Oklahoma Needs A Progressive In Congress Again-- Meet Tom Guild

The "most Democratic" congressional district in Oklahoma is the 5th, which includes Oklahoma City, Edmund and Shawnee. The PVI is "only" R+12 and it's the only district in the state where Obama broke 40-- albeit barely-- against McCain and also against Romney. (Obama won 33% statewide last year.) The incumbent is Tea Party extremist James Lankford and last year his Democratic opponent was Tom Guild, who scored 37%, just a percent below the only Democratic candidate the DCCC got behind, very conservative Blue Dog Rob Wallace in the second district. Tom got more votes than any other Democrat running for Congress in the state. The DCCC ignored Guild's race because he's an actual Democrat who ran, unlike Wallce, on Democratic values and principles. Why would the DCCC help anyone like that when they could waste their money on a GOP-lite loser like Wallace?

Lankford, a religious fanatic, is a dangerous crackpot very far from the American mainstream of political thought. He adamantly oposes progressive income and estate taxes and backs regressive sales taxes that allow the wealthy to get off pretty much scott free and penalizes ordinary working families harshly. He backs the bizarre European Austerity agenda that has devastated the economies of country after country across the European Union. On top of that, he's an avowed enemy of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (not to mention the Affiordable Care Act) and he's considered one of the NRA's most devoted zombies. He's violently anti-gay and anti-Choice and doesn't think government has a role in regulating businesses. He raised $1,155,959 last cycle against Guild's $151,633.

Next year Tom Guild is running against him again. Please watch his very straight forward biographical video above. And if you want to help him win this race, you can do it here. Instead of running twisting himself into a Blue Dog, Tom is running on the values that make him a Democrat and a progressive. He's met with Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has every intention in joining the caucus when he's elected. He has no intention of being another red state Democrat who votes with the Republicans on core issues. He is adamantly pro-Choice and supports full equality for women across the board-- from health care decisions to economic opportunities. When's the last time a congressional candidate in Oklahoma came right out and said he supports full equality for the LGBT community? But what distinguishes Tom from the kinds of Blue Dogs and New Dems the DCCC backs in red states, is that he believes in the ability of the government to be a counterbalance on the side of ordinary working families faced with the enormous power of Big Business. While New Dems and Blue Dogs have been busy joining Republicans to scuttle common sense regulations to regulate the Wall Street banksters, this is what Tom had to say about Wall Street reform on his website:

In light of recent experience, we need to have stronger regulation of Wall Street. We need Wall Street reform to stop current and future abuses, to hold big banks accountable for their actions and to ensure that American taxpayers will not have to bail out the financial industry again. We need to create strong consumer protections that will shield American consumers. The “too big to fail” mentality must be abandoned. By reforming the system, we can protect American taxpayers and make sure that they are not forced to bail out irresponsible corporate executives, who in some cases earn tens of millions of dollars in annual bonuses.

Related: "I will work to overturn Citizens United."

Tom told me he is opposed to the schemes to cut Social Security benefits by using tricks like Chained CPI. Lankford goes beyond just wanting to use Chained CPI to reduce benefits for retired people. He wants to privatize Social Security altogether, "Some of the same attacks that FDR dealt with are still made on Democrats who work to protect seniors and others who are vulnerable in our society," writes Guild. "Many in the other party... favor gutting Social Security by privatizing its accounts, effectively destroying the financial base which makes the program not only popular, but possible." On issue after issue, from healthcare to public education, Guild is unambiguous that he will be a fighter on the side of working families and he;s not afraid of coming right out and making declarative, no wiggle room statements like "I am against a War on Iran."

In the early 60's, Oklahoma started transitioning from a one party Democratic state to a one party Republican state, which is what it is now. With the retirement of Blue Dog Dan Boren, who virtually voted with the GOP on every single important issue, Oklahoma's entire congressional delegation is now conservative Republican. Guild hopes to change that. He says that "Democratic growth has begun and accelerated in the urban areas, particularly the Oklahoma City metro area, where I will be running." He's hopeful that the DCCC will jump into the race if he can show financial viability. I'm less certain Steve Israel would ever get behind someone as progressive as Tom Guild but I certainly recommend we give Tom the chance to give Israel the chance! Please join me in contributing to his campaign here. "We started 14 months earlier this time and have now knocked more than 10,100 doors since February 2013 and continue to knock doors every day.  We feel that the money and grassroots activities we raised and engaged in in 2012 are an investment that will pay off in 2014.  We continue to build on that grassroots work."



This is a quote from an editorial in the Houston Chronicle that was written about a progressive Democratic candidate running in another deep red district. I thought it is one worth keeping in mind in regard to Tom's race as well: "Challengers for these sorts of safe seats have a dual duty: Try to win a race in unfriendly territory, but also lay groundwork to help future candidates. From that perspective, there is something to be said for Lissa Squiers' approach of taking the strongest position possible and unapologetically charging forward."