, was especially irked.

"This is not only bad public policy, it’s bad political policy," Stone told VICE News. "It’s a vote loser, and it’s inconsistent with what the president promised the American people.

Stone went so far as to speculate that Sessions may have gone rogue and changed the federal marijuana enforcement policy without running it by Trump first.

"I don’t even know if the president knows about this change," he said. "The last time I spoke to the president on this issue, which was a couple months ago, there was no change on this, he was supportive of states’ rights to make their own decision."

Asked about the discrepancy on Thursday, however, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that Trump had changed his mind. "The president believes in enforcing federal law," she said. "That is regardless of what the topic is, whether it's marijuana or it's immigration." The White House did not respond to a subsequent inquiry from VICE News.

Regardless of Trump’s personal beliefs, it’s clear there’s a weed schism within the GOP that could affect the party’s popularity at the polls for years to come. According to Gallup, 64 percent of Americans overall support marijuana legalization compared to just 51 percent of Republicans. The Pew Research Center found a huge generational divide among party members on the issue: 62 percent of those younger than 40 are on board with legalization, while those 65 and older are opposed by a margin of more than two-to-one.

As Ted Lieu put it when we spoke with him about it last week, "It’s funny-- but not actually funny-- that states’ rights matter to the Trump Administration and Republicans only when it’s politically expedient. AG Session’s vendetta against democratically legalized marijuana is a humongous waste of federal resources and has proven to be unpopular at the state and national level."

Putting it into perspective last week, Jasper Ward of Green Wave Democrats wrote that "campaigns are what candidates make them about. The double edged sword for Democratic candidates in 2018 is that there are so, so many awful things going on that there are too many things campaigns can be about. The common denominator, of course, is Trump and the Republicans have set the train ablaze and aimed it right at the 99% of Americans tied to the tracks. Trump is insanely and angrily opening the throttle to full speed, and the GOP is standing off safely to the side counting their money and watching it happen." He asserted that "the people who are really going to save America (and maybe the world?) are the challengers out there in red districts and against horrible Democrats like Dan Lipinski and Debbie Wassermann Schultz. They are the ones who are not only going to rush the cabin and stop the train, but because they are not infected by the last two decades of greyscale that has touched everyone in Washington-- including Democrats-- they are going to chart a new path forward for the 2020s."

This week gave us a perfect example of the dichotomy of Establishment DC Dems not doing enough to save the country and Progressive Challenger Dems stepping up to chart the new way forward. When Jeff Sessions announced he was suspending the Justice Department memo that prevented US Attorneys from going after the marijuana industry in legal states, the reactions of most Establishment DC Dems showed why Democrats are in the mess we are in.

Sure, there were a few progressive stalwarts like Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) who were willing to take Sessions on directly. Beto: "After our country has spent more than $1 trillion on the war on drugs, leading the world in the size of our prison population and seeing marijuana just as available today as it was at the start of the war on drugs-- and just as the majority of Americans have come to the conclusion that we must end the federal prohibition on marijuana, and most states have followed suit-- I can't understand how the Trump administration would take us back to the dark ages of the drug war. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision yesterday to stop states from being able to set more humane and rational policies around marijuana is a big step in the wrong direction. Called ‘The New Jim Crow’ for the disparity in arrests and sentencing that disproportionately affect communities of color, the war on drugs has become a war on people. And from the front lines of this war, I co-authored a book that describes the carnage and wasted potential that are a result of our failed drug policies. Who will be the last kid in Ciudad Juarez to die for the privilege of crossing marijuana into a country where more than half the states have already legalized or decriminalized it? Who will be the last Texan to rot in prison for a non-violent marijuana possession? I am a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill, introduced by a Republican colleague who is a former prosecutor, to end the federal prohibition on marijuana. That bill, once it becomes law, will do more than anything else to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids, marijuana proceeds out of the hands of criminals and cartels, and allow us to focus on real threats like the growing opioid crisis in this country."

