With The DCCC Ignoring Wisconsin Again, The GOP Incumbents Are All Safe-- Unlkess They Caught COVID Over The Weekend And Die Before November

Nationally, Republicans have, by and large but with a few exceptions, fought against Democratic governors trying to protect their states' residents from the worst of the pandemic. But no Republican-dominated state legislature has been more pro-COVID than Wisconsin's. They have worked hard-- and effectively-- to prevent Gov. Tony Evers, a very moderate Democrat, from instituting rules to keep the state safe. The Republicans have given Wisconsin 36,448 cases of the disease-- 6,260 cases per Wisconsinite. On Saturday there were 926 new cases reported (and 7 new deaths). Yesterday the state reported another new 769 cases. Each case and each death should come with an engraved card signed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and state Senate president Scott Fitzgerald: "brought to you by the Wisconsin Republican Party; you can thank us in November."

Remember this report from CNN in April? "Wisconsin's Republican-led legislature filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an attempt to reopen the state and block the extension of a stay-at-home order issued by state health officials to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The lawsuit was filed against Wisconsin's Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm and other health officials, who recently extended the state's Safer at Home" emergency order until May 26, but loosened some restrictions on certain businesses. In the complaint, lawmakers argue that if this order remains in effect, 'many Wisconsinites will have lost their jobs, and many companies will have gone under, to say nothing of the Order's countless other downstream societal effects. Our State will be in shambles.'" The state Supreme Court is a right-wing sewer and it ruled-- as it always does-- in favor of the Republicans and the Trump Death Cult.

This came right after the GOP tried to suppress voting in the April 7 election by overriding Evers' decisions to allow people to vote remotely. It backfired on the Republicans when Wisconsinites turned out in droves and defeated a far right lunatic, Daniel Kelly, and replaced him with Jill Karofsky, a Democrat. She crushed him-- the symbol of the state Republican Party-- 855,981 (55.3%) to 692,523 (44.7%).

The following month, though, Evers just basically gave up fighting the non-stop harassment by the legislature. The Associated Press wire story on May 18:

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Monday that he's given up trying to push through any more statewide restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus because he thinks rival Republicans emboldened by a state Supreme Court decision erasing his stay-at-home order would never allow any.

Minutes after his administration scrapped plans for a new emergency rule, Evers told reporters during a teleconference that drafting rules would be a waste of time given the GOP opposition. His stance leaves local health officials on their own as they wrestle with whether and how to maintain social distancing mandates.

"The Republicans made it very clear they don't believe a statewide approach is the right way to go at this point in time," Evers said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense spending a lot of time doing something we know isn't going to be successful."

Wisconsin is one of a number of states where governors have run into resistance from Republican legislators over coronavirus restrictions. Democratic governors in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Louisiana have faced a mix of legislation and lawsuits designed to curtail their power. Wisconsin's conservative-leaning state Supreme Court didn't hold back, completely erasing Evers' stay-at-home order last week after Republican legislators alleged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

The decision threw the state into chaos. Some bars and restaurants opened immediately while a handful of county officials issued their own stay-at-home orders. Now, the state has a confusing patchwork of regulations that vary from county to county.

The DHS released plans for a new statewide emergency rule the day after the court ruling. The agency said the new rule may contain elements of the stay-at-home order and Evers' phased business re-opening plan. Republicans pounced on the statement, saying Evers was trying to circumvent the court ruling and reinstate a stay-at-home order.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Thursday the two sides might not reach agreement and it will be up to the locals to implement their own restrictions. Republican state Sen. Steve Nass, co-chairman of the Legislature's rules committee, demanded on Friday that the governor withdraw plans for a new rule. The DHS complied on Monday and scrapped them.

Vos called Evers' position "disappointing" but said Republicans will keep working with local public health agencies to see if they need help addressing localized outbreaks in the future.

Alec Zimmerman, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, pointed to a statement Fitzgerald issued Friday saying that the scope statement was too focused on a phased re-opening and the state needs to move faster.

Nass said he has "great faith" that people will make the decisions necessary to fight COVID-19 on their own "without excessive government coercion."

As of Monday, Wisconsin had recorded 12,687 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 459 deaths from the disease, according to DHS data.

Repeating myself, as of yesterday, Wisconsin reported another 769 cases, bringing the state's total to 36,448, all compliments of the Republican Party. No doubt there will be a Green Bay spike next month. Why Green Bay?

Over the weekend hundreds of Republicans were in Green Bay at the party's state convention, coughing on each other and spreading the contagion while they screamed and went into fits about socialism and anarchy. Of the between 3 and 4 hundred people in the Convention Center, Wisconsin Public Television reported that only about a dozen chose to wear a mask.

The disease-spreading freaks in the video up top, Congressman Glenn Grothman was the day's most aggressive defender of Señor Trumpanzee. "It is a disaster for this country if he loses. It'll be open borders. I'm afraid we won't get it back... Marxists have always been opposed to the family. It shows what danger we are in if we would lose."

Wisconsin COVID-candidfate

The 5 Republicans in Wisconsin's congressional delegation have no worries there. Regular DCCC incompetence has handed all 5 incumbents easy reelections-- even in a wave election. Bryan Steil, a freshman in a swing district who should be extremely vulnerable, has no plausible opponent. The odious state Senate president and major death cult official, Scott Fitzgerald, is waltzing into the seat from which Jim Sensenbrenner is retiring, with no plausible opposition. Psycho-Grothman has no plausible opposition. Nor do either Mike Gallagher nor freshman Tom Tiffany. Odd, when you consider that, on average, Biden is ahead of Trump in Wisconsin by 6.5 points. In the most recent poll-- by Change Research for CNBC-- Biden leads Trump 51 to 43% among likely Wisconsin voters. Too bad the DCCC has put all its effort into stopping progressives like Marie Newman, Jessica Cisneros, Eva Putzova and Jamaal Bowman from ousting their miserable Blue Dog incumbents instead of capitalizing on an anti-red wave and making efforts to turn swing states like Wisconsin blue.

