Yes, there were progressive wins on Tuesday!
Mike Fox for the PDA National Team
While The Media Focuses on Virginia,
Progressives Won in Multiple States on Tuesday
You wouldn’t know it if you’re glued to corporate media or beltway twitter feeds, but there were lots of wins on Tuesday by candidates who ran as unapologetic progressives and did not get played by fears of being branded “an evil socialist!”
Just a few:
Mayor Justin Bibb, Cleveland. (Really solid progressive like Cleveland hasn’t seen since Dennis Kucinich.)
Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston. (First woman/person of color to be elected.)
Mayor Ed Gainey, Pittsburgh. (First Black Mayor.)
Mayor Aftab Pureval, Cincinnati (First Asian Pacific Mayor in an area that regularly votes Republican, with a long history of racial strife.)
And my personal favorite: St. Petersburg, Florida, City Councilman Richie Floyd. My favorite because not only did he tie new Mayor Ken Welch as the first Black candidate to beat a white candidate citywide in Florida’s 5th biggest city, but he did so running as a loud Democratic Socialist with a D next to his name. And, OK, to be fair, I like him best also because I live in St. Petersburg and gladly volunteered and donated to his campaign.
But in my humble opinion, this DSA/Green/Progressive Dems coalition is the way that we win, and win big, even in Florida.
So do not despair! Did we have all the the wins we would have liked on Tuesday? No. But we never do. That’s the price of pushing the outside of the envelope by standing for the people and not moneyed interests. And it’s the path to building the majority that we need to bring about the kind of substantial change we at PDA will continue to fight for 24/7.
So please know that we’re moving in the right direction, and support our continued efforts to make the next election cycle even more progressive.
Here’s to building upon our victories, until we have a majority!
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