Blue America has a new fundraising page for progressive challengers who are actively campaigning for legalization. You can check out-- and hopefully contribute to-- the candidates here.

The progressive candidate in the Illinois race to replace reactionary Republican incumbent Rodney Davis, Dr. David Gill, an emergency room physician told us that he’s “amazed by the gall of politicians like Jeff Sessions, who adhere to the concept of 'States' Rights' only when it suits their needs and desires. Mr. Sessions is a complete and utter hypocrite. The war on drugs has failed to decrease drug use and has cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Current policy also disproportionately impacts communities of color. It is finally time to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana. Legalization of marijuana has proven to successfully stimulate the economy in Colorado. This policy will generate billions of dollars in tax revenue and reduce the huge financial burden posed by incarcerating non-violent offenders. As an emergency medicine physician, I rarely see adverse events related to marijuana; in contrast, trauma caused by legal alcohol always keeps my Emergency Room busy."

And Derrick Crowe is the progressive Democrat running in the Austin/San Antonio district where science denier Lamar Smith is retiring. "Marijuana should be legal," he told us, "and Jeff Sessions' obsession with destroying families and communities by jailing people for marijuana offenses is inhumane and puritanical. At the same time that Trump and the GOP are trying to cut people off from their health coverage under the ACA, Sessions is working to end folks' ability to use marijuana to alleviate terrible pain in states that allow medical marijuana. And, at a time when African Americans are almost four times as likely than Whites to be jailed for marijuana use despite similar usage rates, it's a racial justice and criminal justice reform issue. It's clear that there's no level of pain too great or injustice to deep to get in the way of Republicans' efforts to please their donors."

Let’s provide positive reinforcement for these candidates. Let’s make sure the people driving the train are a new generation of leaders who are not afraid to take a principled stand that is contrary to DC Savvy Democrats who assure us this issue is meaningless (and therefore will not make it a priority when we take back the majority). Let’s support Green Wave Democrats.

Green Wave Democrats-- Standing Up To Jeff Sessions On Marijuana Re-Criminalization

-by Jasper Ward

"It’s funny-- but not actually funny-- that states’ rights matter to the Trump Administration and Republicans only when it’s politically expedient. AG Session’s vendetta against democratically legalized marijuana is a humongous waste of federal resources and has proven to be unpopular at the state and national level."
-Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)

Campaigns are what candidates make them about. The double edged sword for Democratic candidates in 2018 is that there are so, so many awful things going on that there are too many things campaigns can be about. The common denominator, of course, is Trump and the Republicans have set the train ablaze and aimed it right at the 99% of Americans tied to the tracks. Trump is insanely and angrily opening the throttle to full speed, and the GOP is standing off safely to the side counting their money and watching it happen. Democratic elected officials have only half-heartedly and occasionally thrown themselves in front of the train (the Senate confirmed Christopher Wray as FBI Director overwhelmingly after Trump admitted he fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation!!) and have repeatedly helped the GOP fund the government in exchange for saving some (hugely important) hostages, but still only a few.

The people who are really going to save America (and maybe the world?) are the challengers out there in red districts and against horrible Democrats like Dan Lipinski and Debbie Wassermann Schultz. They are the ones who are not only going to rush the cabin and stop the train, but because they are not infected by the last two decades of greyscale that has touched everyone in Washington-- including Democrats-- they are going to chart a new path forward for the 2020s.

This week gave us a perfect example of the dichotomy of Establishment DC Dems not doing enough to save the country and Progressive Challenger Dems stepping up to chart the new way forward. When Jeff Sessions announced he was suspending the Justice Department memo that prevented US Attorneys from going after the marijuana industry in legal states, the reactions of most Establishment DC Dems showed why Democrats are in the mess we are in.