Unfortunately, Randy Bryce isn't running for office this cycle. He's been active helping working class candidates raise money and awareness in Wisconsin and around the country. He told me that "Ever since every Wisconsin Democrat that was in a statewide race won in 2018 the state GOP has done what they could to strip the governor of power. Republicans aren’t in power because of popularity. They’re in power in the legislature because of gerrymandering. It’s because of this that they feel they can get away with anything-- even subjecting people to a deadly pandemic. This helps explain why they had an in person statewide convention. If you notice, quite a few electeds didn’t show up. Notably absent was Senator Ron Johnson who also spent July 4th in Russia not too long ago as well as Aassembly SpeakerRyan Robin Vos who you might recall having been decked out in PPE better than many local nurses are able to access. It wasn’t a surprise to have Glenn Grothman get up on stage and cough into the crowd. With so many people hurting due to the pandemic it’s not too big of a surprise to see that the only thing Wisconsin Republicans want to share is COVID."

Blue America has endorsed just two candidates for the Wisconsin legislature so far: Jacob Malinowski-- for a state Assembly seat representing Franklin in a red-leaning district southwest of Milwaukee-- and Emily Voight, for an Assembly seat southwest of Green Bay on the northeast bank of Lake Winnebago in Calumet County. We're also looking at Sara Rodriguez and Deb Andraca. But my friend Chris Larson (a Democratic state Senator for a district just east of where Jacob is running) is way more optimistic than I am about Wisconsin this November. This morning he told me that there is a real "chance to turn Wisconsin blue again and defeat Trump," and that "we also have the next decade hanging in the balance. Because whoever wins gets to decide redistricting, we have the chance to end the Tea Party control of our state once and for all by simply forcing the implementation of fair maps. With a Democratic Governor, the people have a seat at the table but due to the gerrymandering Republicans did in 2010 (Despite winning 54% of the votes in Assembly races, Democrats won just 36% of the seats), they need to flip just 3 seats in each house to gain a veto-proof majority. This would let them again draw maps that tilt the playing field in their favor and against the will of the people. But beyond just holding our ground, we have a real chance at picking up crucial seats and holding Republicans accountable for their botched response to COVID, their defunding of public education, their systematic attacks on working people, and for the largest corporate giveaway in our country's history. We need all the help we can get. The future of our state hangs in the balance."

RACE ALERT-- This Coming Tuesday Chris Larson Is Up For Milwaukee County Executive

I met Wisconsin state Senator Chris Larson through People for the American Way, when he was one of their most active members of Young Elected Officials. As you may know Blue America has endorsed him in the current race for Milwaukee County Executive, an office that has often led directly to Wisconsin's governorship. I was thrilled yesterday when Michael Keegan, president of People for the American Way, told me that PFAW had endorsed Larson as well. He agreed to write a guest post explaining why. Please give it a read and please consider contributing to Chris' field campaign by clicking on the thermometer below. And by the way, that video up top is absolutely amazing. It isn't like other campaign videos. But what would you expect... Chris isn't like most other people running for office. Chris is part of the future of Milwaukee County, of Wisconsin and of the United States. Southeast Wisconsin progressive legend, Randy IronStache Bryce: "The first time I met Chris was when he stood up to Scott Walker and did everything he could to keep Act 10 from passing. He hasn't stopped standing up for working people since that day. He has the experience we need to get the job done."

Milwaukee is often called one of the country's most segregated cities and is infamously the setting for Matthew Desmond's book Evicted. Larson has promised to address systemic racism by treating racism as the public health crisis it is and centering the voices of all those who have been marginalized in every decision as County Executive. Specifically, he's promised to end family homelessness in his first term, increase mediation services for landlords and tenants as an incentive not to evict so readily, and increase affordable housing. In addition to addressing housing through the lens of racism, Larson has promised to secure dedicated funding for transit (Milwaukee is one of few peer cities that doesn't have it), and ensure bus routes are dismantling, not furthering segregation. Under the Larson Administration, Milwaukee will refuse to deputize local law enforcement agents as ICE agents, fight mass incarceration and ensure all publications that the County puts out represent and celebrate our diverse community.

Wisconsin State Senator Chris Larson Leads The Pack In Key Primary Race
by Michael Keegan

In October 2019, Democratic Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced that he would not seek a third term in office in 2020. Since then, four candidates have stepped up in the nonpartisan primary to fill Abele’s open seat-- and among them, one clearly stands out.

Democratic state Sen. Chris Larson, a lifelong Wisconsinite with twelve years of public service, is running to make sure that the people of Milwaukee County have a leader who will fight for every member of the community, regardless of their race, ethnicity, income or citizenship status.

People For the American Way has witnessed Larson’s career as a public servant blossom for nearly a decade. Larson’s political career began in 2008 at the age of 27 as a Milwaukee County Supervisor. Two years later, he was elected as a state senator. During that time, he’s demonstrated his ability to get the work done on the issues that matter most to the people of Wisconsin, like funding for public schools; accessible, affordable health care; clean water and workers’ bargaining rights.

For example, in 2011, when Republican legislators pushed a bill that would virtually kill Wisconsin’s public-sector unions, Larson didn’t back down. Instead, he stood up for working Wisconsinites and led a nearly month-long walkout with 13 other Democratic state senators. The “fighting 14” left the state, leaving the Senate one vote shy of a quorum and inspiring tens of thousands of working Wisconsinites to join them in protest. An estimated 100,000 convened again to thank the senators upon their homecoming. The most prominent refrain at that rally? “This is what democracy looks like.”

Larson is running on the same progressive values in his campaign for Milwaukee County Executive. He hasn’t accepted a single dollar from any corporate PAC, fossil fuel or dark money groups, and as he has proven in his previous roles, he is committed to using his seat to ensure a better quality of life for his constituents. 

The position of Milwaukee County Executive-- the second-highest executive position in the state-- governs the 952,000 people in the county and the $1.2 billion budget associated with it. Larson has promised to leverage that position and budget to end family homelessness, increase the county’s shared revenue, secure dedicated funding for transit, and protect and county enhance parks and senior centers.

Simply put, Chris Larson has a clear vision for the future, and it’s one in which every person in Milwaukee County has an equal chance at success. PFAW and our Next Up Victory Fund are proud to support dedicated young progressives as they tackle their communities’ challenges head-on. Chris Larson has long shown such leadership, and we’re proud to endorse him for Milwaukee County Executive.

Do You Think Congress Needs More Working Class Members? Or Should It Just Be A Playground For The Wealthy?

