This story has a happy ending-- but it didn't always seem like it would while Kate Aronoff was writing it in real time last week in Austin. The big Texas AFL-CIO convention was considering which candidates to endorse for November.
-by Tomas Ramoscandidate for Congress, NY-15July 2016, that was the first time that I entered Bronx River Community Center-- while I was excited about the prospects of being a community educator and organizer, little did I realize that this moment would alter the rest of my life. As I toured the center, I was in awe of this beautiful space that was located in the middle of one of the largest public housing developments in the Bronx.
The most recent candidate endorsed by Blue America, Nabilah Islam, sometimes stands out from the crowd because of her name, which for old people, doesn't sound like a name from the Georgia suburbs. Others (men) remark not on her name but on her physical appearance. What people don't realize-- at least not until they get to know her is that Nabilah, despite how she looks and what he name is, is both an All-American girl and a policy wonk.
A little less than 2 weeks ago, the House passed H.R. 1230, Bobby Scott's Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. Every single Democrat plus 34Republicans voted for it. Who could possibly be against protecting older workers from discrimination.
Washington's 5th congressional district takes up the entire eastern end of the state, from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and right along the Idaho border. The biggest population center is Spokane and most of the votes come from Spokane County, a swing county. The other three counties are Walla Walla, another swing county, Whitman, a blue county and Stevens, a red county.
If this was still the 1960's-- when Bobby Rush was a co-founder of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers-- you might scratch your head and wonder how he could have endorsed a multi-billionaire former Republican mayor of New York who instituted a stop and frisk policy aimed directly at African-Americans.
Maryland's 7th congressional district-- plus the suburbs and small towns to the west and to the north of the city including Ellicott City, Cooksville and Columbia-- is so blue (D+26) that the election that matters is not in November but 43 days from today-- primary day in Maryland. Whichever Democrat wins on that day, will be the next Congress member. The choice isn't between a Democrat and a Republican.