Sure, there were a few progressive stalwarts like Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) who were willing to take Sessions on directly. Beto: "After our country has spent more than $1 trillion on the war on drugs, leading the world in the size of our prison population and seeing marijuana just as available today as it was at the start of the war on drugs-- and just as the majority of Americans have come to the conclusion that we must end the federal prohibition on marijuana, and most states have followed suit-- I can't understand how the Trump administration would take us back to the dark ages of the drug war. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision yesterday to stop states from being able to set more humane and rational policies around marijuana is a big step in the wrong direction. Called ‘The New Jim Crow’ for the disparity in arrests and sentencing that disproportionately affect communities of color, the war on drugs has become a war on people. And from the front lines of this war, I co-authored a book that describes the carnage and wasted potential that are a result of our failed drug policies. Who will be the last kid in Ciudad Juarez to die for the privilege of crossing marijuana into a country where more than half the states have already legalized or decriminalized it? Who will be the last Texan to rot in prison for a non-violent marijuana possession? I am a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill, introduced by a Republican colleague who is a former prosecutor, to end the federal prohibition on marijuana. That bill, once it becomes law, will do more than anything else to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids, marijuana proceeds out of the hands of criminals and cartels, and allow us to focus on real threats like the growing opioid crisis in this country."

And Barbara Lee, who represents Oakland and Berkley: "By now you may have heard that Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his plan to reverse Obama-era rules that allow states to implement marijuana laws without the federal government interfering. Let me be perfectly clear: Jeff Sessions and the entire Trump administration are on the wrong side of history. The war on drugs has failed on almost every measure while causing irreparable damage to communities of color who bear the burden of overzealous policing and mass incarceration. Jeff Sessions is ignoring the facts to promote Trump’s misguided "law and order" agenda, but it won't work. My colleagues and I are going to continue to fight back and do our jobs, and we're going to need your support to keep the Trump administration from reviving the failed, racist war on drugs.

"No. We are not going to let Jeff Sessions use the Justice Department as a tool to promote racial and economic control over communities of color. No. We are not going to let the Trump administration revive a policy that directly contributed to the tragic mass incarceration crisis we have in this country. No. We are not going to let Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump roll back the progress we’ve made to end the failed war on drugs." But most Democrats in Congress... crickets. From Huffington Post

But criticizing Sessions’ move is one thing. Turning his marijuana crackdown into an election-year political cudgel-- in stump speeches, campaign literature and ads-- is something else entirely.

And when asked whether Democrats planned to use the marijuana crackdown against Republicans in the November elections, some of the same Democrats keen to clobber Sessions were noncommittal.

“It’s way too early to predict that,” Warner said.

Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senate campaign arm, said, “Every Democratic member of the Senate will have to decide what’s best in their states.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who also expressed her displeasure with Sessions’ decision, argued that Democrats ought to run on kitchen-table economic issues rather than marijuana.

“There are so many other things to run on, like the tax bill that just passed that does not help working families at all,” she said in an interview.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not respond to multiple email requests for comment on the political salience of Sessions’ move. The DSCC referred HuffPost back to Van Hollen’s remarks.

When asked about making marijuana an election issue, Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Tyler provided a statement indicting Sessions’ “morally bankrupt and economically stupid” decision without commenting on the potential political effect.

Bleck! As we have posted again and again, this is an extremely popular political issue that is also good policy because of how many ways it would transform American life for the better for the 99% of Americans currently tied to the tracks. Talking about this a frame is something legitimately new and will help Democrats talk about jobs, opioids, civil rights, immigration, and every other issue relevant to voters in a way that voters won’t automatically tune out Democrats. Everyone knew Trump wanted to Make America Great Again, and that was enough for them to elect that madman President of the United States. If everyone knew Democrats wanted to legalize marijuana nationwide to create jobs, fight opioids and expand civil rights, that should be enough in a Congressional race. Let’s not overthink this.

Luckily, we have Progressive Challenger Democrats who are not infected with Washington Greyscale and get it. First, Dan Canon (IN) and Kendra Fershee (WV) had been out front on this, releasing these ads weeks before the Sessions announcement,

Then, after the Sessions announcement, multiple candidates stepped up with personal, direct to camera appeals to legalize nationwide.