At the end of the week, a non-political source, Teen Vogue, featured Nabilah Islam's proposal on behalf of working class candidates. It's something we discussed with Nabilah earlier as part of the Blue America endorsement process. A dedicated advocate for Medicare-for-All, his advocacy for health care for candidates is related but different. The idea is to help elect more working class candidates who, in turn, will advocate more working family-friendly policies. That's not going to happen if only relatively wealthy people can run for Congress. Her idea is pretty simple: allow candidates to use their campaign contributions for health insurance.

She wrote OpEds for both Teen Vogue and Vox. She began her piece for Vox with an all-to-familiar statement: "About four months ago, I canceled my health care plan. A couple of months before that, I put my student loans-- of which I still owe $30,000-- into forbearance. My story isn’t unique among working-class millennials in the country. But what sets me apart is that I had to do all of this because I decided to run for Congress... I’m here to tell you what I’ve learned: Political campaigns are often a pastime for the wealthy, meaning they’re off-limits for working-class people with backgrounds like mine. Let’s start with the fact that it’s nearly impossible to run for Congress while holding down a job. Campaigning is a full-time endeavor that requires having enough money to live without a salary for months on end. It also usually means paying out of pocket for health insurance, forgoing money that could have been put toward a retirement account, buying a house, or caring for loved ones.

All of this might be fine if you’re independently wealthy, but that’s not me. I grew up in Gwinnett County as the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, attending Gwinnett public schools. My father was a file clerk with the IRS for nearly 30 years, and my mother has worked multiple low-wage jobs all my life. I worked odd jobs as a teenager and in college, putting myself through school and helping my family make ends meet.

I never thought I was electable. But 2018, the year we elected the most diverse Congress in history, showed me that “electability” is a myth. So I came back home and worked really hard to put together a grassroots campaign.

And yet, hard work isn’t enough. People like me can do everything in their power to cut costs and climb the ladder, and still find themselves at the bottom financially.

I thought I would be able to hold down a part-time job waitressing or driving for Uber while campaigning, but the demands-- calling and meeting with voters, attending events across my community, pursuing endorsements-- became too high. For a while, I was paying out of pocket for a junk health care plan. It was unfortunately the only plan I could afford, especially since Georgia has refused to expand Medicaid. I knew the plan wouldn’t do much for me if I got sick or got hurt on the trail, so eventually, I canceled it. Having no income also means I’ve eaten enough packets of dollar ramen to last a lifetime.

My situation is difficult, but it’s not unique. Working-class people don’t usually run for Congress, and when they do, they often find themselves struggling like I am. It’s hard to build up independent wealth if you aren’t paid fairly, and women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by the wage gap. I’m struggling to support just myself, and I know it would be nearly impossible for me to continue my bid for Congress if I had a family to care for too. It’s no wonder nearly 40 percent of Congress members are millionaires. Three of my competitors in this race have spent more than $250,000 to self-fund their campaigns.

If we don’t eliminate barriers that prevent candidates from supporting themselves while running for federal office, we’ll continue to see a Congress that’s largely composed of wealthy, older white men. Americans will be deprived of representation by people who understand their lived experiences, and will continue to struggle under mounting student and medical debt.

The Federal Election Commission currently doesn’t allow candidates to use campaign funds for health care. I’m challenging the FEC to change its rules and to explicitly allow working-class candidates to use campaign funds to pay for health care, so at least one hurdle to running for Congress is eliminated for the non-wealthy.

I have hope that the FEC’s position will change. Liuba Grechen Shirley, an activist and founder of Vote Mama, successfully petitioned the FEC to use campaign funding for child care costs in 2018 while running for Congress, and it’s why I’m hoping to change the face of health care funding for candidates for years to come.

Running for Congress has taught me that the process is not designed for the working class. It’s also taught me that voices like my own are badly needed in the House of Representatives. And that starts with creating a system where people like me can run in the first place.

She's been reaching out to progressive members of Congress for advice and support. Today Ro Khanna announced his endorsement for her campaign. Iron worker and former congressional candidate Randy Bryce told me yesterday that "It’s tough enough finding an everyday working person willing to put their life on pause for a while in order to run for Congress but most of us can agree that we need more working people to be elected to Congress. There are already quite a few hurdles. Money is probably the biggest. Not only do we need it to fund a campaign but we need it to pay our bills and it needs to come from a different source. Too many live paycheck to paycheck. One of the biggest worries is health care. Imagine having an amazing campaign that comes screeching to a halt because the candidate can’t afford to go to the doctor? Until we have Medicare for all this is going to be an issue. Appears most of those running for office who would benefit from being covered the most have a M4A platform to make sure all of us have health care. It says a lot to oppose a candidate being allowed to cover their health insurance while expecting them to take care of their staff. We can take care of everyone and we should be looking for ways to remove the hurdles if we really want to see people like us representing people like us. If we don’t we’ll keep having people elected who just view us as money farms.And we still won’t be able to afford to see a doctor ourselves."

I asked some of the other Blue-America endorsed candidates what they think about Nabilah's proposal. Kara Eastman is running for the second time in the Omaha swing district (NE-02) and she's experienced this already. "When I decided to run," she told me, "people told me to pull out my 'Rolodex' and call my friends and ask them for money. As a nonprofit CEO, I asked 2 questions. 'What is a Rolodex?' And 'how will I fund my race with the $50 each one of my nonprofit friends and colleagues can afford to give me?' As a mom, and the primary breadwinner in my family, running is and has been a sacrifice. The system is set up for wealthy people to run since the average net worth of a sitting congressperson is $1 million. Before we finally get around to getting money out of politics, we need to make running more attainable for regular working people. Allowing candidates to use funds for healthcare and childcare would certainly help."

This is Robin Wilt's first congressional campaign, but not the first time she's run for office. "Today, the majority of members of Congress are millionaires," she reminded me, "and the typical congressional representative has an estimated net worth of over $500,000-- roughy fives times the median US household net worth. At the same time we are more likely to be represented by a member of the financially elite, running a Congressional campaign has become increasingly costly. If we don’t want running for and serving in Congress to be exclusively the province of the wealthy-- those who don’t have to pay a mortgage, college tuition or student loans, or other every day real-life expenses-- we need the campaign finance rules that allow fundraising to relieve some of the burdens that are associated with running for office. If more people like Nabilah ran for office, we would have more representatives that share our priorities-- like Medicare for All and legislation to remove money from politics. That’s why we need more people like Nabilah in Congress that share the average Americans experience!"

