Don't Forget To Support The Freshmen Who Are Delivering On Their Promises-- Like Andy Levin

There's only one freshman-- for that matter, only one member of Congress-- who is still rated 100% for their voting record by ProgressivePunch, Andy Levin (D-MI). What makes that even more stunning, is that Andy isn't representing some super-blue district like the others in the Top 10 most progressive list do. This was the list as of this morning. Everyone on it has a great voting record. Only Andy's is what ProgressivePunch would call perfect:

And here's the PVI of each district, in the same order as the chart above, which shows you how much more vulnerable Andy is compared to the other super-progressives:

• MI-09- D+4
• MD-08- D+14
• WI-02- D+18
• NY-13- D+43
• CA-11- D+21
• CO-02- D+9
• MA-07- D+34
• CA-27- D+16
• MA-02- D+9
• WA-07- D+33
• CA-17- D+25

Andy's suburban district, north of Detroit, includes southern Macomb County and eastern Oakland County. It's a middle class district where 77.6% of the population is white. He has two Republicans battling it out in a primary to see which will take him on. Republicans aren't running candidates against Pocan, McGovern or Jayapal and there are only vanity candidates without resources running against the others. In 2016, 43.7% of the voters in Andy's district marked their ballots for Trump. In none of the other super-progressives' districts did Trump even come close to 40%.

It takes some guts to take principled stands the way he has in a swing district like his, a district where Trump will be advertising heavily and screaming about "socialists." And a great voting record isn't all that Andy is offering. Yesterday, he told his constituents that he's "not running simply to try to vote the right way on foreign and domestic policy, and to bring home the bacon (or tofu, if you prefer) to the working people of the 9th District, although that’s all important. I am running to help lead a movement for a new politics that creates a fundamentally more beautiful America. This is about the 'more perfect union' we have always sought, but has remained frustratingly beyond our grasp. We’re looking to create an America that is:

• Transforming our systems to create equitable policies for the people
• Galloping towards a fossil-free future
• Ensuring that all have access to quality, affordable healthcare
• Revering and fairly compensating teachers-- from preschool to university
• Guaranteeing workers can form unions, be well paid, and retire with dignity

He wrote that his freshman term "came in one of the most bizarre, consequential two-year sessions of Congress in our history. It also came alongside a massive Democratic wave, with the most diverse class in history. Over the past two years we’ve seen Donald Trump’s failed government shutdown come and go (without accomplishing a thing), his impeachment in the House and 'you-call-that-a-trial?' in the Senate."

And now, beyond our wildest imaginings, a global pandemic is packing a one-two punch on our nation. Not only are we in the middle of the gravest public health crisis in a century, but we’re also witnessing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and an administration that claims their comeback is grounded in “law and order” when people are in the streets demanding long-overdue police reform and racial justice.

It’s impossible not to wonder what would’ve happened had we had competent leadership to meet this challenge. Now, we have an opportunity to turn our nation in a fundamentally new direction, rising from the ashes of this mess of an administration.

...We are all saying we’ll get through this, together. And we can. But not to go back to some previous normal. Let’s move into the light of justice.

So far, Blue America has only endorsed a dozen incumbents this cycle. A good voting record was essential, of course, but not enough. We were looking for progressive leaders for a post-Pelosi/Hoyer House Democratic caucus. Andy Levin is one of those leaders we're counting on. It would be catastrophic to lose him or any of the most progressive fighters in the House, all of whom you'll find by clicking on the Blue America 2020 Worthy Incumbents thermometer on the right.

The Best Member Of Congress You Probably Never Heard Of-- Literally

There are 5 freshmen members of Congress whose voting records are tied for #1. The graphic above shows the 6 members of Congress with the highest lifetime crucial vote scores, according to ProgressivePunch. As you know, 100% is better than 99.9%. 100% means perfect. We all know AOC, Ayanna Pressley and Rashid Tlaib, right? 3 of the 4 members of The Squad. [The 4th Squad member, Ilhan Omar, is tied with Veronica Escobar for the 10th best voting record--97.67%.] Joe Neguse is a freshman from Boulder, Colorado, another deep blue bastion of tolerance. In fact these were Trump's 2016 election numbers in each district in that top half dozen:

