Sunday, April 28, 2024

The threat to progressive candidates is very real

Almost 30 years ago I and a few other House members started the chamber's "Progressive Caucus."

Sisters and Brothers -

Here is the good news – very good news.

Today, the US House of Representatives has a stronger progressive presence than at any time in modern American history. The Congressional Progressive Caucus has nearly 100 members, including dozens of very strong progressives, who are taking on powerful special interests every single day.

These members are taking on insurance companies and fighting to establish healthcare as a human right. They are fighting the oil and coal companies to save our planet and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels. They are standing with workers and consumers against the outrageous level of corporate greed we are seeing. And, at great political risk, they are opposing AIPAC and the leadership of both political parties in refusing to support any more U.S. military aid to Netanyahu's horrific war against the Palestinian people.

If you understand the importance of electing and re-electing as many progressives as we can, then I am asking you to split a contribution between my campaign and the Progressive Caucus PAC today.

If that's all you need to hear, please use this link to donate today:

https://act.berniesanders.com/go/-Progressive-Caucus

Almost 30 years ago I and a few other House members started the chamber's "Progressive Caucus."

Back then, many of the ideas we care about were considered "fringe" or "radical."

Medicare for All and lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Too radical. Making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes. Too radical. Opposing outrageously high military budgets. Too radical. Ending childhood poverty. Too radical. Expanding Social Security. Too radical. Making public colleges and universities tuition free. Too radical.

Today these ideas, as well as many others, are widely accepted as mainstream and enjoy the support of a majority of Americans.

That doesn't happen by accident.

That transformative ideological change in our country happened because of our presidential campaigns, yes, but it also occurs because progressive elected officials are making it happen.

Today, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is one of the most powerful and influential bodies in the U.S. House. They are leading the way in Washington, getting larger almost every election cycle, and running a smart organizing strategy inside Congress to leverage their votes collectively for working people and poor people across this country.

But here's the simple truth. While we are making real progress, we need to do better. What that means is that in order for our movement to continue to grow, a major part of our work must involve finding and recruiting more and more strong progressive candidates for office, supporting them, and giving them the tools and resources they need to run winning campaigns. It means financially supporting progressive candidates who are under attack from billionaire funded super-PACs.

The Progressive Caucus PAC does that.

Funded completely by small-dollar donations from people like you, they've recruited and supported dozens of progressive candidates across the country to grow the ranks of the Progressive Caucus in Congress. They help people like Summer Lee, who last week won another contested Democratic primary after overcoming consistent attacks and outside spending from so-called "moderates" who want to replace her in the House.

They help elect next-generation leaders who also understand organizing and leveraging a block of votes, like Maxwell Frost, Delia Ramirez, and Greg Casar. They support progressives who win in "swing" districts that voted for Trump because they know that progressive ideas like raising the minimum wage and expanding Social Security and Medicare are populist and make sense to people across the ideological spectrum.

They help people like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others who stare down the threat of millions of dollars of super PAC ads every election because they dare to fight for the working people of this country.

The threat to progressives candidates -- whether in office, running in contested primaries, or even as Democratic nominees against Republicans -- is very real. And those candidates, the ones you appreciate and find yourself cheering for time after time, cannot do it alone.

They need our support.

The best place to do that is through the Progressive Caucus PAC which exists to elect progressives and fight for progressive policies in Congress. So with that being said, I am once again asking for your financial support:

Can I count on you to use this link to split a contribution between my work electing progressives and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC? Both of us will put those contributions to work fighting for the candidates and causes you want to see win in November.

If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your split contribution between Bernie Sanders and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC instantly:

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