AZ-01

-by Eva PutzovaIt’s been a bit over a month since my bid for a congressional seat ended with winning 41.4 percent of the vote in one of the largest districts in the country in the midst of a global pandemic.

I think primaries are really important and really democratic-- especially in one of the scores of districts where the only realistic accountability is through a primary challenge. Obviously, many incumbents hate them. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about being accountable to the constituents! I might go for the idea, if "none of the above" was an option in every election.

Over the weekend, Blue America launched a last-minute fundraising drive for the one progressive challenger running for Congress in Arizona, Eva Putzova. 24 hours later, 61 contributors had raised $1,567 for her last minute push-- an average of around $26 a person.

For Blue America, primary season is rapidly coming to a close-- there are just a few left. We helped with some spectacular wins this cycle-- Kara Eastman in Omaha, Marie Newman in Chicago, Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones in New York, Liam O'Mara and Audrey Denney in California... Mike Siegel (TX-10) and Lisa Ring (GA-01) came in first in their primaries and Mike's runoff is next week (July 14) and Lisa's is August 11th.

Safford, Arizona, Graham County seat is northeast of Tucson and 81% white. In 2016, the county itself-- part of the sprawling first congressional district-- gave Trump a massive 67.2% to 27.6% win over Hillary and gave McCain a similarly lopsided win to John McCain over Ann Kirkpatrick.

Earlier today, in the post about expanding The Squad, Flagstaff progressive Eva Putzova noted that "the future of this planet depends on this country getting a bigger squad." That was about the boldest comment any candidate I asked ventured. But boldness comes naturally to Eva, more so than most other congressional candidates.

Conservative Arizona Democrats McGuire and O'HalleranBlue Dog Tom O'Halleran served in the Arizona House of Representatives (as a Republican) from 2001 to 2006. He won a state Senate seat 2006 but was defeated in a GOP primary in 2008. He never served in the same chamber at the same time with conservative Democrat Barbara McGuire. She won a state House seat in 2006 and was defeated in 2010.

by Eva PutzovaCandidate for Congress (AZ-01)Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the historic Raise the Wage Act (H.R.582).

The DeSmog blog endeavors “to clear the p.r. pollution that clouds climate science” and last week they worked on clearing it about the grotesquely misnamed Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), an operation currently supporting the fossil fools’ pushback against environmental lawsuits. Phil Goldberg is a former lobbyist for coal giant Peabody Energy. Today he’s running that PPI pushback.

You may recall that a few weeks ago, a Koch brothers’ spokeswoman announced that their network is now willing to finance political campaigns for Democrats who are "in step with Koch policies." Koch policies? Koch policies are first and foremost their business bottom line. Any study of their pattern of political giving shows what being in step with the Koch policies means: slashing government regulations that protect workers and the environment.