California Central Valley progressive Kim Williams told us last night that she "grew up in Nabilah’s home county, and I’m behind her 100%. She is spot on when she says that the candidates we need are hampered by a system that supports the candidates we don’t. Like her, I’ve had to make hard choices. I’m a single mom, and I’ve had to maintain my full-time job to support my child. This means I start my day at 4:00 a.m. to get a jump on my day before work and then I drive to events all over the district in the evenings and on weekends. But I have great hope that the system will change, and I know every working class candidate that makes it into office will fight to make sure those behind them have a fair shot. It's why I back Nabilah’s proposal and why I support publicly funded elections."

Rachel Ventura, the Will County reformer running for Congress against New Dem multimillionaire Bill Foster: "I certainly agree with Nabilah that we need to allow candidates to use campaign funds to pay for healthcare. In my first two campaigns I went without insurance and it was unsettling. Working people have it much harder than the 40% of Congress that fall into the millionaire category. The only way we are going to take our democracy back is to build a powerful grassroots movement that can propel working people into the halls of power without corporate campaign contributions. I look forward to fighting alongside Nabilah to pass a Medicare for All system and transform our political system to being one that serves all Americans."

"Running a campaign while working full time," said Arizona progressive and labor activist Eva Putzova, "is almost unheard of and even that is a privilege most people don't have-- they don't have an understanding employer that allows a candidate to flex their time to run. We need a complete overhaul of the campaign finance law and we need campaigns to be publicly funded-- to ensure that it's not just rich and corrupted to have a chance to represent us in Congress. Until we have such system, the campaign finance law should allow candidates to raise money to reasonably replace their income and non-wage benefits, including healthcare."

Unions Are Part Of The Democratic Party Grassroots, But How Many Working Class Men And Women Are In Congress?

It has been part of the neo-liberal movement within the Democratic Party to weaken union power inside of the party-- and even weaken unions in society. As I pointed out on Sunday, the most fervently pro-union member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Lee Carter, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, has not been supported by the state Democratic establishment. Democratic voters love him, but the House leaders who control the party purse-strings didn't back him in 2017 when he flipped a seat they thought was too red to contest and this year they are encouraging a conservative "ex"-Republican pretending to be a Democrat to primary him. They revile the consistency in his stand for working families and for unions. Guess, what-- he's a guy who works with his hands and is a union member. That's why you find him doing stuff like this:

And unions are telling Democrats that that's what they want to see more or, not less of. Maybe that's why Bernie has been steadily pulling ahead of the other candidates, who have only paid tepid and confused lip service to organized labor. An AP report yesterday from Michelle Price and Nick Riccardi ephasized that "As candidates court unions for endorsements, labor leaders say they are listening for a comeback plan. Any proposal aimed at workers 'must include ensuring the opportunity to join a union, no matter where you work, since that’s the best way to raise wages, improve working conditions, create family-sustaining jobs and begin to fix our rigged economy and democracy,' said SEIU president Mary Kay Henry. At a conference of North America’s Building Trades Unions in Washington on Wednesday, several Democratic contenders talked about outlawing so-called 'right to work' laws that prevent unions from automatically deducting dues from members, said the group’s president, Sean McGarvey."

[S]ome key labor leaders are starting to worry about the topics dominating the 2020 conversation.

The candidates are spending too much time talking about esoteric issues like the Senate filibuster and the composition of the Supreme Court and not enough time speaking the language of workers, several union officials said. Those ideas may excite progressive activists, they said, but they risk alienating working-class voters.

“They’ve got to pay attention to kitchen table economics,” said Ted Pappageorge, president of the Las Vegas Culinary Union that represents 60,000 hotel and casino workers. “We don’t quite see that.”

Terry McGowan, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, in Wisconsin, said many of the issues driving the 2020 primary so far are distractions.

“The people that are into politics, the people who like sideshows, they’re into that,” he said, citing the debates over reparations for slavery and immigration as examples. “The masses just want to feed their families.”

The unease may be an early warning sign for Democrats, who watched as many white, working-class voters, including many union members in key Rust Belt states, chose Trump three years ago. Democrats are hoping to win back some of those voters next year, a challenge that is made harder, some argue, by labor’s struggle to build its membership and influence its rank and file. Democrats’ early messages may not help, some said.

...To be sure, many unionists are excited about the presidential field. Contenders include liberal stalwarts like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose campaign became the first in U.S. history with a unionized workforce, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who joined striking Stop & Shop workers on a picket line in New Hampshire on Friday. California Sen. Kamala Harris hired a top Service Employees International Union executive for her campaign and made her first proposal one to raise teacher’s pay... Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the competition in the crowded field has amplified workers voices and issues.

She noted that prominent presidential candidates quickly supported Los Angeles public school teachers when they struck in January. Warren, Sanders, Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker have all proposed various taxes on higher-earning families, a departure from most past Democratic hopefuls who have treaded carefully on the issue.

“It feels different than at other times,” Weingarten said. “There is far more attention and focus on working people’s economic needs.”

Major endorsements are likely several months away, especially because the labor movement is treading carefully after complaints that its leadership was too quick to back Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary over Sanders.

For labor, much is at stake. Despite Republican gains, particularly with trade union members, labor remains an essential part of the Democrats’ coalition. Unions spent $169 million in 2018 on federal elections, largely on Democrats’ behalf, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Democrats won union workers by a strong 59%-39% margin in 2018, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate.

One of the traits we screen for when we figure out which candidates to endorse has to do with how strong their commitments are to organized labor. When we feel a candidate is just mailing it in and not really ready to take hard votes for working families... well, they can go look for an endorsement from the New Dems. These four candidates are very committed to union organizing and will be strong fighters in Congress. Blue America has endorsed each one of them and I hope you'll use the thermometer below to contribute something to any of, or all of, their campaigns.

Marqus Cole is running for a Republican-held seat in suburban Atlanta. He reiterated that his dad "is a public school teacher and union member. My wife Amanda's dad is a commercial pilot and union member. Our lives were shaped by the American idea that a community of people coming together to pool their resources and fight for better wages, quality of life and work conditions is something to be proud of. Organized labor is a partner and key part of the economic engine that makes our country great. I think it is high time that we stop handicapping and sidelining our best tool for getting Americans to access the American dream just because a few billionaires are privately financing their own laws through Republican politicians."