• MA-07- Ayanna Pressley- 11.9%
• MI-13- Rashida Tlaib- 18.1%
• NY-14- AOC- 19.8%
• MD-08- Jamie Raskin- 30.6%
• CO-02- Joe Neguse- 34.9%
• MI-09- Andy Levin- 43.7%

A Democrat can sleepwalk into victory in the first 5 districts-- and probably win in the 6th, albeit with a little more effort. And that 6th district is represented by Andy Levin who you probably never heard of. He's not getting the kind of national attention The Squad gets, even though he has voted exactly the same as 3 of them. In fact, if you look more closely-- and go beyond just "crucial votes"-- Andy has the highest vote score of any member of Congress. So how come no one outside of his district has ever heard of him? Mostly because he's too busy doing stuff and working on policy to go on TV or sit for interviews. Even as a teenager he was busy-- studying Tibetan and Sanskrit, living in India or Haiti, heading up his school's anti-apartheid coalition, graduating cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa-- and earning a law degree from Harvard. Those who are familiar with him know him as the "union guy" in the House, working to make sure working families get a fair break and a fairer part of the pie. At one time he was director of the AFL-CIO's program to restore workers’ freedom to form unions, including creating and building grassroots support for the federal Employee Free Choice Act. His leadership PAC's name reflects him perfectly: Repair the World PAC. In his spare time he's mountain-biking, snowshoeing or trying to get other members of Congress to form an ice-hockey team.

Andy's literally lived his whole life in the trenches of a wide variety of progressive causes. Talking with him over the last couple of months these are the ones I discovered him working on-- just a dozen of his priorities:

• The peace movement
• The anti-nuclear power movement
• The anti-nuclear weapons movement
• The environmental and deep ecology movements
• The anti-apartheid movement
• The justice for Central America movement
• The human rights movement-- emphasis on Haiti, China and Tibet
• The women’s and LGBTQ movements
• The Jewish social justice movement; justice for Palestinians
• The clean energy revolution and climate change movement
• The healthcare for all movement
• Above all, the labor movement

This is a guy we need to see rise in the ranks of House leadership-- which is why Blue America endorsed his reelection bid and why we're asking you to consider contributing to his campaign at this link-- or by clicking on the 2020 Blue America Worthy Incumbents thermometer on the right. 
In June he was already organizing inside Congress to get impeachment rolling. In a classic tweet storm, he wrote "After extensive discussion with colleagues on the committees of jurisdiction over various investigations I have concluded that the only way to get to the bottom of Mr. Trump’s activities and inform the public about what we learn is to centralize and expedite the process through one select committee with the focus, power and urgency that come with an impeachment inquiry. I will work to build a consensus in the House Democratic Caucus to begin this process, and I will reach across the aisle to engage Republican colleagues about the urgent need to protect our democracy."

Michigan To The Rescue?

The DCCC managed to find itself a Michigan Blue Dog, Gretchen Driskell, to support for Congress. Yesterday we looked at what happens when Blue Dogs get into Congress. The damage they cause is very serious. Blue America has endorsed 2 women running for Congress with proven records for leadership in the Michigan state legislature, Ellen Lipton and Rashida Tlaib. We endorsed them both because they are progressives with progressive records of accomplishment. Identity politics played no role in either endorsement. That said, take a look at this tweet from Dave Wasserman last week:

Ellen is the only woman in the August 7th primary for an open seat up against two men, one of whom, Andy Levin, is the retiring Congressman’s son. He’s got the family name recognition; Ellen's got the legislative experience and proven record fighting for progressive values, having served 6 years in Michigan’s State House and worked as a healthcare activist and public education advocate.

The polling and focus groups that have been dome in MI-09 show that when voters-- particularly women voters-- see and hear her story, her record and progressive vision, trump Levin's name recognition and she wins. 2018 so far is an extraordinary year for women candidates, and women in Democratic primaries are voting in record numbers. She promised her supporters that "We’re going to win this primary by hosting events all over the district, knocking on thousands and thousands of doors, and making sure every single voter in the 9th knows my name, who I am, and what I stand for...  I’m so proud and inspired to be a part of the wave of Democratic women standing up to run for Congress this year. It’s time to change the fact that only 20% of Congress is female-- because we all deserve better. We need strong women leaders in Congress now more than ever."

