https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-election-2019/
The BERNIE SANDERS Slate is on today’s ballot
(And Bernie wins)!!!
Bernie Sanders spent the night before 2019’s busiest election day at a coffeehouse in Manassas, Virginia. He was there addressing an overflow crowd of Democrats who were scrambling to help win control of the state’s legislature by phone banking for local candidates in the hometown of state Delegate Lee Carter, a Marine veteran and democratic socialist who shocked pundits two years ago when he beat a top Virginia Republican.
It’s not uncommon for national political figures to support state and local contenders in “off-year” contests. But the campaigning was especially intense on the cusp of the 2020 presidential race. President Trump was in Kentucky Monday night to back right-wing Republican Governor Matt Bevin’s reelection bid, and he weighed in on Mississippi’s gubernatorial contest last week. For the Democrats, Virginia has been a prime focus this year. Former vice president Biden told Virginia Democrats Sunday, “You determine what’s going to happen in 2020, and that’s not hyperbole. Literally, whether we get rid of the most corrupt administration in American history…is going to depend on what happens here.”
Actually, that may have been a bit of hyperbole. But the candidates really are taking the state seriously.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has recorded videos with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, displaying a Rorschach test to illustrate the gerrymandering of the state’s General Assembly by Republicans—and to explain why it matters to put Democrats in charge before a new round of redistricting begins. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar have both visited Northern Virginia to campaign for Delegate Hala Ayala. California Senator Kamala Harris stumped for Virginia contenders such as Delegate Charniele Herring last week. And on Monday night, Sanders cheered on the election-eve phone bankers making calls for Carter, state Delegate Elizabeth Guzman, and other Northern Virginia Democrats at the Jirani Coffeehouse in the Manassas Historic District.
“Bernie’s coming out because he recognizes how important this election is,” said Carter, an outspoken supporter of labor rights in Virginia. Democrats control Virginia’s governorship, and if they flip a handful of Republican seats in the state House of Delegates and Senate Tuesday, they could secure majorities and enact progressive reforms.
ELECTIONS NATIONWIDE
While Virginia is getting the most focused attention from Democratic presidential contenders this year, candidates have waded into other contests nationwide. In the spring, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg gave an early endorsement to Satya Rhodes-Conway, who won the mayoralty in Madison, Wisconsin. Warren recently endorsed New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and she has signaled her intentions in several other races around the country. But it is Sanders who appears to have been the most strategic in his endorsements.
Much has been made in recent weeks of the high-profile endorsements the senator has received from members of “the squad”—US Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. But Sanders has also been making high-profile endorsements—and issue-oriented pronouncements—of his own.
The senator from Vermont has been commenting on state and local contests with an eye toward moving the debate to the left—highlighting issues such as housing affordability, money in politics, and criminal justice reform.
In Seattle, where big spending by Amazon has opposed City Council candidates who favor rent control and taxing corporations, Sanders has pushed back against this billionaire-class politics. “In a city struggling with homelessness, Amazon is dropping an outrageous amount of money to defeat progressive candidates fighting for working people,” the senator declared last month. “The way Amazon conducts itself in its hometown is a perfect example of the out-of-control corporate greed we are going to end.” His tweet featured a Nation article on the race, in which socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant is campaigning with the message, “Tax Amazon: Build Affordable Housing.”
