Democrats trying to unseat each other IV

[Loren Pechtel]

All those gun that became illegal guns started out as legal guns.

Thus showing you are exactly what they fear: a gun banner.

And it wouldn't work, anyway. There are too many guns out there to hope to remove anything like all of them. All you'll actually accomplish is make the criminals safer and the law abiding less safe.

You keep saying this as though it were fact, rather than faith.

And you have some evidence to the contrary? The relationship between guns and gun crime is negative. Beware gun death data as the majority of gun deaths are suicide, not homicide.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Vast majority of firearm homicides are committed using handguns

Thank you for advocating for a handgun ban. I totally agree.

Not advocating that at all. Instead of mindlessly banning guns for everyone, we need stricter rules on who is allowed to buy and possess firearms.
Your position is what NRA types point to when they say that the so-called "liberals" want to grab their guns.

Yes, I want to grab their guns. No sarcams. The US would be a far safer place without handguns in so many pockets. Do you deny this?

The problem is that you are mixing up two different things here: guns in properly licensed civilian hands and guns in criminal hands. Note that there is very little overlap between the groups and you have no power to wave a magic wand and remove those criminal guns. You're looking for your keys under the streetlight.

All those gun that became illegal guns started out as legal guns.

Thus showing you are exactly what they fear: a gun banner.

And it wouldn't work, anyway. There are too many guns out there to hope to remove anything like all of them. All you'll actually accomplish is make the criminals safer and the law abiding less safe.

You keep saying this as though it were fact, rather than faith.

Michigan police sweeps result in over 550 illegal firearms off the streets

Since 2022, law enforcement officials in Michigan have conducted 5,331 check-ins with felony offenders as part of a statewide initiative intended to reduce gun crime.

michiganindependent.com

And that's relevant how? Criminals with guns is a bad thing. That does not establish that guns in society are a bad thing.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

People are frustrated by weird pronouns. It is one thing that when somebody transitions from say a man to a woman to be called by a female name and use female pronouns. But then activists started demanding that for example men who have not transitioned to anything at all may nevertheless demand to be called "they".
Does this look like a "he" to you, or a "they"?

Why should I care what's in their pants?

And pronouns are useful for avoiding errors. I am routinely misgendered in any sort of situation where people don't see me. To me, a total so-what, but some people care. And what about foreign names? You would never know my wife's gender from her name, even in her culture it leans male.

 

[Derec]

Why should I care what's in their pants?

I agree that for many things it doesn't matter, such as serving in the military.
But activists go too far, and by going with them, Democratic Party lost the majority of Americans on this issue.
Take the sports issue. Seth Moulton (MA-6) dared question the progressive orthodoxy on this issue, and was attacked.
Rep. Seth Moulton says he stands by comments on trans athletes, calls Democrats "out of touch"
They even want to primary him.

And pronouns are useful for avoiding errors. I am routinely misgendered in any sort of situation where people don't see me.

Obviously pronouns are a very useful part of speech.
I was referring to this inane practice to expect everybody to put pronouns in their bio, or asking people "what are your preferred pronouns" when meeting them. Or take "they". Usually the people (like Manuel Teran) who demand people use third person plural to refer to them are not trans at all. It's just an annoying affectation, like vocal fry.

That is very different than using preferred pronouns with actual trans people, or in your case using pronouns to clarify matters.

And what about foreign names? You would never know my wife's gender from her name, even in her culture it leans male.

Does your wife go by an English name here? I know a lot of Chinese do.

 

[Derec]

Harris wasn't running on trans issues, but Ttump was. They spent more than a quarter billion dollars on anti trans ads.

Harris wasn't as focused on those issues as some in the party (for example Elizabeth Warren who infamously said that she would give a trans teenager veto power over her SecEd pick), but KH (and other candidates downballot) were still affected by a party brand that was damaged by the doctrinaire approach many Dems have had. I already mentioned the attacks on Seth Moulton for questioning orthodoxy on the issue of trans women (i.e. biological men) in women's sport.
A more moderate stance would have been better received by the 2024 electorate. And that is my point for this thread, which (and its three prior iterations) is focused on radicals primarying more moderate elected officials.

 

[lpetrich]

The relationship between guns and gun crime is negative.

Demonstrably false. There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in old Western movies.

 

[lpetrich]

Dems definitely have moved too far to the left.

Maybe to a "Don't call me a right-winger!" right-winger.

People are frustrated by weird pronouns.

