THIS is how you challenge your party constructively [View all]

[EffieBlack]

One Of The Democratic Stars Of 2018 Sharply Rebuked Her Party In A Private Meeting

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/darrensands/one-of-the-democratic-stars-of-2018-sharply-rebuked-her?__twitter_impression=true

Ayanna Pressley, the Representative-elect from Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District, offered a sharp rebuke of the Democratic Party in front of the party’s biggest donors Tuesday, saying that she discovered a “mandate for hope” over the course her efforts to unseat an entrenched Democratic incumbent and campaigning for insurgent candidates around the country.

The Boston Democrat told donors gathered for a Democratic National Committee fundraising meeting in Washington that the 2018 election cycle had “altered the course of history,” and that Democrats need to ask themselves “if we are simply content with making history, or if want to commit ourselves to working together to make a lasting, transformative change.”

Pressley, who beat 10-term incumbent Democrat Rep. Michael Capuano in a September primary, told Democratic donors that the party needs to figure out how best to support women candidates of color, like herself and other newly elected members of Congress, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar.
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The address was perhaps the most poignant of any from a litany of Democratic speakers at the Tuesday meeting, several people who were in attendance said. Pressley, who is already making her presence felt on Capitol Hill, touched on the importance of having close proximity to marginalized and vulnerable communities and offered a vision of a party that puts the needs of those communities at the forefront of the agenda.
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Pressley offered a concise vision for the future of the Democratic Party. She told donors that she had conducted a hearing on gun violence the previous evening and brought a message from a young person to the floor, one that the Democratic Party has grappled with for a generation: “Do black lives only matter in election years when our votes are at stake?”