The Old Confederacy has turned very red in my lifetime. It's beginning to swing back a bit. Virginia has two Democratic senators-- and so does Georgia. Texas, Florida and North Carolina have had competitive races. Even Alabama stumbled-- briefly-- onto a Democratic senator. But the Democratic senators from the South are all conservative Democrats. Rev. Warnock, who wasn't picked by the DC Establishment, isn't a conservative but we're yet to see how progressive he's willing to move. That will never be a problem if North Carolina sends Erica Smith to the Senate in 2022.
Erica, until last year a state Senator, is a committed progressive who has a record that is all about serving the interests of the working families of her state. She's running-- unabashedly and aggressively-- on a progressive agenda that includes Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, a $15 minimum wage, racial justice, free college, universal broadband... Please watch the YouTube above of Erica with Jonathan Tasini this week and read her brief guest post below and then consider contributing what you can by clicking on the Blue America 2022 senate thermometer below. Let's not let Chuck Schumer hand-pick another tepid conservative establishment candidate like he did-- disastrously-- last year. Because even when Schumer's candidates win their general elections-- which is very rare-- Democrats and Americans lose (see: Kyrsten Sinema). North Carolina Democrats have asked him-- politely-- to keep his nose out of their primaries.
My Survivor's Agenda
-by Erica Smith
When was the last time that there was a candidate in a swing state who looked like me and believed in the things that I believe in?
People are dying across this country and across my state and it is time for North Carolina to work for all of us and that means we need new leadership in the US Senate that'll stand up and fight for a bold and progressive agenda.
Jonathan Tasini and I discussed the use of the term "progressive" to describe my platform and certain policy positions. I told that I've always described my agenda as a survivor's agenda because that's exactly what it is.
It's a survivor's agenda. The status quo is not just insufficient, it is immoral and it is unsustainable.
I am running on an explicitly pro-working people agenda because it is time our government starts working for all of us and not just the wealthy and well-connected. The biggest mistake we can make right now is to underestimate the pain and suffering that people across this country are struggling with. Our way of life was built on the shoulders of working people. This economic collapse has crushed them. I refuse to be a part of the problem. I refuse to propose solutions that are insufficient in addressing the scale of the problems real people are facing. This agenda is not something to compromise because we cannot afford to compromise people's livelihoods.