Republicans don't do well in her district-- McCain only pulled 40.1%. Romney, a hometown boy, did a little better at 41.9% and Trump pulled 43.7%. The PVI is D+4 and it's more than very likely that whoever wins the primary will be the next congressmember. That's even more so in MI-13, where the Republicans aren't even running a candidate and which Rashida represented in the state legislature and where she's running now. The PVI is a jaw-dropping D+33 and Obama won with around 85% both times he ran and where Trump only drew 18% of the vote. MI-13-- a big chunk of Detroit plus Highland Park, Dearborn Heights, Inkster and Romulus out beyond the airport-- is a blue powerhouse, the kind of district that should be sending cutting edge leaders to Congress. And that's exactly who Rashida is. Again, two relatives of the last congressman, John Conyers, decided to run, a son (who was disqualified) and a nephew. If Rashida wins this one, everything in her record points to one thing: she's not going to be some backbencher voting like a good little Democrat; she'll be helping form a new progressive consensus among House Democrats and leading the way on tough issues others are afraid to touch, just the way she did in the Michigan legislature.

Both Ellen and Rashida are guided by the belief that everyone, not just the wealthy and privileged, deserves access to opportunity and a better quality of life. They have both dedicated their professional lives to amplifying and addressing the concerns of working families. They don't just talk about it... they both have records to show they've been doing it.

Rashida: "I’m running because I get results. I brought home $5.6 million in funding for before-and-after school programs and $7.8 million for bilingual education and literacy. I brought home $1 million for free health care clinics and $2 million to remove toxic lead paint from older homes. And I did it with Republicans in control of the Legislature, because I don’t make excuses, I get it done."

Neither of these dynamic women is an establishment candidate. The DCCC is ignoring both. That may be because neither sits still and gets told what to do by representatives of the status quo. They are exactly what Congress needs, what the Democratic Party needs... what our country needs. Please consider contributing to their campaigns by clicking on the 2018 congressional thermometer on the right.

Ellen Lipton For Congress (MI-09)

Last month we met Ellen Lipton a candidate for the open congressional seat in the Oakland and Macomb county suburbs north of Detroit. She founded and was named President of the Michigan Promise Zone Association, which supports free community college tuition, technical training and certification to Michigan students in selected communities across Michigan, a blueprint for free college tuition across America. Before that she was in the Michigan legislature, where she was the bane of Betsy DeVos' existence. If education policy is one of her fields of expertise, infrastructure was one of the motivations that made her jump into the race. She wrote a guest post for us about the issue:

“POTHELL!” was the big, bold headline splashed across a newspaper recently here in metro Detroit, and no word sums up Michigan’s infrastructure crisis more clearly. Under the headline was a picture of three drivers who’d been stranded on their way to work when they crossed an enormous pothole that had immediately destroyed their tires and rims upon impact. Welcome to pothole season in Michigan, when a daily commute often involves dangerous dodging and swerving to avoid potholes, then dodging and swerving to avoid accidents with other vehicles. It’s a public safety nightmare.

Trump recently unveiled his infrastructure proposal, and it falls far, far short of what’s needed in Michigan to even begin to solve our infrastructure crisis. Under his plan, states and localities would have to find their own, new sources of revenue to spend on infrastructure to even qualify for federal help. After decades of state disinvestment in infrastructure in MI, Trump’s plan would have little to no impact here, since our local units of government have already been revenue-starved for years and are highly unlikely to be able to come up with new state spending sources.

Michigan can’t wait for President Trump to get his act together and propose a plan that would actually work for our state. Here are just a few examples of how our infrastructure crisis is negatively impacting our communities every single day:

• Flint water crisis-- Old service lines leached lead into Flint’s drinking water, poisoning an entire community. These service lines and lead connectors have still not been replaced, four years after the crisis first began to unfold.
• Fraser sinkhole-- A little over a year ago, an underground sewer line in Fraser collapsed, causing the ground to shift and open up and forcing people from their homes, closing down roads and putting a community in harms way.
• Falling concrete on I-696-- Just recently, drivers along I-696, a major thoroughfare that links Oakland and Macomb counties in the 9th Congressional District, were being bombarded by large chunks of concrete falling from highway overpasses.
• Heavy rains and E. coli outbreaks-- Every time there’s a heavy rain, levels of E. coli rise along the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair. This shoreline issue can be traced to much of the region still operating on old combined sewer systems in which a single pipe carries sewage from homes and businesses as well as storm runoff coming from street drains. Such outdated systems mean that during a heavy rainfall, a mix of storm water and sewage spills over from the retention basins to rivers and drains that carry it to Lake St. Clair.