Audrey Denney, a progressive candidate in a rural district up where her state meets Oregon and Nevada, explained that "Workers’ rights in our country have been under attack, and intentionally eroded for the past few decades. This is directly linked to the increasing poverty in our country and the growing gap between rich and poor. Unemployment in my district is significantly higher than the national average (7.4%, compared to 4.9% nationally in 2016). Incomes in CA-01 are less than state averages, and the poverty rate in my district is significantly above the state and national average. Minimum wage has not been increased over the years at the same rate as inflation. In the last 50 years, the minimum wage has effectively decreased in value by one third! In the same fifty years, corporate profits have increased 500% and average CEO salaries have gone up 1,500%. Minimum wage is so low, that for a family of four where both parents work full-time at minimum wage, the family is still below the poverty line. In my district, poor infrastructure and inadequate career and technical education discourage businesses from coming to the area or expanding. We desperartley need a representative who will fight for working families instead and not corporate donors.

Kara Eastman is running against Trump puppet Don Bacon in Omaha. When I asked her about where she is on unions this morning she said "I come from a union family which means something to me. My mother worked cleaning apartments to put food on our table. I have worked for over 20 years in nonprofits serving working individuals and families who have had a weak voice in American politics. But that is starting to change. I am tired of seeing people who work hard, struggle to make it on one salary. I want to work on behalf of families who deserve better than representatives who cater to the interests of corporations over theirs. We need more social workers, nurses, carpenters and teachers in office. Perhaps then, it would be a no-brainer to raise the minimum wage to an actual livable wage. Or maybe then the student debt crisis would be priority one."

Eva Putzova has a different situation. Before she takes on a Republican in her vast Arizona rural district, she has to beat a "former" Republican/current Blue Dog in a tough primary battle. He's a perfect example of someone who pays lip service to unions and then votes against the interests of working families all the time. Eva, who served on the Flagstaff city council, is an organizer herself. "After World War II," she told us yesterday, "over 50% of our workforce was unionized, mostly in the private sector. As the productivity of the economy increased, so did wages. In the last 40 years, anti-union, corporate interests and their representatives in government have made a concerted effort to weaken, and in some industries, eliminate unions altogether. As unions have declined in power so have wages while profits are at an all time high. When elected to Congress I will fight to eliminate anti-labor right-to-work laws, and will support real labor law reform that makes it easier for workers at all levels to be represented by a union. A revitalized labor movement is the key to achieving greater social, racial and economic justice for all American workers."

Randy "Iron Stache" Bryce went heavy on working class men and women feel like they have as much a right to be in Congress as an attorney or businessperson. He has a new outfit now, Iron PAC, which he's using to recruit and prepare working people to run. This morning he told me that "It’s really great to see some incredible pro-labor candidates step forward to run for president. Many of them helped our campaign out in some way, and, I’ll always be very grateful. It was incredible to see Senator Sanders be the first to ever organize a presidential campaign and voluntarily recognize a union. I know our staff appreciated that. It sent a message that those who do the work of moving a campaign along are worth taking care of. (Also thank you Rep. Swalwell for following suit.) Many voters have an issue that is important to them. I have several. In these times, we need a lot of help as organized labor has been under attack for far too long. Some people think that there are issues that aren’t as important as others. Let me just put in that this isn’t just an election. We’re building a movement. If some of those ideas advocate for equality for a gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, or race and they aren’t viewed as being important then we are leaving people behind. We are turning our back on strength. This is going to take everybody to win. We can’t afford the alternative."

Your Taxes Are Due Before Midnight-- So... A Good Day For Democratic Candidates To Send Out Contribution E-Mails

Some people do it right-- and some don't. Three that came in early that demonstrate how to do it are by a progressive candidate in Georgia, Marqus Cole, a progressive Northern California candidate, Audrey Denney, and a new progressive action committee run by Randy Bryce. Let's start with Cole, who's running to flip a Republican seat in the suburbs northwest of Atlanta. (Note: Marqus told me he writes his e-mails himself, the way Alan Grayson always did and few other candidates even try to do. Most hire consultants to handle that chore, which explains why they come across as so woefully inauthentic.)

This tax season, middle-class Americans are finding that their tax refunds have shrunk -- while millionaires and corporations are still rejoicing over their enormous tax cuts. Thanks to President Trump and Mitch McConnell’s tax plan, 60 companies-- including Amazon, Netflix, and Chevron-- will pay $0 on their BILLIONS in profits this year.

Placing the full burden of taxes on everyday Americans while the rich get richer is NOT just-- it’s morally and ethically wrong.

I’ve spent my career fighting for folks to get a fair shake. In Congress, I’ll make sure that we all have to pay our fair share of taxes-- starting at the top. Pitch in now to join me in the fight for the middle class.

Make no mistake: the GOP tax plan was paid for by billionaires and corporate executives. According to the Center for Public Integrity, wealthy donors donated over $30 MILLION to Republicans in just TWO MONTHS to get their 2018 tax plan passed.

It’s not easy to call out big donors and powerful companies, but I’m choosing to tell the truth because I don’t need their support-- I know that our campaign is fueled by grassroots donors who share a vision for an America that works for ALL its people.

It’s time to simplify the tax code and close loopholes that allow the rich to avoid paying their fair share. Will you join my campaign as we fight for middle-class American families like yours?

My family isn’t part of the 1%. I’m pretty sure yours isn’t either, Howard. We work hard to make ends meet and do our best to save for our childrens’ future. We’re right here in this fight with you.

  In solidarity,

Marqus

Like that approach? There's more to think about than just "give me some money because Trump is horrible." If you like it and want to help elect a progressive Democrat to replace a Republican in Georgia-- in a district Stacey Abrams won-- please click on the Blue America thermometer above and contribute what you can to Marqus' campaign. And here's another good approach, this one from Audrey Denney:

Audrey started with a simple, "Friend, it's Tax Day!" And then lit into her district's very conservative Republican congressman and Trump apologist and enabler.

That reminds me of something. My opponent, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, spent much of the last election touting and defending the Trump “tax cuts.” He said the average family in our district would see an extra $4,000 in their pockets this year.

I am hearing regularly from people all over our district who have not experienced this promised reduction. So I have one simple question: Did you experience an extra $4,000 this tax season, or did our Congressman break his promise? We need a representative who can deliver real results and accurate information to the people of Northern California, not the same politicians who mislead their constituents in the name of political gain. It’s time for fresh leadership.