• Dayna Steele (TX)
• Kaniela Ing (HI)
• Beto O'Rourke (TX)

There are more candidates who have come out in support, but we want to do our part to make sure candidates don’t just support this and move on.

That’s why Howie has graciously agreed to put a Green Wave Democrats fundraising drive on the Blue America page (that thermometer on the right will take you to it). Show candidates that this issue moves donors across the country just as much as it helps them in their district to talk about jobs, opioids, civil rights and racial inequality, and not governing from a place of fear and rot like the DC Democratic party will likely do when we get back the majority.

I have done my part: I have pledged to max out (and have already maxed out) to any candidate who puts up an ad like Dan and Kendra’s ads above so that they can move these from beyond the web to television in their districts. I am working to secure other pledges from people who will do this.

But people don’t need to max out to get these candidates’ attention. The volume of small dollar contributors motived by Green Wave Democrats will leave an indelible mark, and will make the difference.

There is huge, huge value in the nomination of one of our two major political parties to any office. Just ask Senator Doug Jones and President Donald Trump about that. We have tons of qualified candidates across the country in primaries, and the candidates who realize that the primary is the ball game are the ones who are going to have an advantage. The power of this issue is that it appeals just as much to voters you need in November as you need in the primary, and there will be a huge first mover advantage over the next couple of months.

For example, the progressive candidate in the Illinois race to replace reactionary Republican incumbent Rodney Davis, Dr. David Gill, an emergency room physician told us that he’s “amazed by the gall of politicians like Jeff Sessions, who adhere to the concept of 'States' Rights' only when it suits their needs and desires. Mr. Sessions is a complete and utter hypocrite. The war on drugs has failed to decrease drug use and has cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Current policy also disproportionately impacts communities of color. It is finally time to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana. Legalization of marijuana has proven to successfully stimulate the economy in Colorado. This policy will generate billions of dollars in tax revenue and reduce the huge financial burden posed by incarcerating non-violent offenders. As an emergency medicine physician, I rarely see adverse events related to marijuana; in contrast, trauma caused by legal alcohol always keeps my Emergency Room busy."

And Derrick Crowe is the progressive Democrat running in the Austin/San Antonio district where science denier Lamar Smith is retiring. "Marijuana should be legal," he told us, "and Jeff Sessions' obsession with destroying families and communities by jailing people for marijuana offenses is inhumane and puritanical. At the same time that Trump and the GOP are trying to cut people off from their health coverage under the ACA, Sessions is working to end folks' ability to use marijuana to alleviate terrible pain in states that allow medical marijuana. And, at a time when African Americans are almost four times as likely than Whites to be jailed for marijuana use despite similar usage rates, it's a racial justice and criminal justice reform issue. It's clear that there's no level of pain too great or injustice to deep to get in the way of Republicans' efforts to please their donors."

  Let’s provide positive reinforcement for these candidates. Let’s make sure the people driving the train are a new generation of leaders who are not afraid to take a principled stand that is contrary to DC Savvy Democrats who assure us this issue is meaningless (and therefore will not make it a priority when we take back the majority). Let’s support Green Wave Democrats.

Right now there are 15 co-sponsors on Virginia Republican Tom Garrett’s Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017 (H.R. 1227):

• Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
• Scott Taylor (R-VA)
• Jared Polis (D-CO)
• Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
• Don Young (R-AK)
• Justin Amash (R-MI)
• Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
• Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
• Steve Cohen (D-TN)
• Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
• Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)
• Beto O’Rourke (D-TX)
• Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
• Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
• Ro Khanna (D-CA)

Trump crony and long-time advisor Roger Stone is running a TV ad unfriendly to Sessions’ attack on states’ marijuana policies:



And libertarian hero Ron Paul is calling for Trump to fire Sessions as Attorney General  something Trump already wants to do... although for reasons that are unrelated to marijuana. Trump wants Sessions gone so that the Department of Justice will end the Mueller Putin-Gate investigation.

