From The Ashes Of Bernie Sanders’ Campaign Rises An Army Of Candidates

[Donkees]

Rob Curry-Smithson teaches U.S. history at a public high school in Manhattan, but when Sanders put out a call for supporters to step up and run for local office, he began picturing a different kind of public service. Today, he identifies as a hardcore “Berniecrat” running for a seat in the New York State Assembly.

“As a government employee, I’m impacted by the state’s political decisions more than most people,” he told ThinkProgress. “I have seen some of the problems at the state level with Common Core and the charter school model, and I want to fight for a community model that respects parent and teacher voices in the schools. I also think it’s reprehensible what’s happened to the funding of our city and state university system. There was a time we had free education, and [as a member of the Assembly] I could try bring that back.”

Curry-Smithson, who began gathering signatures to get on the ballot a few weeks ago, said his resolve to run was solidified after witnessing the botched primary election in his district in April. More than 120,000 Brooklyn voters were improperly purged from the “rolls, and the purge disproportionately targeted Latino voters. “I was outraged at how our election was handled,” he said. But before he can push for voting rights and education reform, he has to beat a candidate with more funding and local endorsements.

Win or lose, he says, he hopes his bid motivates other young progressives to try their hand at local politics.
“Focused on presidential race is easy, but change happens from the bottom up,” he told ThinkProgress. “I teach my students that Roosevelt was only as good of a president as he was because there were social movements pushing him."

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/24/3789786/bernies-candidates/

[Donkees]

1. The Land of Lincoln

One of the highest profile “Berniecrats” in the country just won a local position in one of the reddest states in the nation: Nebraska.

Jane Kleeb, a Sanders supporter and environmental activist best known for leading the successful fight against the KeystoneXL tar sands pipeline, was elected chair of the state’s Democratic Party, easily beating out Hillary Clinton supporter Chuck Hassebrook. In that role, she hopes to recruit more women and people of color to “stand up and run” for local office.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but we actually have a very strong and increasing Latino population,” she told ThinkProgress. “So for us, it’s important to make sure the officials coming out of those areas look like the places they represent.”

Kleeb believes Sanders’ call to action will help this recruitment process.

“He’s giving confidence to grassroots leaders, to people who have never thought about running for office before,” she said. “They’re saying, ‘I can do this. I just organized my friends to caucus, why can’t I run for the school board?'”

At a time when many Sanders supporters are reacting to his loss by professing feelings of cynicism about electoral politics in general and the Democratic Party in particular, Kleeb hopes to win them back over by focusing on the issues.

“People have been in the streets this year fighting against climate change, and for immigration reform, and spreading the message that black lives matter,” I want to bring those movement voters into the party, and I want to bring the Democratic Party into the streets.”

Already, she has helped Nebraska push through a strongly worded resolution on one of Sanders’ key fights: abolishing the role of unelected superdelegates in choosing the Democratic presidential nominee. Next, she hopes to fight to expand Medicaid to cover more low-income residents, ban assault weapons, and continue protecting farmers from having their land seized by private companies using imminent domain.

“For such a Republican state we’ve already passed some amazing progressive laws,” she said, citing the recent death penalty ban and law granting drivers licenses for undocumented residents. “We’ve still a long way to go. But there is a populism, that started our state to begin with, that lives on today.”

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/24/3789786/bernies-candidates/

[RoccoR5955]

2. Like Phoenix, rising from the ashes

this revolution shall be heard around the universe! It will be stronger than Bernie's campaign, with more and more progressive candidates from all races, genders, and sexualities!
The revolution shall not be stopped.
It is only getting started, and it started in a very strong note!
It will only get stronger, as people find out that WE THE PEOPLE hold the power in this country, not them, the corporations!

[rhett o rick]

3. This is the People's Movement and we are seeing evidence across the world. People standing up

to the power of Big Corporations. I think all Democrats agree that this is "fitting and proper".

[NJCher]

4. Ashes my butt

This campaign is in a holding mode. We need to see what will happen in states where votes are still being counted. Furthermore, it is not July 25.


Cher

[Donkees]

5. Why Do Jack Pine Trees Grow After Fire? 🔥

[senz]

6. Agree, NJCher.