Hold Rep. Doug LaMalfa accountable to his word: let us know whether or not you experienced having another $4,000 in your pocket this past year.

Now, the Iron PAC, is Randy Bryce's new outfit, meant to helping working class candidates get elected to Congress. Randy decided to use Tax Day to hone in on one bad Republican incumbent he's hoping to see defeated in 2020, Florida's Vern Buchanan. Here's the e-mail he sent out yesterday-- short, sweet and right to the point:

With tomorrow’s tax deadline coming up, we can’t stop thinking about Rep. Vern Buchanan, who bought himself a new yacht the same day he voted to give himself a $2.1+ million tax cut.

More than half of members of Congress are millionaires--they can’t relate to the issues people struggling to make car payments are dealing with.

Here’s my promise to you: with your support, Iron PAC will seek out and support working people who do more than acknowledge that the middle class is struggling. Iron PAC will work with men and women who are struggling and give them the tools to fix our country.

Can you chip in $5 to help Vern and his plutocrat buddies spend a little more time on their yachts, and give our country back to the people who built it?

What Conservative Dems-- The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party-- Don't Want

The Green New Deal is complicated and partially abstract and certainly not easy to understand for an idiot. It's aspirational too. Medicare-For-All isn't as complicated, but it's complicated too. You know what's not complicated? Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a semi-livable wage. That;'s pretty straight forward. But it's something that infuriates conservatives almost as much as the Green New Deal and Medicare For All do. Conservatives have always opposed the minimum wage and always opposed raising the minimum wage.

In the late 1800s anti sweatshop activism began gaining strength in Australian, the U.K. and the U.S., leading to calls for minimum wages. Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the U.S. in 1912. A decade later there were 15 states with minimum wage laws. The very conservative Supreme Court kept striking them down, declaring them unconstitutional, because they interfered with the ability of employers to freely negotiate wage contracts with employees. And then came the bane of every conservative heart: the New Deal. The Supreme Court struck down the first national minimum wage in the '30s. After FDR was reelected in the biggest landslide in history in 1936 and started discussing putting more justices on the court, the conservatives on the court finally saw the light and ruled a minimum wage law constitutional. The federal minimum wage started at 25 cents an hour and by 1990 it had grown to $3.80. Today the federal minimum wage is $7.25, although only $2.13 for "tipped labor."

Most of the states in the Old Confederacy-- particularly where Republicans have complete control-- don't have any minimum wage at all, of course-- Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee. Georgia's is $5.15. California, Washington and Massachusetts have the highest minimum wages among states-- $12.00 that will gradually rise, along with New York's and New Jersey's, to $15.00.

Every passage in every jurisdiction and every increase has been fought by conservatives. That has usually broken down to meaning that nearly all Republicans oppose it and nearly all Democrats support it. But something's changing. Not in the Republican party; they're as opposed to workers' having the ability to live with any sense of dignity as they ever were. Unfortunately, the change comes among Democrats. Starting with Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party began catering more to corporate and financial interests and less to unions and workers. That ugly neoliberal trend has accelerated since Clinton's presidency and now we have immense power resting in the hands of the Blue Dogs and New Dems in Congress, perhaps enough to kill the super-popular calls for a $15 national minimum wage. Let me start by making sure you know who, very specifically, the New Dems are. Almost every Blue Dog is also a New Dem; the only 6 who aren't are Jeff Van Drew (NJ), Filemon Vela (TX), Sanford Bishop (GA), Mike Thompson (CA), Collin Peterson (MN) and Dan Lipinski (IL). This is, at least in the House, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party:

• Pete Aguilar (CA)
• Colin Allred (TX)
• Cindy Axne (IA)
• Ami Bera (CA)
• Don Beyer (VA)
• Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)
• Brendan Boyle (PA)
• Anthony Brindisi (NY)
• Anthony Brown (MD)
• Julia Brownley (CA)
• Cheri Bustos (IL)
• Salud Carbajal (CA)
• Tony Cárdenas (CA)
• André Carson (IN)
• Ed Case (HI)
• Sean Casten (IL)
• Joaquin Castro (TX)
• Gil Cisneros (CA)
• Gerry Connolly (VA)
• Jim Cooper (TN)
• Lou Correa (CA)
• Jim Costa (CA)
• Angie Craig (MN)
• Charlie Crist (FL)
• Jason Crow (CO)
• Henry Cuellar (TX)
• Joe Cunningham (SC)
• Sharice Davids (KS)
• Susan Davis (CA)
• Madeleine Dean (PA)
• Suzan DelBene (WA), vice-chair
• Val Demings (FL)
• Eliot Engels (NY)
• Veronica Escobar (TX)
• Lizzie Fletcher (TX)
• Bill Foster (IL)
• Vicente Gonzalez (TX)
• Josh Gottheimer (NJ)
• Josh Harder (CA)
• Denny Heck (WA)
• Katie Hill (CA)
• Jim Himes (CT)
• Kendra Horn (OK)
• Steven Horsford (NV)
• Chrissy Houlahan (PA)
• Bill Keating (MA)
• Derek Kilmer (WA), chairman
• Ron Kind (WI)
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)
• Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL)
• Ann Kuster (NH), vice-chair
• Rick Larsen (WA)
• Brenda Lawrence (MI)
• Al Lawson (FL)
• Susie Lee (NV)
• Elaine Luria (VA)
• Tom Malinowski (NJ)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (NY)
• Ben McAdams (UT)
• Lucy McBath (GA)
• Donald McEachin (VA)
• Gregory Meeks (NY)
• Seth Moulton (MA)
• Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL)
• Stephanie Murphy (FL)
• Donald Norcross (NJ)
• Tom O'Halleran (AZ)
• Chris Pappas (NH)
• Ed Perlmutter (CO)
• Scott Peters (CA), vice-chair
• Dean Phillips (MN)
• Mike Quigley (IL)
• Kathleen Rice (NY)
• Cedric Richmond (LA)
• Max Rose (NY)
• Harley Rouda (CA)
• Raul Ruiz (CA)
• Adam Schiff (CA)
• Brad Schneider (IL)
• Kurt Schrader (OR)
• Kim Schrier (WA)
• David Scott (GA)
• Terri Sewell (AL), vice-chair
• Mike Sherrill (NJ)
• Elissa Slotkin (MI)
• Adam Smith (WA)
• Darren Soto (FL)
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)
• Greg Stanton (AZ)
• Haley Stevens (MI)
• Tom Suozzi (NY)
• Norma Torres (CA)
• Xochitl Torres-Small (NM)
• Lori Trahan (MA)
• David Trone (MD)
• Juan Vargas (CA)
• Marc Veasey (TX)
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
• Jennifer Wexton (VA)
• Susan Wild (PA)

It's Wall Street financed, pro-corporate, anti-labor organization, but not every member is anti-worker-- or at least not every member can manifest anti-worker tendencies given the constituencies they represent. And these are the people, for the most part, who went whining to Pelosi and Bustos about being protected against primaries. Some aren't even members because of the ideology but because of the corruption, since the New Dems are the nexus of bribery in the House.