Maybe some people, but not me. I see that as no different from spelling and pronouncing one's name correctly. I have to explain my last name as pet + rich, for instance.

(about Kat Abughazaleh: )

She is a carpetbagger who is trying to unseat a Democratic incumbent in an ultrasafe, salamander-shaped (D+19) district.

I'm surprised that she hasn't joked about it by showing off a carpetbag handbag.

 

[lpetrich]

Progressives Primary AIPAC-Backed Democrat Shri Thanedar - "Justice Democrats, the group that helped elect the Squad, is backing a primary against AIPAC-backed incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar."

Justice Democrats launch new primary challenge - POLITICO - "It’s a sign the progressive group is gearing up for primary challenges again after playing defense last cycle."

MI State Rep. Donavan McKinney against incumbent Shri Thanedar.

ST is at least somewhat good - he recently filed articles of impeachment against Donald Trump - but he was supported rather heavily by some AIPAC-supported PAC's some cryptocurrency PAC's.

As part of his campaign launch, McKinney has said he is running on bringing working-class representation to Congress, criticizing Thanedar for using taxpayer money to fund his campaign expenses and neglecting his constituents.

“I’m not running for Congress because I’m a millionaire or a billionaire. I’m running because I’m not,” the 32-year-old McKinney said in a press release announcing his campaign launch. “I’m running because our community deserves to have someone fighting back against the Trump-Musk administration who knows our struggles.”

Donavan McKinney For Congress: Always With The People | MI-13 - YouTube attacking ST for spending a lot of money to get his seat and for “having more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk than people like us.”

“Last election cycle, Justice Democrats focused their resources on protecting our incumbents against the threat of AIPAC and other right-wing lobbies promising — and delivering — on spending $100 million in our elections,” spokesperson Usamah Andrabi said in the Monday press release.

“As a result of their outsized spending, we lost two of the most working class members of Congress in the most expensive Democratic primaries ever, but out-organized and beat them in every other Squad seat,” he said. “Those losses have only fueled our mission to expand our bloc in Congress and elect more working class champions to Washington.”

From Politico, JD Executive Director Alexandra Rojas:

“Democratic voters in the face of unprecedented attacks on our livelihoods and liberties are fed up with a Democratic Party overrun by do-nothing career politicians who are totally unequipped to lead in this moment,” ... “Donavan represents the future the Democratic Party should be fighting for: working class people taking our power back from multimillionaires to deliver for everyday people.”

DmK:

“I’m running for Congress because we deserve better. We deserve a Democratic Party that leads the fight against the billionaires robbing us blind. That stands up to corporate PACs, that doesn’t sell out to them. Our country and our children can afford nothing less,” he said in a video announcing his bid. “People like our congressman — Shri Thanedar — are the problem. A multimillionaire who spent millions to buy a seat in Congress, who has more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk than people like us.”

ST has at least one other challenger.

But McKinney won’t have the primary field to himself, with former state Sen. Adam Hollier running for the seat a third time and potentially dividing the anti-Thanedar vote.

Also,

Another potential wrinkle: AIPAC could spend significant money to protect Thanedar — and block McKinney. That would mark a reversal of their stance during the 2022 primary, when the powerful group backed Hollier. But since then, Thanedar has taken more pro-Israel stances and has been endorsed by the group. He’s already received donations earmarked through AIPAC, too.

 

[lpetrich]

Finally, finally, finally, something on what Saikat Chakrabarti is doing. Ex-AOC chief of staff going after the most powerful woman in Congress

“I’m not choosing to challenge the most powerful woman in Congress. I am just choosing to challenge my congressional representative in San Francisco,” he said last month at Manny’s, the famous political venue in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Speaking to some 120 people at an hour-long event.

“I think we can’t just have this anti-Trump movement,” he said at the panel. “Right now, the Democrats are going to have a choice: They continue standing for slow, iterative change and the status quo … or are we going to present an actual vision for rebuilding society?”

He argued that rebuilding society is necessary.

He said repeatedly, with conviction, that there is a “real coup going on in D.C.” and that Democrats aren’t doing enough to stop it. He believes established Democrats like Pelosi are ignoring the bigger problems facing Americans, which have led to the “authoritarian” rise of President Donald Trump.

I agree.

