Our Endorsements: 2018

Stacey is the former Georgia House Minority Leader, and the founder of the New Georgia Project, which registered more than 200,000 voters of color between 2014 and 2016. She’s campaigning on a platform of investment in small business (instead of big business) to make Georgia’s economy grow. If Stacey wins, she’ll make history by becoming the first black woman governor in the country.

The youngest of 11 children born to Mexican immigrants, Nanette worked her way through college and law school, and dedicated her legal career to helping communities like her own. As the first-ever Latina elected to the Hermosa Beach City Council, Barragán prioritized bold progressives values, including leading the fight against oil drilling in Santa Monica Bay. In Congress, she's working to ensure that every student has access to a debt-free education, to expand Social Security and Medicare, and to create a public option for every American to have access to quality health insurance.

Randy Bryce is a U.S. Army veteran, cancer survivor, and union ironworker. He is currently challenging Republican Paul Ryan to represent Wisconsin’s first congressional district. Randy is running as a proud working dad for single payer health care and more manufacturing jobs — and to stop the devastating Ryan agenda. He is famous on Twitter as @IronStache.

Ammar is the son of a Mexican-American mother and Middle Eastern immigrant father, born and raised in East San Diego county. He helped support his struggling family by working as a church janitor in high school, working his way up to a position in the White House during President Obama’s administration. He developed an apprenticeship program at the U.S. Department of Labor to “earn while you learn,” and is running for Medicare for All, immigrant rights, and overturning Citizens United. He’s running to flip the congressional seat held by Republican Duncan Hunter.

Greg Edwards…wow. Greg is a community leader who was just arrested in the Capitol protesting the horrific tax bill. As he said, “This bill goes far beyond being a Republican or Democrat -- this goes to the heart of who we are as a nation, to what it means to be human.” He is running in a primary in Pennsylvania for the open swing seat newly created from Republican Charlie Dent's retirement. The primary is crowded with other Democrats, and Greg has pledged not to accept corporate contributions, so every dollar counts. His primary is May 15.

Abdul is a Detroit doctor who became an activist when he saw the lead water crisis in Flint —and the catastrophic failure of the state government to help. He’s running for single payer healthcare, a higher minimum wage, universal pre-k, and debt-free college, among other progressive priorities. He also supports ending the so-called “Right to Work” anti-union laws in Michigan. And last but not least, he plans to tackle the ongoing public health crisis in Flint. His main opponent is a piece of work — a businessman who fought efforts to save puppies at one of his research labs. (We’re not kidding.) The primary is August 7.

Keith Ellison has never wavered from the four key priorities he first ran on: peace, prosperity for working families, environmental sustainability, and support for civil and human rights. As Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, he's one of the most progressive members of Congress, pushing fundamental legislation like the People's Budget and advocating for our nation’s working families. He's also an organizer and a great partner to grassroots groups across the nation who knows how to motivate people, build power, and win votes for Democrats on the local, state, and federal levels.

David is a veteran and teacher running on local investment in family-owned farms, breweries and vineyards, as well as making Arizona a “solar superpower.” He is also pushing for free community college, to train more skilled workers like nurses and firefighters, and a ban on assault weapons. He’s endorsed by Democracy for America and People for the American Way.

As the mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew fought the NRA, even winning a lawsuit against them. Lately he’s been a national voice for gun control, and has been campaigning on other bold progressive issues like corporate tax hikes and marijuana legalization. Andrew is the real deal — an activist who isn’t afraid to take on powerful opponents.

Cathy Glasson is a registered nurse who led the fight to organize her fellow nurses 18 years ago, and then became president of her local union, SEIU Local 199. She is running for governor of Iowa on a bold progressive platform that includes support for $15 minimum wage, the right to form a union, and single payer health care.

Kaniela is a progressive state legislator in Hawaii. He first started working in the pineapple fields as a teenager after his father unexpectedly passed away, and then became the first in his family to graduate college. When he was 23 years old, he ran against a Tea Party millionaire in a Republican state legislative district. He was outspent 10-to-1, and he still won. Kaniela is a powerful voice for Medicare For All and fighting the climate crisis. As he says, “People are being left behind, and need a representative who understands today’s struggle of paying for college, buying a home, and raising a family.” He’s running for an open Democratic seat.

Jess is running to unseat a Republican congressman who is the top NRA recipient in the nation. She was born and raised in her district, and runs a nonprofit that trains and lends money to people in the community trying to start small businesses. She and her husband, a Mennonite minister, have two daughters, and she makes a strong moral argument about her progressive values. She supports “guarding our farms, homes, and planet” and is campaigning on Medicare For All, debt-free college, banning fracking, and getting big money out of politics. She’s running an amazing grassroots campaign — she’s raising more money than her Republican opponent, and has hundreds of volunteers mobilized to knock doors and make phone calls.

Cynthia is best known as an actress who starred on the New York show “Sex and the City.” But she’s also an LGBT activist who is running in the primary against Andrew Cuomo for governor of New York. As Governor, Cuomo has been under investigation for corruption, refused to fix the New York subway, and fought progressive activism in the state. We’re standing with our allies at the Working Families Party in support of Cynthia Nixon. The primary is September 13.

Beto is currently a congressman from El Paso, now running to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz. He’s running on a platform of universal healthcare, breaking up monopolies, and marijuana decriminalization, among other issues. His strong grassroots campaign is catching fire!

J.D. is a fifth generation Iowan, lawyer, and former professional baseball player taking on Republican Steve King. He’s running in support of family farmers and against corporate consolidation of agribusiness that makes it harder for them to compete. He’s also a strong supporter of Medicare for All, a higher minimum wage, worker rights, and high-speed broadband in rural communities. J.D. has traveled to all 39 counties in the district in his Winnebago RV, “Sioux City Sue.”

Zephyr Teachout is a Constitutional law professor who wrote a book about corruption in American politics. She was the first national director of the Sunlight Foundation, an organization that works to make government more transparent and accountable, and helped fund the Antitrust League. She also ran a primary against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo because of his corruption. Now she’s running for Attorney General of New York in order to become the “Sheriff of Wall Street.”

Liz is running for Congress in Indiana against Republican Trey Hollingsworth. She is taking a no-nonsense approach to her campaign, talking to voters about the kitchen table issues that matter most to them, like good manufacturing jobs. As a former policy director in Congress, she wrote the Schedules That Work Act, the first-of-its-kind legislation to give employees more certainty around their work schedules, making it easier for them to arrange child care or hold a second job. If Liz wins, she will become a model for how populists can win red districts. She reminds us a lot of another “Liz” — Elizabeth Warren.

Brent has worked as an organizer and lawyer for the Teamsters and other unions. Senator Bernie Sanders nominated him to the Democratic National Platform Committee, where Brent wrote an amendment to ban corporate money from elections. As he says, he’s running for Congress because “billionaires and giant corporations have too much control over our government.” By contrast, the Republican Congressman, Kevin Yoder, has one of the worst records when it comes to taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the payday lending industry and other bad corporate actors, and then pushing legislation that benefits those corporations at the expense of regular people. Brent’s primary is August 7.

Andy is the son of immigrants, and became a Rhodes Scholar and diplomat, spending his early career as a strategic Pentagon advisor on the war against ISIS. But his experience with homeless advocacy shaped him the most, as he saw how many working families are living one paycheck away from catastrophe. He is running against Republican Tom MacArthur, who led the congressional push for Trump’s terrible health care proposal.