Former Bernie Sanders operative Pete D'Alessandro to run for Congress in Iowa

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Former Bernie Sanders operative to run for Congress in Iowa

Pete D’Alessandro, who helped guide Vermont senator to virtual
tie in Iowa caucuses, will seek swing seat in third district in big test
of progressive grassroots

Ben Jacobs in Washington
Tuesday 25 April 2017 17.32 BST

The grassroots movement that fueled Bernie Sanders’ rise to prominence in the 2016 Democratic primary has just produced one of its first congressional candidates.

The Guardian has learned that Pete D’Alessandro, who helped guide the Vermont senator to a virtual tie with frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses, will announce he is exploring a bid for Congress in Iowa’s third congressional district on Tuesday.

D’Alessandro is a veteran political operative who worked on campaigns for Paul Wellstone, Bill Bradley and a number of Iowa Democrats before becoming Bernie Sanders’ first campaign staffer in Iowa in the summer of 2015.

The district is a swing seat comprising Des Moines, its suburbs and south-western Iowa. Obama won the district twice before Donald Trump edged out Hillary Clinton in 2016. D’Alessandro will seek to challenge Republican David Young in 2018. A two-term incumbent, Young was a longtime Republican aide on Capitol Hill before being elected to Congress.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/25/pete-dalessandro-congress-iowa-bernie-sanders-staffer

[bettyellen]

1. "Virtual tie" is not exactly the truth, is it? It was a close race but no tie.