 

[lpetrich]

He was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, by immigrants from India. His father came to the U.S. with “20 bucks in his pocket,” Chakrabarti often says, yet he was able to build a middle class life off a single income. That principle is the centerpiece of his campaign: that a hard worker should be able to make a good life. But stories like his father’s have been replaced by a modern world where “a few people” make “an ungodly amount of money” while “most people can barely make rent,” he told the crowd at Manny’s.

Did he mention whatever help that his father got along the way? Like help from fellow immigrants. There is a reason that immigrants often cluster in various occupations. Those in some business are best-posed to help others enter that business.

Also, he fully concedes that he is on the "ungodly amount of money" side, thus making him a class traitor.

He attended Harvard University, worked briefly on Wall Street, then moved to San Francisco in 2009. A few years later, as a precocious computer programmer, he struck gold as the second engineer ever to join Stripe Inc., the multibillion dollar payment services platform.

“I really hate the inequality of it,” he said. “I’m proud of what I built, but I didn’t work harder than a teacher or a nurse.”

He eventually left Stripe to work for Bernie Sanders and AOC.

“I mean, I identify as a progressive, I guess,” he said. “But it’s really hard to know what that word means these days.” “I really do sort of dislike having all the labels,” he continued. “Just because I want to campaign on the actual stuff I want to do, the actual solutions.” He wants universal healthcare and childcare and things like that. “I guess wanting to get rid of money in politics makes me a progressive,” he laughed.

“There’s some new stuff I’m also trying to run on,” like “the government actually executes, and makes stuff happen, and builds stuff.” “I am not sure what bucket that really falls in. I think it’s just kind of practical.”

He wants “to build a whole movement” much like FDR's New Deal. “The way I imagine this going is, I’m trying to pitch these big ideas as the way the Democratic Party should be operating,” he says between bites. “The Democratic Party is so underwater right now ... the only way voters are going to trust it again is ... if a whole new movement takes over.”

 

[lpetrich]

I learned of this from one of Kat Abughazaleh's podcasts.
Schakowsky Announces She Will Not Seek Re-election in 2026 | Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky

It is now time for me to pass the baton. We are so fortunate in the 9th District that there are dozens of talented leaders, advocates, and organizers who know our community and who are ready to lead the charge as we fight back against the extreme MAGA agenda and President Donald Trump's shameful policies.

KA:

“I want to thank Rep. Schakowsky for her decades of exceptional public service, both in the Illinois State Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives,” Abughazaleh said in a statement. The progressive congressional hopeful said she doesn’t “agree with any politician completely,” but applauded Schakowsky’s “track record on key issues from Social Security to Palestinian human rights.”

But

“David Hogg’s crusade to primary Democrats with far-left AOC clones claims its first scalp. Democrats’ race to the far-left has only just begun,” the National Republican Congressional Committee said on X.

 

[lpetrich]

David Hogg is the head of "Leaders We Deserve"
Primarying Democrats | Leaders We Deserve

Today’s party politics has an unwritten rule: if you win a seat, it’s yours for life. No one serious in your party will challenge you. That is a culture that we have to break.

Leaders We Deserve Is Taking Action

Leaders We Deserve is launching a $20 million investment to usher in the next generation of Democrats who will go to the mat every day for the American people and use every tactic and tool to stop Trump’s radical right-wing, economically illiterate agenda.

Hard to tell what policy proscriptions that LWD advocates, but the next paragraph is

Younger leaders simply bring a different level of urgency that we just aren’t seeing in our politics right now. We grew up with the existential threat of climate change bearing down on us. Adolescence today means active shooter drills and wondering if you’re going to survive math class. And we are told every election is the most important of our lifetime – that we must protect democracy at all costs – all while democracy continues to fail us.

 

[lpetrich]

Kat Abughazaleh (@katmabu.bsky.social) — Bluesky
She has been doing local events in her adopted district, like doing a food drive and joining a union picket.

Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc.bsky.social) — Bluesky
He discusses lots of broader issues, like political corruption.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) — Bluesky is also there, posting there also in addition to Xwitter.

Blue: "Who wore it better, Bernie or @katmabu.bsky.social?" — Bluesky -- Bernie Sanders wearing a surgical mask and woolen mittens, and KA doing knitting next to a table at a campaign event.

 

[lpetrich]

Seattle socialist Kshama Sawant to run for Congress against Adam Smith | The Seattle Times

Former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant will run for Congress in Washington’s 9th District, where incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep Adam Smith will be up for reelection in 2026, Sawant announced Monday.