How Candidates Should Talk About Medical Marijuana In Red States And Win

Back in September we introduced a candidate into the mix, Kendra Fershee, running in one of the Trumpiest district in the country-- WV-01, where Trump beat Hillary 68-26% and where the PVI is R+19. The DCCC "strategy" for a district like that-- a losing strategy-- is to run a Republican-lite campaign-- to throw authenticity to the wind, deny you have anything to do with the Democratic Party and wave a gun-- or two-- around But that isn't who Kendra Fershee is. She isn't some careerists politician looking for a job; she's running to help West Virginians have better lives. The DCCC might want her to use Republican talking points and play down the Democrat thing but she's saying things like "this Democrat shares West Virginia’s values. West Virginians-- like all Americans-- believe in freedom. But you can’t be free if you don’t have health care. And you can’t be free if you don’t have a good job. And you can’t be free if you don’t have access to quality education for your family."

Kendra isn't shy about reminding WV-01 voters that "in the West Virginia 2016 Democratic presidential primary, Bernie Sanders outperformed Hillary Clinton by more than 15 percentage points, and beat her by even higher percentages in most counties in the West Virginia First District. Also, and perhaps more importantly, in some counties in the district, Bernie Sanders earned more votes than Donald Trump in the Republican primary. These numbers show that West Virginians are yearning for real change."

"West Virginians are, quite literally, struggling to survive," she told us a few months ago. "The drug addiction epidemic, a lack of healthcare, too many educational systems that do not have the resources to prepare people for a changing economy, and a near total lack of an economic base in countless communities all combine to make living in West Virginia incredibly difficult for families who have lived here for generations. This is heartbreaking for West Virginians because we love this wild and wonderful state fiercely and never want to leave. So, I’m ready to go to Washington to fight for our freedom to stay in West Virginia... I’m ready to go to Washington to fight for healthcare for everyone. I hear it from people all over the district; too many West Virginians are in a prison of ill health and drug addiction and we need a Representative who will treat our health crisis like the emergency that it is. At the same time, we know we need to support families and communities from the ground up. People who live in healthy, thriving communities are less likely to seek the escape of drugs because they have purpose and are fulfilled."

This morning Kendra released her first campaign ad (above)-- and it's a doozy... and not something the DCCC would suggest a candidate use even in a swing district. "Medical marijuana," Kendra told us, "is a safe alternative to opioids that will help people manage pain without risking becoming addicted to a deadly drug... It can also help addicts get off deadly drugs and begin to rebuild their lives. It helps stop addiction before it starts, and helps addicts recover."

Our friends at Green Wave in Kentucky helped Kendra produce the ad. Jasper Ward and his dad, former Congressman Mike Ward, are working with several Blue America candidates on presenting the medical marijuana issue in a way that is compelling and salient to voters across the country. "I'm thrilled," Jasper told us yesterday, "that two progressive candidates in red states are running on a positive message about jobs, opioids, and public safety.  And I'm so excited that Dan Canon and Kendra and other Green Wave Democrats have proposed a real way to fund progressive priorities that voters and Democrats need in 2018 and beyond agree with. The next generation of elected Democrats have a plan to govern, and legalizing marijuana nationwide is clearly going to be a part of it." If you agree-- and want to help Kendra get this ad up on TV in Parkersburg, Wheeling, Morgantown, Clarksburg and Parsons-- please click on the thermometer on the right and contribute what you can to her efforts.

Kendra is out campaigning by telling her neighbors throughout the district that "broadening West Virginia's struggling economy with a lucrative resource like medical marijuana would put people back to work and help us fix our schools... West Virginia has legalized medical marijuana, but implementing the law is difficult while the federal government looms with dated laws that could shut down legal operations. West Virginians fueled the build of the United States, so the U.S. government should get out of our way and let us rebuild our economy with this resource we can grow for other states as well."

