Pundits are now predicting a huge victory for Republicans in the mid-term elections.
Some commentators say the June 7 recall of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in San Francisco and the strong showing made by billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso in the Los Angeles mayoral primary show that voters are tired of progressive values and want “law and order” candidates.
Let’s not jump to conclusions too quickly.
This spring, the right wing poured tens of millions of dollars into television ads attacking progressive candidates and causes. While this media bombardment certainly had an effect, there were also important victories won at the ballot box by the movement for justice.
Take what happened in Pennsylvania, for example. On May 17, state representative Summer Lee won the Democratic nomination to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th District (which includes Pittsburgh and part of its suburbs) in the U.S. Congress. Lee supports the pro-union PRO Act, efforts to codify the right to abortion, Medicare for All, and efforts to protect the right to vote. She had been endorsed by the United Electrical Workers union (UE), the Pennsylvania Joint Board of the union Workers Union, and numerous other unions, environmental groups, and progressive organizations. If elected – which is likely — Lee would become Pennsylvania’s first Black woman representative in Congress.
Lee won the nomination despite the opposition of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee. That body representing the Democratic Party’s old guard had backed Lee’s opponent in the primary, Steve Irwin, a wealthy corporate lawyer who has never held elected office.
Or take what happened in Oregon. On May 17, Jamie McLeod-Skinner won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon’s newly redrawn 5th Congressional district. McLeod-Skinner is a school board member from central Oregon. She defeated Democrat Kurt Schrader, a seven-term incumbent. Over the years, Schrader has opposed raising the minimum wage and student debt relief. He once voted to repeal the Clean Water Act.
Or consider the David-versus-Goliath battle still playing out in South Texas. There, Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration lawyer from Laredo, has humiliated one of the most conservative Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Henry Cuellar. Earlier this year, Cisneros forced Cuellar into a primary run-off. As we go to press, Cisneros trails Cuellar in that run-off by just a few dozen votes, and Cisneros has requested a recount. Cuellar has been in the House for 17 years. He was the only House Democrat to oppose federal legislation safeguarding abortion rights in a September 2021 vote.
And voters took progressive stands on issues as well as on candidates. In South Dakota on June 7, voters rejected Amendment C, a measure that would have required a three-fifths (60 percent) supermajority vote to approve measures that increase taxes or state expenditures. This proposal was widely seen as a scheme to block another amendment – one to expand the state’s Medicaid program — which will be on the November ballot.
We should welcome these victories, but also be realistic.
In much of this country, “Campaign 2022” has consisted largely of endless TV ads promoting right-wing candidates and blaming this country’s problems on immigrants and other marginalized people. This disinformation is designed to create fear and build public support for more monies for police — and for a police state. An outright police state is a real possibility in this country.
However, Campaign 2022 has also shown that when people are presented with candidates fighting for a program in the interest of the working class, they will often respond positively.
The candidates in the early primaries who won nomination after challenging corporate power and the Democrats’ old guard are a sign of something new. They expressed the demands of millions.
The fight to change this country is going to be a long struggle, with steps forward and steps back. The important thing now is for the movement to keep pressing forward, championing a program in the interests of the working class itself. This program has to be fought for relentlessly — at the ballot box and in the streets. The electoral arena is an important battleground. We cannot concede it to our enemies!