A socialist firebrand who pushed for policies like renter protections and big-business taxes as a council member from 2014 through 2023, Sawant will base her campaign on opposing U.S. military support for Israel and supporting Medicare for all, she said at a news conference in downtown Seattle.

...
“Democrats and Republicans serve the interests of the billionaires, and both are warmongering parties down to their bones,” she said, arguing Smith has “blood all over his hands” for his stance on the “genocide in Gaza.”

KS was first elected to the Seattle City Council in 2013, supported by the Socialist Alternative party.


Sawant, 51, declined to seek reelection to the City Council in 2023, saying she wanted to build a national labor movement called Workers Strike Back. She was re-elected in 2015 and 2019, and she survived a recall election in 2021. In 2023, she decided not to run again. Last year, she stumped for Presidential candidate Jill Stein.

Kshama for Congress? — UPDATE | CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News

Kshama Sawant Announces Campaign for U.S. Congress Against Warmonger Adam Smith

Kshama Sawant, former socialist Seattle City Councilmember and co-founder of Workers Strike Back, stood this morning alongside fellow community organizers, rank-and-file union members, and socialists and announced her election campaign in Washington state’s ninth Congressional District, against warmongering incumbent, Congressman Adam Smith.

 Socialist Alternative (United States) - a Trotskyist party

 

[lpetrich]

On March 13, Rep. Raúl Grijalva of AZ-07 died. He had stated that this term will be his last term in office because of worsening health, but he didn't anticipate how much his health would worsen.

Arizona's 7th Congressional District special election, 2025 - Ballotpedia - Primaries: July 15, general election: September 23.

In recent years, RG was re-elected with some 63% - 65% of the vote, so the deciding election will be the Democratic primary election. Currently, there are 5 contenders, with 2 having dropped out. Among those running is RG's daughter  Adelita Grijalva, someone who served in the Tucson AZ School Board and the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Adelita Grijalva has name ID, but is that enough to win? - E&E News by POLITICO - "The late-Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s daughter is running for his seat. Her main opponent is a moderate who supports mining."

Adelita Grijalva is poised to carry on her father’s legacy in areas like environmental justice, conservation and mining if she wins the special election to succeed him in representing southern Arizona in Congress. But she is facing a moderate challenger who supports mining as a way for Democrats to reconnect with the working class.

What a position. As if miners nowadays use pickaxes and small wagons.

“My dad was a fierce advocate not just for southern Arizona but for the environment, for public lands and for water. He understood deeply that especially in southern Arizona, water is life. He championed protections not because it’s popular but because it’s right,” the younger Grijalva told POLITICO’s E&E News in an interview.

...
Such stances stand in contrast with the candidate many consider to be a strong competitor, former state lawmaker Daniel Hernández Jr. (D). At a recent debate, he said Democrats were out of touch with working-class voters, pointing to a proposed copper mining projects in the state and the jobs they would bring.

“You can’t say you support workers if you don’t support the work,” he said. “I stand with workers and support their ability to put food on the table for them and their families.”

...
Grijalva has the upper hand in several areas, having racked up key endorsements from environmental groups and lawmakers, and, observers note, having the distinct advantage of her last name.

...
Hernández is running as a more moderate candidate. While he strongly backs LGBTQ and abortion rights and promised to be “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare,” he is vocally supportive of Israel in its war in Gaza, has a record of working with Republicans to advance legislation and was the only candidate at a recent debate to not swear off corporate political action committee contributions.

His support for controversial mining projects, including Hudbay’s proposed copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains and Resolution Copper’s proposed mine in Superior, Arizona, was a major topic of disagreement at one debate.

...
Foxx, meanwhile, could likely chip away at Grijalva’s votes with her progressive campaign. The 25-year-old influencer, who also opposes mining projects, has presented herself as part of a new generation of politicians.

“It’s no secret that I don’t look like the other folks on this or in Congress,” she said at one debate, later calling Grijalva and Hernández “career politicians.”

“I believe that we need more than a politician. You deserve a fighter,” Foxx said.

Seems like a risk of vote splitting.