And just as we were about to hit "publish" this morning, Dan Canon's Indiana campaign for Congress released their new ad on medical marijuana as well. Please take a look; he makes a lot of sense:

Will Trump Allow Jeff Sessions To Re-Criminalize Medical Marijuana?

Yesterday, Newsweek warned that Jeff Sessions is planning to end the recognition of the legitimacy of medical marijuana before the end of the year. Sessions doesn't care that most states have legalized medical marijuana and that 94% of Americans support legalization. Sessions believes he can kill it on December 8.

Congress has until that day to decide whether to include the Rohrabacher-Farr Act (also known as Rohrabacher-Blumenauer) in a bill that will fund the government through the next fiscal year. Right now, that law, made up of just 85 words, blocks the Department of Justice from using any money to prosecute medical marijuana in states where it's legal.

The text of the Rohrabacher-Farr (also known as Rohrabacher-Blumenauer) Act, which blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from spending any money to prosecute medical marijuana in states where it's legal.

In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed back against the bill when he sent a strongly worded letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, asking them to oppose protections for legal weed and allow him to prosecute medical marijuana.

“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime," Sessions wrote in his letter.

...In a statement on Friday, Sessions announced that the Justice Department would halt the practice of guidance memos, and review Obama administration guidance memos on legal pot to see if they went too far.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Justice Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), House Commerce Committee Chair Greg Walden (R-OR), and Science Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) blocked renewal of Rohrabacher-Farr in the House, giving Sessions a green light for a crackdown.

Last summer Kentucky attorney Jasper Ward wrote a guest post, Green Wave that made the point that "For Democrats to actually change America for the better, it is not enough to just get rid of Trump and the GOP Congressional majority. There must also be some sort of actual policy success in the 2019 or 2021 sessions. And while minimum wage, Medicare For All, postal banking, and trying to undo the damage of Trump are good progressive priorities, there is not one issue that affects so many people and so many other issues as marijuana legalization." His point was that Democrats need to run on a legalization platform. He has since told me that "If a Democratic candidate in 2018 wants to run on being something new, they have to be something new. And not just a new candidate, the candidate has to offer a new thing to the voters that affects the voters’ own lives. Legalizing medical marijuana will motivate Democratic base voters without turning off the voters Democrats need to get over the top.We’ve done polling in two red states, in addition to all of the available national polling, and all of that shows us that this is a popular issue that doesn’t hurt candidates to talk about and support. There is no downside. The upside is tremendous. A Democratic candidate who is talking about jobs, crime, civil rights, law enforcement, agriculture and taxes in a way that gets voters who otherwise wouldn’t listen to listen is a Democratic candidate who can win. In any state or district in America."

The Blue America-endorsed candidates I've discussed legalization with are all enthusiastic about it. Dan Canon, who's running for a seat in Indiana against Trump rubberstamp Trey Hollingsworth, has included legalization on his campaign website's issues page: "Removal of marijuana as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, and ultimately the cessation of all federal criminal regulation of cannabis." This is what he told us that wasn't on his website-- a more fleshed out version:

At long last, Americans are realizing that the 80 years of racist anti-marijuana propaganda they've been exposed to was, and is, a lie. A few months ago, I filed suit to abrogate laws against medical cannabis on behalf of ordinary patients who need access to safe, natural, nonaddictive, affordable medicine that has been proved to work for them, and which in many cases has been recommended to them by medical professionals. Congress needs to act to decriminalize cannabis immediately, for the sake of patients like my clients, but for a lot of other reasons.