The problems I’ve just described above barely scratch the surface of what our state’s infrastructure crisis entails. Cleary, President Trump’s so-called plan won’t even begin to get the job done when it comes to rebuilding my home state and making it a safe and healthy place for our communities.

What’s needed now more than ever is a bold vision for rebuilding our infrastructure, centered on the human side of the issue, and focused on putting people back to work and enhancing peoples’ quality of life where they work and where they live. Such a bold vision would invest our resources in people to produce millions of family-sustaining jobs, raise living standards, reduce inequality, strengthen education, reduce poverty and create a clean, healthy environment.

It would also mandate a direct public investment in roads, bridges and other public works, as opposed to providing “corporate giveaways” to spur private-sector investment. This direct investment should come in the form of a federal jobs program, through which our country would invest in human capital by putting people back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges, water and sewer systems, schools, airports and veterans’ hospitals, and linking our communities with high-speed internet access.

This kind of federal infrastructure program could create millions of jobs immediately, as well as introduce real-world job training for so many young people who are looking to begin careers in the skilled trades. An initiative like this one place great emphasis on jobs that pay a living wage, ensure workplace safety and guarantee racial and gender equality in the workplace. These goals could be achieved by raising benchmarks for prevailing wages in every corner of the country, requiring local hiring to accurately reflect and represent the diversity of the community’s workforce, include robust “Buy American” requirements and prioritize the hiring of veterans.

The path to American greatness lies in significant investment in our greatest resource: our people. A federal jobs program based on rebuilding our country would be proof that America’s complex infrastructure challenges can be met by following the simple principle that public money should go toward the public good.

MI-09 is a reliable Democratic district, which Sandy Levin, who has represented it for three-and-a-half decades, is leaving. His son Andy would like to take over. There are 2 other men running as well... and Ellen, the progressive game changer in the race. Hillary was seen as the status quo candidate and he did much worse than Obama had done and much worse than Sandy Levin did on the same day. She was just the wrong candidate with the wrong message and the wrong strategy for a district like that. Michigan voters want someone with bold fresh ideas, not more of the same. It's why Bernie beat Clinton in the Michigan primary and it's why Trump beat Clinton in the general. Ellen is part of this energy and she's the kind of leader who won't be satisfied sitting in the backbenches taking orders from the party's sclerotic, calcified leadership. Pelosi's, Hoyer's and their team's days are numbered. The congressional Democrats desperately need seasoned, bold leaders like Ellen Lipton to help the party snap out of it before it's too late.

Ellen Lipton Beat Betsy DeVos In Lansing-- And Will Continue Beating Her In DC

Last month Digby introduced me to another extraordinary woman running for Congress, this one in Michigan, Ellen Lipton. Ellen's district is the 9th, from which Sandy Levin is retiring. This is a safe Democratic district in the suburbs north of Detroit (PVI is D+4 and Hillary beat Trump there 51.5% to 43.7%. Obama had beaten Romney by a much better margin: 57.2-41.9%.) The district is southern Macomb and eastern Oakland counties and includes Royal Oak, Fernadle, Warren, Eastpointe, Mount Clemens, Franklin and Bingham Farms.

Ellen raised two kids, worked as a patent attorney, helping universities and small businesses often in competition with large, powerful corporations. As a survivor of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), she became involved in public life when she joined the fight to allow life-saving stem cell research in Michigan. She ran for State Representative in 2008 and served three full terms, the maximum allowed in the state. As a legislator, she led the fight against Betsy DeVos’ efforts to destroy Michigan’s public-school system. After leaving Lansing, Ellen founded and was named President of the Michigan Promise Zone Association, which supports free community college tuition, technical training and certification to Michigan students in selected communities across Michigan, a blueprint for free college tuition across America.