 

[lpetrich]

Adelita Grijalva | Democrat for Congress - I looked in "Issues" and she proposes:

• FIGHT TRUMP'S ECONOMIC CHAOS - "Stop harmful tariffs and wasteful border militarization" - "increasing the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits" - "Defend workers’ right to unionize"
• DEFEND MEDICARE, MEDICAID, SOCIAL SECURITY & THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION - "expand Medicare and Medicaid"
• PROMOTE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
• FIGHT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR ALL - "Build upon my father Congressman Grijalva’s work" - "a green jobs revolution " - "multimodal transportation, green infrastructure, and public parks" - "Conserve water"
• FULLY FUND PUBLIC EDUCATION - "Stop the privatization of the American public education system" - "ederal funding for the arts as a powerful rejection of Trump’s agenda of cultural erasure and division."
• PROTECT OUR RIGHTS & FREEDOMS - "transgender and LGBTQ+ communities" - "Reinstate funding for domestic terrorism prevention" - "Protecting libraries, museums, and other cultural resources from attacks by the Trump Administration." - "Women’s Health Protect Act to restore abortion access nationwide." - "Expand access to contraceptives and Title X funding"
• ADVOCATE FOR HUMANE IMMIGRATION POLICIES - " legal pathways to citizenship for undocumented individuals" - "Uphold due process and access to counsel" - "put checks on the Trump administration’s mass deportation"
• RESPECTING TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY

 

[lpetrich]

Another one running is activist  Deja Foxx - Deja Foxx (@dejafoxx) • Instagram photos and videos and her campaign page - when I saw her name, I thought of Edgar Rice Burroughs character Dejah Thoris in his Barsoom series.

From Wikipedia:

Foxx grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she attended a magnet school, University High School.[2][3] When she was 15 years old, she stopped living with her mother, who struggled with mental illness, and had to stay at various friends' houses.[2] Foxx worked at a gas station for two years to help support her mother.[4]

While at school, she successfully campaigned to change the sex education curriculum, to increase its relevance.[5] In her senior year, she became a founding member of El Rio Community Health Center's Reproductive Health Access Project, which was set up to provide reproductive health care to young people in the Tucson area.[4] She won a Community Innovation Award from the Society for Science in 2018 for a study exploring the frequencies and relationships of age, race, insurer, and BMI to rate of C-sections.[6]

From her "Issues" page:

We have a vision for the future:

one where families like yours can afford rent and groceries, where you decide if and when to start a family, and where no matter where you’re from or how much money your parents make, you have a shot at getting ahead.

• Addressing the Affordability Crisis - Housing is a Human Right - Childcare That Empowers Families - Economic Justice and Fair Wages - Protect Social Security
• Show Spine. Stand Up to Trump and the GOP - Use Our Power to Fight Back - Reverse the McConnell “Rules” and Bring Balance to The Supreme Court - Defend and Protect Social Services - Curb Executive Overreach - Equality for the LGBTQ+ community isn’t real until it’s written into law
• Education that Drives Opportunity - Defend and Fund Our Schools - Center and Support Students with Disabilities - Student Loan Reform That Sets All Students Up for Success
• Health Care for All - Medicare for All - Comprehensive Access to Reproductive Healthcare - Abortion Access Is A Human Right
• Make the Economy Work for Everyone - Level the Playing Field For All - Build The Innovation Economy - Tax Relief for Working Families
• Environmental Stewardship - Environmental Justice is Justice - Let Young People Take The Lead In The Climate Fight - Hold Polluters Accountable
• An Immigration Vision Rooted in Justice - Hold ICE Accountable - Pass the Embrace Act - Create a real pathway to citizenship
• End the Corporate Takeover of Our Democracy - Let’s be clear: our democracy should belong to the people, not billionaires and corporate Super PACs - And the rot doesn’t stop with corporate cash, gerrymandering is silencing us - Enact the Fair Representation Act, and take steps to implement ranked-choice voting nationwide

Deja Foxx and Adelita Grijalva have closely-overlapping platforms, but DF goes further than AG, advocating H.R.7740 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Fair Representation Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress - multimember House districts with proportional ranked-choice voting (P-RCV, a.k.a. single transferable vote: STV).

 

[lpetrich]

Is This the Next AOC? - Newsweek

Twenty-five year old Deja Foxx is vying for more than a seat in Congress. She's looking to be part of a root-and-branch overhaul of the Democratic Party.

...
If Foxx's name sounds vaguely familiar, she went viral at the age of 16 when she confronted Arizona's Republican Senator Jeff Flake at a town hall over cuts to Planned Parenthood.

"I was a teenager living with my boyfriend, working at a gas station. We relied on Title X funding," she told Newsweek's Olivia Cataldo in a video interview, referring to the federal program that supports family planning and health services like those provided by Planned Parenthood.