First, cannabis is a cash cow. The state of Colorado pulled in nearly $200 million in tax revenue last year thanks to its $1.3 billion in marijuana revenue. Cannabis sales are forecasted to grow at a compound rate of 25%, from $6.7 billion in 2016 to $20.2 billion by 2021. If you extend that policy to nationwide sales, and cut the head off the federal government's ridiculous 80-year vendetta against cannabis users, we are talking about a big revenue booster. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Last I checked, drug dealers and other black-market "professionals" don't pay taxes. But a legitimate marijuana industry takes away needless taxpayer expenditures on the criminal justice system, creates jobs, and boosts all tax revenues substantially. For all the GOP (and some Democrat) bellyaching of "how can we possibly pay for healthcare" in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we've got a gigantic revenue source right under our noses. We can turn that revenue into prescription drug monitoring programs, expanded access to healthcare services, and effective, ongoing treatment programs for addicts.

But there's more. More than a hundred people in the United States die from opioid use every day. And yet these opioids are prescribed by the fistful by doctors in states like Indiana who can't prescribe a safe, legal, non-addictive alternative like cannabis even if they wanted to, for fear of losing their licenses or their liberties. Legal medical cannabis has cut opioid deaths as much as 20%, while it is increasing in states without it. All relevant, available data so far suggests that marijuana is not a "gateway drug," but an exit drug. I've seen this firsthand. Many of my clients who use medical cannabis do so because it allows them to avoid the use of addictive pharmaceuticals.

Our farmers, our workers, our towns and cities need a new industry to help replace jobs we’ve lost, and the Midwest in particular will benefit from growing, processing, researching, and providing medicine to the people who need it. And there's no downside to it. The only conceivable reason for Sessions to pursue medical cannabis providers and users is to perpetuate a racist, expensive, ineffective drug war that we've been losing for decades. The drug war is Sessions' white whale; he will never catch it, but our system of mass incarceration and modern-day slavery depends on him continuing to chase it.

The progressive contender running for the Houston area seat occupied by do-nothing Republican John Culberson is award-winning cancer doctor Jason Westin. I turned right to him when this issue came up. "My thoughts on medical marijuana are influenced by talking with my patients," he replied. "Many people treated for cancer suffer from nausea, fatigue, lack of appetite, and depression. Some of them tell me that they or family members have obtained marijuana for them to use to fight these treatment related side effects-- and most of them say they feel better. As a doctor and cancer researcher, if someone told me they had a chemical that would help my patients-- I'd want research to learn more, and if the research showed it worked, I'd want my patients to have access. Our current restrictions on this type of research prevent us from obtaining this important information, and could be denying people like my patients a potentially potent medication to improve their quality of life."

David Gill is also a physician-- and also running for a seat occupied by a rubber-stamp Republican-- this one in central Illinois (CA-13). "As a physician and a  supporter of the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, I'm appalled by any consideration of a return to the criminalization of the medical use of marijuana. But this is par for the course for the current Administration, as such a decision would fly in the face of established science. Having worked in Emergency Departments for nearly 20 years, it's very clear to me that the demonizing of marijuana makes no sense at all; large parts of my work day are dedicated to the many problems related to the use of legal alcohol, but it is extremely rare that I see a marijuana-related emergency. For many years, politicians engaged in fraudulent scare tactics to drum up support against the legalization of marijuana. But such tactics no longer work-- a large majority of the public has moved forward on this issue, leaving behind politicians such as Trump and Sessions."

Southwest Michigan Democratic candidate Paul Clements has some questions for the AG. "Does Jeff Sessions want people to experience greater pain? Is he against the right of states to support the health and well-being of their people? Does he want to fill jails with people who present no danger to public safety, reduce state tax revenues, and increase organized crime? It is simply outrageous that Sessions wants to re-criminalize medical marijuana."

Sam Jammal is the only viable candidate, of half a dozen, seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump-Ryan rubber stamp Ed Royce. This morning he reminded us that "California voters have twice spoken on marijuana. We believe it should be available for regulated medicinal and recreational purposes. For a group that loves to espouse federalism, the Department of Justice should respect the will of California voters. So many Californians rely on medical marijuana to treat their illnesses, changing the precedent set up by the Obama Administration puts these individuals in harm's way. Someone being treated for cancer should focus on getting better, not on what Jeff Sessions wants to do."