Now, with all that in mind, let's consider how the New Dems are leading the opposition to the progressive plan to pass a $15 minimum wage bill, which the Democrats can certainly do and which Democratic and independent (and even Republican) voters very much want. The big campaign contributors who pay for the cushy careers of the New Dems don't want it. Take a look at this polling of registered voters. The majority of Americans want that raise of $15, which Bernie has already proposed in the Senate and has integrated into his presidential platform and campaign.

According to these pollsters 70% of Republican voters want a higher federal wage floor, with 36% supporting $15 per hour. Thirty percent of GOP respondents said they wanted to keep the amount the same, reduce it or eliminate it. A majority of both Democratic (73%) and independent voters (53%) support a $15 rate. Minimum wage increases are broadly popular across all demographic groups. The $15 proposal was supported by a majority of all age groups in the Hill-HarrisX poll. Now read this carefully, because it's going to help you understand what the New Dems are all about and who they really are and why it's foolish to help get them elected:

Support for a higher minimum wage also is strong across the ideological spectrum. Seventy-seven percent of self-described "strong liberals" supported an increase to $15, as did 66 percent of respondents who said they lean liberal. Sixty percent of moderates backed the proposal as well.

Among those who described themselves as strongly conservative or leaning conservative, support for increasing the wage to $15 did not reach majority levels; however, a majority wanted an increase to an amount above $7.25.

Seventy-two percent of respondents who said they leaned conservative indicated they wanted an increase of some amount, as did 67 percent of strongly conservative respondents.

Eva Putzova, who is running for Congress against an "ex"-Republican Blue Dog/New Dem, Tom O'Halleran, is the chair of the Flagstaff Living Wage Coalition. She reminded us that "Not a single ballot measure raising the minimum wage has ever failed-- not in a blue state or a red state. In Flagstaff, we raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour through a local initiative that was on the same ballot in 2016 as the increase of the Arizona's state minimum wage to $12 per hour. Raising the minimum wage is simply what people want. When the Raise the Wage Act passes (and I hope it will), it will be the first time in the history of this country that at least one chamber of Congress legislates the full minimum wage for tipped workers, most of whom are women and many are people of color and immigrants. The federal subminimum tipped wage has been frozen at an exploitative $2.13 since 1991 thanks to the power, money and influence of the "other NRA." Living mostly off tips forces tipped workers to tolerate sexual harassment and leads to economic instability for millions of families across the country. If Congress cares more about working families and women than short-term corporate interests, $15 per hour will be the new minimum wage floor. In the long run, even corporations benefit from stronger consumer purchasing power that comes with higher wages and more economic security."

Writing for Politico yesterday, Sarah Ferris reported on the New Dem/Blue Dog push to kill the $15 minimum wage legislation, calling it a broadening rift between the party’s progressive and moderate members, insisting on calling the conservatives from the Republican wing of the party, "moderates," the most admired political term among American voters and an implication that progressives are something other than moderate-- like extreme or radical. That's ALWAYS the Beltway media. Watch how Ferris subtly frames the news against progressives, even knowing that a majority of Americans want to $15 minimum wage.

Progressive leaders in the House are attempting to stamp out a push by some red state Democrats to soften the party’s $15-an-hour minimum wage proposal, which they see as a betrayal of last fall’s campaign promises.

Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are now lobbying fellow Democrats to help extinguish a competing plan backed by more than a dozen moderates that would permit lower hourly wages in more rural areas. And they’re prepared to wield the power of the 96-member caucus to ensure their full $15-an-hour proposal reaches the floor.

“We want to pass a full $15 minimum wage bill. Not a regional bill. We’re very clear about that,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said in an interview. “Being in Congress means leading, and we need to lead on minimum wage.”

Democratic leaders have publicly and privately committed to passing a universal $15-an-hour wage, a priority that they say helped deliver the House majority. But the idea is running into some resistance from moderates in red states like Georgia, Iowa and Alabama, who have balked at doubling the federal minimum wage over a five-year stretch because they fear it will cost jobs, and votes, back home.

And with the $15-an-hour proposal still short on votes, some progressives fear that Democratic leaders will be forced to soften their signature bill to win over moderates, even though it will still go nowhere in the Senate.

A group of Democrats, led by Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, plan to introduce their own bill Thursday morning that would create a “regional” minimum wage-- based on local cost of living-- instead. Thirteen Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors as of Wednesday afternoon, but that number could grow, according to Sewell’s office.

Sewell is a corrupt conservative who represents the 431st (out of 435) poorest district, in terms of median income. 64% of her constituents are African-Americans and the PVI is R+20. Do you think Blue America should tell her constituents with radio and TV ads that she's leading the fight against increasing the minimum wage to $15 on behalf of her corporate campaign donors? I suspect they wouldn't be all that pleased. A vice-chair of the New Dems, she's more loyal to them than to her own constituents. Just outrageous!

Supporters include freshmen Democrats like Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia and Dean Phillips of Minnesota-- who is a small business owner who pays his own workers $15-an-hour but has said it is not a “one-size-fits-all wage.”

Sewell’s bill would dramatically slow the wage hikes in hundreds of smaller cities from Cincinnati to St. Louis compared to metropolis areas like San Francisco and New York.

But many other Democrats-- including House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, the chief author of the $15-an-hour minimum wage bill-- detest the idea.

“Low income areas would be locked in to lower wages. We don’t have differentiated payments for Social Security,” the Virginia Democrat said in an interview.

The introduction of Sewell's bill on Thursday will intensify a brewing clash between progressives and some moderates that has taken mostly behind the scenes.

