Yesterday Randy Bryce, the woke iron worker, union and veterans activist, former Bernie delegate (and Hillary elector) announced his candidacy for the seat Paul Ryan holds in southeast Wisconsin. We dedicated the whole day to it; it’s that important. We were unable to comment on two other new candidates though-- one, literally the worst possible Nebraska “Democrat” you could ever conjure up and the other, a great first time candidate is New Jersey. The first is an old reject, conservative former Republican legislator, Brad Ashford, who joined the Blue Dogs, served one term in Congress, supported the GOP agenda-- he was even worse than Kyrsten Sinema-- and then lost his reelection when progressives refused to turn out for him at the polls. Ashford is the only member of Congress I’ve ever referred to as a “piece of shit.” He voted more frequently against progressive goals in the House than any other Democrat, if you want to call him a Democrat. The DCCC, which does want to call him a Democrat, just could not wait to try to get him back into Congress. He's exactly what they want in a candidate. I don’t know anything about the other Democrat in the race, Kara Eastman, but she couldn’t possibly be as bad as Ashford. The Omaha World-Herald pointed out that Ashford was “one of the House members most likely to cross the aisle on major votes [which] bolstered his credentials as a moderate but routinely prompted sharply worded denunciations from rank-and-file Nebraska Democrats on social media.” They got two things wrong: 1- he was the member most likely to cross the aisle and 2- that bolstered his credentials as a conservative, not as a moderate.The other race that was announced Monday, the one we’re more interested in, is for the South Jersey seat occupied by one of the devious architects of TrumpCare 2.0, reactionary multimillionaire Tom MacArthur. The Democrat running is Andy Kim, a former Obama White House national security official who coordinated the fight against ISIS inside the National Security Council, after working at the Pentagon, the State Department and in Afghanistan as a strategic adviser to General David Petraeus. Andy was a Rhodes Scholar and received a Doctorate in International Relations from Oxford after going to the University of Chicago. Andy, his wife, Kammy Lai and their 21 month old son, Austin, live in Marlton, just down the road from the school where Andy attended kindergarten.In a statement, he told NJ-03 voters that he’s been traveling around the 2 counties-- Ocean and Burlington-- that make up the divergent district and speaking with people from the suburbs Northeast of Philly, through Shamong, Lacey and Stafford townships and up to Toms River and Brick, and that he sees “a groundswell of energy I’ve never seen before. People want change. They want leaders to take the time to listen, and build a system that puts people first. People in the Jersey Third have told me that they are scared about their futures. They worry about getting good paying jobs, having affordable healthcare, and ensuring their family’s safety.” He continued that he’s “running for Congress because we can no longer take democracy for granted, the people's voice needs to be heard. I am stepping up because no one can assume that someone else will fight on our behalf. I have spent my life serving my country. I will be honored to serve as the next Congressman from the Jersey Third.”
Last month, I watched Representative Tom MacArthur rush a vote on a dire healthcare bill without letting the American people understand the consequences. Under Trumpcare, tens of thousands of people in our congressional district will lose their healthcare.Nobody voted to send a representative to Congress to gut healthcare. I’m running for Congress to work on solutions, and fix problems, not on gutting healthcare to win a political fight.I grew up in South Jersey. It’s where I hit my first home run, earned my first paycheck, and received an incredible public education that opened up a world of opportunity.My wife, Kammy, and I have a 21-month-old boy and another baby on the way. As parents, we have to think not only about our future, but the future of our children, and the world they are going to live in, even beyond our own lifetimes.I never thought I would run for Congress. I am doing this because I believe it is the right thing to do. I believe we need a new generation of leaders in Congress that are focused on representing the people and finding solutions. We need leaders who want to serve the people, represent their neighbors, and work together to build a stronger nation.
This morning I asked Andy Kim how he feels about some of the legislation we’re following, especially Ted Lieu’s infrastructure bill and John Conyers’ Medicare-for All bill. He hadn’t read either specific bill yet, but he was very supportive of each. "People in South Jersey and across this country,” he said, “want real solutions. They want our government to invest in the big ideas that will help re-energize our communities and give people the stability and hope they deserve. This means we need health care for everyone no matter if they are rich or poor because health care is a right. That must be a top priority because tens of millions of Americans without insurance is a disaster. Infrastructure is another place where we need bold solutions. We need to think big because this can't be done incrementally and needs vision, big ideas, and strong leadership to make the right investments in our future. Not only would this help create jobs, it is absolutely necessary to reinvigorate and revitalize our nation for decades to come."