Foxx says she was at "Planned Parenthood centers to get the birth control that I needed to take control of my body and my future when I had no money, no parents and no insurance. And this is just one of those ways that policymakers often disconnected from their constituents, vote without ever thinking about the consequences for real people.

...
Born in Tucson, which sits halfway in Arizona's 7th District, Foxx was raised by a single mother relying on Section 8 housing, a federal program providing rent assistance for low-income individuals. Her mother juggled a patchwork of jobs—cleaning houses, making deliveries, sorting mail—while also struggling with addiction and working her way through recovery.

"When she was out of work, I watched her step up to help our community members make enough," Foxx said, recalling how her mom volunteered to cover childcare so others could take extra shifts.

"Those are my first organizing memories," she added, reflecting on how neighbors pitched in—offering rides to school, pooling gas money, and providing collective childcare.

"That's really the organizing tradition in which my politics is rooted," she told Newsweek.

She went on to study political science at Columbia University.

She's critical of policymakers who "attempt to understand the implications" of cutting programs like Medicaid or SNAP by leaning on data and cherrypicked anecdotes. "It often falls flat because they can't actually understand the experiences," she said. Her official platform advocates for affordable housing, a $17 hour minimum wage, investment in early‑education and protection of social services including Medicaid.

She campaigned for Kamala Harris, but after KH's loss,

"It wasn't enough for me to just work the behind the scenes of campaigns or in front of the cameras," she said, adding "I needed to give them someone they could get excited about, or we would stand to lose our generation."

DF likes both AOC and Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

What draws her to them, she says, is that they are "outspoken, who are clear in their values, and who communicate with voters right where they are." She added that AOC is respected by some even on the right because "she's honest, she feels real in a time where inauthenticity is running our party."

"And I stand in that lineage," she stated.

Polling? A recent poll has her at 5%, Daniel Hernandez at 11%, and Adelita Grijalva at 49%.

 

[lpetrich]

Deja Foxx Is Running for Congress in Arizona to Fight for Young People and Reshape the Democratic Party | Teen Vogue

Deja Foxx doesn’t call herself optimistic. Although the 25-year-old activist began telling the world as a teenager that she intended to become president of the United States, the 2024 election was a punch in the gut.

...
I’ve witnessed her meteoric rise from a “free-lunch kid,” who went viral in high school for confronting then Republican Senator Jeff Flake over voting to defund Planned Parenthood, to an influencer strategist for Kamala Harris’s 2020 campaign, to a seasoned content creator bringing politics and young people together.

Then mentioning how she is good at social media, like some fellow young politicians and candidates. "Foxx is among a number of young activists who came up during Trump’s first term, some of whom have since burned out or left politics entirely."

The knows she can’t ask youth to continue taking risks to protest when politicians won’t listen to them. That’s why Foxx hopes to rebrand the Democratic Party into one that works for its people. She’s calling out what many agree is the rise of authoritarianism under Trump, of course, but also elected Democrats who she says need to “have a spine.”

I agree that a lot Democrats have wimped out. But there are some honorable exceptions, like CA Gov Gavin Newsom.

 

[lpetrich]

The Teen Vogue - Deja Foxx interview:

DF: I’m building the plane as I fly, but we have the cultural moment behind us…

Then noting that RG was in office for 20 years.

How did she get started?

DF: I had already been looking at this seat for 2026, when, over the summer, the late Congressman Grijalva shared that he wouldn't be running again because he was sick….

DF:
If you're looking to run for office, here's some advice: there's a personal aspect…. You have to really feel called to it because you risk your safety and privacy. It changes not only your life, but the lives of the people you love.

Then talking about how one has to insure that one's family and friends will continue to be supportive, and how one's finances have to be in good shape.

She talked about how she reaches out to people. After mentioning phone-banking and text-banking, people phoning and texting lots of possible supporters, she states an alternative: looking at likes and reshares, and DM'ing those likers and resharers in her district: DM-baking.

After KH's loss in 2024,

I think about all of those young people we lost in 2024 who didn't turn out to vote. I had to take a hard look in the mirror as someone who has worked behind the scenes for causes and candidates to create content publicly asking young people to take action, to share their stories, to organize, to vote. I came to the personal feeling that I couldn't ask them to keep doing that if I couldn't give them something to really get excited about after this hard loss.

That's a good attitude, and a good contrast to the perpetual belligerent victimhood of the right wing.