Tension erupted last month at a meeting of New Democrats Coalition, as Scott dismissed the idea of a regional bill-- in a roomful of moderates [not moderates-- conservatives], many of whom supported Sewell's bill-- as he sought to sell his own.

Supporters of Scott's bill-- including virtually all CPC members, who got a private briefing from Scott on the bill in January-- have argued that the competing proposal is costing votes and stalling the party’s hallmark $15-an-hour policy from reaching the floor.

“The regional minimum wage proposal is a clear attempt to water down the Raise the Wage Act,” an aide to one progressive member said. “Poverty wages shouldn’t be acceptable anywhere in America.”

Progressive leaders are now stepping up the pressure on Democratic leaders to fend off changes to the $15-an-hour bill, possibly hinting at the first time the CPC decides to go to the mat to defend a progressive priority.

So far in the majority, the CPC has mostly refrained from aggressive tactics to ensure their top agenda items make it to the floor. But some members and aides are eying the battle over the minimum wage bill as the first real test for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants to prove their commitment to a progressive agenda, even if it means cornering moderates on a difficult issue in their districts.

"We're getting to get a vote on the $15-an-hour. I think there's just too much pressure that's going to build up on our caucus to do that. That was the commitment," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) said in an interview. "We need to follow through on that."

They argue that Sewell's bill would also raise wages, only more slowly. Cities like El Paso, Texas, and Topeka, Kansas would need to raise their wages to $8.10 next year, while wages would jump to at least $10.60 in sprawling cities like San Francisco, Washington and New York City.

“More than doubling the wage over five years is going to result in lost jobs,” an aide to a member in favor of a regional wage bill said. “A lot of people would prefer to have a $10 wage than no job.”

Scott and other critics of the idea are quick to point out the flaws of the bill, as well, such as a congressional district in New Hampshire that would have three different minimum wages. Critics have also pointed out that Sewell's bill would result in sharp spikes in the minimum wage in certain areas, like a $3 increase in Virginia next year alone.

Some moderates have argued that Sewell's bill has interest from Republicans, unlike the Democrats' dream proposal, but long-time Democrats argue they need to send the message to their base.

“I think if it's not gonna go anywhere, I think we’ve got to make a statement. We’re for living wage everywhere,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who is a cosponsor of Scott's bill.

Marie Newman, a champion of a $15 minimum wage is working on a rematch with reactionary Blue Dog Dan Lipinski in a solid blue Chicagoland seat. She nearly beat him last time and his fellow Blue Dogs fear she will easily do so this cycle. This morning, she told us that "One of the things I am most proud of about my 2018 primary challenge to Dan Lipinski, is that we forced him to change his stance on $15/hr. He went from contending '$12 is enough', to signing on to the current $15/hr legislation in the last 6 weeks of the campaign. The district and I pushed him hard. It was worth it. I cannot stress how important this legislation is to our country. In an environment where 80% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck and we have an ever-escalating patchwork of jobs phenomenon (the situation where people must cobble 2-4 jobs together to make ends meet on a consistent basis), we need hardworking folks to be paid for their efforts. The dignity of work is our bedrock in the U.S. We must give hard work dignity. We must."

Tom Guild lives in a red district based around Oklahoma City. His freshman Rep, Kendra Horn, is a big disappointment to Democrats nd many have been urging Tom to primary her. I suspect that her posture on the minimum wage legislation is going to be a key determinant for him. Early this morning, he told us that "It’s easy for members of the U.S. Congress to pontificate on a $15 minimum wage. After all, each member of the U.S. House or Senate is guaranteed $285,000 in salary and benefits each year. They are guaranteed the same lofty compensation shortly after joining Congress, even if they are involuntarily retired from the House or Senate by voters who think they did a lousy job of representing them. For folks with a golden spoon in their mouths and a lucrative retirement to die for, it’s apparently easy to be hard. Phasing in a $15 minimum wage is the right thing to do. The longer we wait, we may need to phase in a much higher dollar amount. In Oklahoma, a relatively low cost of living state, $15 an hour would allow an individual to survive and to take an annual three day vacation-- to Tulsa! $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. A person can’t survive anywhere in the country on $7.25 without roommates, second or third jobs, or a patron saint helping them along the way. It’s easy to be hard. It’s apparently easy to be hard-- especially if you have a guaranteed $285,000 job at taxpayer expense. It sounds suspiciously like “socialism” to me. It is way beyond time to bring hard working Americans, many of them single parents with hungry mouths to feed, up to a level where they are not living in poverty while working full time. If not now, when? If not us, who will do the right thing to help our beloved neighbors?"

If you know who Randy Bryce, you know that when it comes to working people, he knows what he;'s talking about. Last night, he told me that "Republicans view average citizens as 'money farms' instead of people. They all believe that they are destined to win the lottery and when they do-- you’d best be ready to help them maintain their lavish lifestyle. We have a few Democrats who also don’t seem to see things as the rest of us do. They view the .01% as benefactors who donate to their campaigns which allows them not to need a job that may require them getting their hands dirty. The same party that rails against socialism for people is fully complicit allowing corporations-- who they see as people-- to receive handouts. That doesn’t make any sense to me especially considering that we have an existing tax code that allows for loopholes that don’t require people to pay into the pot that their hands are continually taking things out of. When it comes to fair pay for a day’s work it shouldn’t be too much to ask for one full time job to be enough to pay one’s bills. A livable wage will keep people from needing government assistance but it won’t keep corporations from grabbing every penny that they can. What will it take to start seeing the companies that get tax breaks but refuse to pay their employees a fair wage as a freeloader instead of the woman or man trying to feed their child? Raising the minimum wage isn’t about getting wealthy. It’s about dignity. Every time I hear a rich CEO state that 'hard work has gotten me where I am,' I follow with the question" 'who’s hard work'?"

Is this part of why Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina...? Sewell and the New Dems are taking a position identical to the one that just about mandated that Hillary Clinton lose the 2016 election to... Trump.

UPDATE: From Texas

Mike Siegel: "I support a $15 minimum wage, period. We need a living wage for American workers, and $15 will be a strong step in the right direction. We need to address the massive wealth inequality in this country, and a $15 wage will help. We need to address homelessness, access to transportation, and mental health-- and $15 an hour make an impact. No one should be forced to work two and three jobs just to survive. Raising the minimum wage is one of the most important things we can do to guarantee the economic security of our workers."