She's the only woman in a four-way Democratic Primary, a progressive through and through and her work with the Promise Zones and in holding DeVos at bay prompted me to ask her to share those specific experiences with DWT readers. Read this below and if you like what you hear, please consider contributing to the campaign of Blue America's newest endorsed candidate. Just click on the ActBlue congressional thermometer on the right. Let's make Michigan great again!

Guest Post
-by Ellen Lipton

Before Betsy DeVos became nationally reviled for her corporate education reform agenda as Trump’s Education Secretary, she spent years attacking public schools in Michigan, her home state. We were her political petri dish.

One of her most damaging proposals was the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), a program that would implement a statewide school district tasked with turning around “low performance schools.” Her metric for measuring performance was to look at standardized test scores, a highly flawed metric of school performance that by design discriminates against low income and minority students.

I served three terms in the Michigan State House, and for two of those terms I fought tooth and nail against DeVos and others like her who were intent on destroying public schools in Michigan. While I was in Lansing, a bill that would have codified the EAA into state law was being rushed through committee, backed by Republicans and even a few Democrats. None other than John Covington, a nationally infamous proponent of privatizing public education, came to our committee to testify about how successful an EAA pilot program had been in Detroit, and announced that we ought to just trust him to work his magic across the rest of the state. Needless to say, his record in Detroit was abysmal-- our schools in the city have been demonstrably worse off because of his work.

The problem with John Covington and Betsy DeVos and their one-size-fits-all, pro-privatization “solutions” to problems in education is that there are no magic bullets in turning around schools. Solving problems in education requires a lot of work, a lot of patience, and crucially, a lot of additional funding. During the committee hearing, I grilled Covington about his wild claims of success because the math just didn’t add up. When he couldn’t answer my questions, I sent an extensive FOIA request to the EAA, which they promptly ignored. It wasn’t until I threatened a lawsuit that they finally released the documents, which made it clear as day that the failed experiment of the EAA was riddled with abuses of power and misallocations of funds. Betsy DeVos’ dream of destroying Michigan’s public school system finally came to an end.

I’m proud of the work I did taking on Betsy DeVos in Lansing-- but being a legislator, whether in the State House or in Washington, isn’t just about stopping bad things from happening. It’s about reshaping the narrative around issues we care about, proposing bold solutions to those problems, and mobilizing the community around supporting a progressive agenda.

One narrative I hate the most is this idea that our schools are failing, and so our students are failing. Our kids aren’t failing at all-- they’re doing incredible work in the face of enormous challenges. And one of the greatest challenges they face is our nationwide crisis of college affordability. So many bright, hardworking students that want to attend college can not afford to go; those that do graduate often find themselves saddled with a lifetime of crushing student loan debt.

In Michigan, we’ve taken a stab at addressing this critical issue. Nearly ten years ago, the legislature created ten “promise zones” in economically distressed communities throughout the state. These promise zones guarantee two years of free college for every single student that graduates from public school in that district. As a legislator, I worked with community leaders in Hazel Park, a community that had been battered during the Great Recession, to establish the Hazel Park Promise Zone, and I am the current treasurer of the organization.

The results in Hazel Park have been incredible. Students who never thought they could go to college see a path to the future. The school district has been strengthened, the community has been brought together, graduation rates have improved, and property values have increased as young families are moving to Hazel Park because of the opportunities they and their children now have.

In addition to providing students with free tuition, the promise zones assist students with completing FAFSA applications and provide help with applying for other public and private scholarships, so that every student can attend college free from the burden of student loans.

After I left the legislature, I founded and became the President of the Michigan Promise Zone Association. I remain committed to my mission to strengthen what we have achieved in Hazel Park and communities all across the state. I am proud to say that just three years after I left Lansing, the number of promise zones in Michigan has grown from 10 to 15.

But my work is far from over. If Betsy DeVos had had her way in Michigan, the promise zones would never have come to fruition, and public schools would have continued to be degraded for the benefit of the wealthy few. If I am elected to Congress, I will do everything in my power to stop Betsy DeVos dead in her tracks once again, and prevent her harmful privatization agenda from destroying our public education system. I’ll also be a leader in solving the crisis of college affordability. What we’ve done in Michigan with the promise zones can happen on a national level. We need a tuition-free, debt-free path to college for every young person in this country, and I will work hard in Washington every day to make that dream a reality.