Progressive Massachusetts Dem Ayanna Pressley: What to know
Progressive democrat and Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley is now set to become the first African-American woman elected to Congress in Massachusetts. Here is what you need to know.
The new wave of far-left Democrats that’s surfaced in the anti-Trump age shook things up in the Massachusetts Democratic primary Tuesday when Ayanna Pressley, who was endorsed by democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, defeated 10-term U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in his re-election bid.
Capuano racked up Democratic establishment endorsements, which included U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy. In Massachusetts, even the iconic Kennedy name wasn’t enough for a liberal incumbent to win his eleventh primary in this new era of ascendant socialism in the Democratic Party.
Pressley has been compared to Ocasio-Cortez, who won the Democratic primary for a congressional seat representing New York City by ousting an entrenched incumbent.
Pressley supports a single-payer health-care system and the defunding of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. She won’t face a challenger in the general election in November, so she’ll sail to victory and make history as the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
It won’t be the first time Pressley has made history. She was also the first African-American elected to the Boston City Council in 2009, and previously served as political director for then U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
It’s noteworthy that it has taken until 2018 for such a liberal state to elect an African-American woman to Congress, when Southern states have been doing so for years.
In July, while praising Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said socialist candidates are the future of the Democratic Party.
If this is the direction Perez wants to take the party, then this is good news for Republicans.
These victories push the Democratic Party further and further to the extreme left, advocating failed policies that have bankrupted many countries and left their citizens in poverty or worse.
Democrats are focusing on energizing the fringe left of their party. While that might be fine for the primaries, it remains to be seen how that strategy will work for them in the general election. By playing to the extreme wing of their party they’re ignoring independents and traditional Democrats as they head into November.
However it works out for them in the midterms, one thing is certain: The Democratic Party is marching to the far left and leaving much of America behind. In the long term it will hurt the party and help President Trump.
At a polling station Tuesday, Pressley said: “This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy. This is a disruptive candidacy.”
It sounds like it will be a disruptive term in office, as well.
This is what the new brand of far-left Democrats looks like. Everything is centered on a fighting and disruption. They advertise aggression and confrontation, and in some cases revolution – it’s their M.O. They’re no longer elected officials, they’re activists.
You need only look at Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing to see the playbook of the Democrats and watch the open revolt taking place. Democratic senators are moving so far to the left to placate the fringe extremists that they’ve forgotten what’s in their job description as legislators.
Pressley told her campaign volunteers: “These times require bold, activist leadership.” This tells you all you need to know. Governing no longer matters. It’s all about activism.
This new brand of liberals isn’t part of the American Dream. Ironically they’re literally running against America at a time when America is doing better than it has in a decade.
Pressley, an African-American, attacks a Republican Congress and administration that has given us the lowest unemployment rate for African-Americans in history. Ocasio-Cortez, a Latina, lobs similar rhetorical grenades when Latinos are experiencing their lowest unemployment rate in history. Both are women, and the unemployment rate for women is the lowest it’s been in six decades.
Democrats can keep moving left and bet on policies that have a track record of failure. Republicans will continue to bet on America and its record of results.
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