Democrats trying to unseat each other IV

[lpetrich]

The 2024 Presidential election again. "When Biden was at the top of the ticket, there was a serious and necessary conversation about age." Then saying that many people want younger candidates, and that she is offering herself as such a candidate. "And then when we saw the transition from Biden to Harris, there was real frustration from folks feeling like they didn't have a choice." The election was only a few months away, and it would have been hard to have a full-scale primary season. Even a mini-primary would have been difficult.

Teen Vogue's interviewer: "Our generation is expected to have less than what those before us had, from the backsliding of reproductive and civil rights to more financial insecurity." DF: "Other generations have let us down. Young people are experiencing a cost-of-living crisis, they tell me they're worried about making rent."

TV: "A lot of people have, for lack of a better term, crashed out of institutional politics. We don’t think elected officials are coming to save us." DF: "Girl! This is probably the first time I’ve said it in an interview, but I was in the same boat. It was crashout or Congress! This country, this last election, left me just as disappointed and heartbroken and horrified as you."

Why run for Congress? DF concedes that local and state offices are important, "but it is disingenuous to tell young people to sit on school boards that are often unpaid, to tell them that they need to go to the state legislature where they get paid $20,000-something a year, making it a prerequisite to leadership, when older generations have created a cost-of-living crisis."

 

[lpetrich]

On her activism,

I can't keep asking young people to get involved at the level that I did, let your life get turned upside down, go from private to public overnight, commit your formative years, all of high school and college, to this movement unless I can assure them that if they do, their protests will be heard in the halls of power.

On running for office,

Nothing prepared me better to run for office than being cyber-mobbed at 20 years old. I also want to acknowledge that that kind of digital violence, whether it's cyber-mobbing, hate speech, doxxing, or deep fakes, is gender-based violence. We will lose out on an entire generation of women leaders if we don’t get to the root of this. Every member of Gen Z who’s had our entire lives documented, every party, every outfit, every phase, would be precluded from running. I already know that for every young girl who's ever posted bikini pics or sent a risky photo, those are in the back of her head should she decide to run.

She continued with saying that it is time to "redefine what respectability looks like".

 

[Swammerdami]

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion? -- We don't seem to have a thread specific to DEI, so I bumped this one.

Jamie Dimon is one of America's top bankers and businessmen. He follows in the footsteps of John Pierpont Morgan, who acted in effect as America's central bank during the credit crises of the late 19th century when America lacked a central bank. And as head of the very same firm that J.P. Morgan headed, Dimon has served a role similar to Morgan -- During the 2008 crisis, Dimon made the personal decision to purchase Bear-Stearns rather than to let it collapse as Lehman soon did.

Those who hate all billionaires will be happy to hate Dimon (though his wealth is in Taylor Swift's league, not that of Bezos). BUT America's present system is very "capitalist" and as rich capitalists go, one can do much worse than Jamie Dimon.

From 1989 to 2009, the banker and his wife gave over half a million dollars to Democrats, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis. That’s 12 times what they gave to Republicans during that same time frame.
. . .
After Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, there was speculation that Dimon would become Secretary of the Treasury....

[In a 2012 interview, Dimon said] “I would call myself a ‘barely Democrat,’ at this point. I didn't support anyone last time around: I'm on the New York Fed Board; I'm not allowed to. But I am a Democrat, yes,” Dimon said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press.

Anti-business behavior by some Democrats has disturbed him, Dimon said.

“I’ve gotten disturbed at some of the Democrats anti-business behavior, the attacks on work ethic and successful people,” Dimon said. 'I think it’s very counterproductive.”

“It doesn't mean I don't have their values. I want jobs. I want a more equitable society. I don't mind paying higher taxes. … I do think we're our brother's keeper, he went on. "But I think that … attacking that which creates all things, is not the right way to go about it.”

Dimon is in the news again:

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon made headlines during a high-profile event in Dublin, Ireland, by sharply criticizing the Democratic Party and its approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Speaking at a foreign ministry event, in remarks covered by Bloomberg, Dimon did not mince words, declaring, “I have a lot of friends who are Democrats, and they’re idiots. I always say they have big hearts and little brains. They do not understand how the real world works. Almost every single policy rolled out failed.”
...
Dimon’s comments extended beyond party politics to the Democrats’ focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. He argued that the party “overdid DEI,” prioritizing ideology over practical solutions. While reaffirming JPMorgan’s commitment to engaging with various communities, he insisted that the extent of current DEI efforts has become counterproductive. “We all were devoted to reaching out to the Black community, Hispanic, the LGBT community, the disabled — we do all of that. But the extent, they gotta stop it. And they gotta go back to being more practical. They’re very ideological,” he said.

 

[lpetrich]

8 Questions With The 26-Year-Old "Influencer" Running For Congress - YouTube - nice interview

The video showed some of Kat Abughazaleh's campaign office, like "Paddystinian", the Irish and Palestinian flags togther.

1. What has been the biggest changes she's experienced pivoting from content activism to running for public office? -- She answered that reporting on right-wingers has been good practice for running for office, because it has made her thick-skinned. That is something like what someone said in a panel discussion with AOC back in 2019 (?). One has to have rhino thick skin in politics. That agrees with the research by psychologists Rubenzer and Faschingbauer on Presidential character. Presidents are usually low on agreeableness, meaning that they are not very concerned about what others think about them. They are also usually high on conscientiousness (diligence, orderliness, conformity), something associated with success in academia and careers. I think that KA has demonstrated that she has a lot of that in her career as a documenter of the far right.

2. Why did she decide to run in this particular district? And how does she plan to gain our trust, when many of us see her as an outsider? -- When KA moved to Chicago, she wanted to move to a place that was in the SE corner of the district that she wanted to run in, but she did so on short notice, so that is why she lives a little bit to the south of that spot. But she does intend to move into that district.

She says that people ought to be skeptical of people running for office, even her, and that is why she wants to show and not just tell.

3. Video question: I guess I could see there being some concern among some people who live in the area like is this person really focused on the issues or are they doing it for quote unquote content and what ultimately like her
long-term vision is. -- KA says that she's in it to win. She said that everybody should be able to afford housing, groceries, and healthcare, with money left over to save and spend. She also said that she doesn't want to be in Congress forever, and that she plans to quit after 5 terms. She said that high-school students are going through things that she didn't experience.

4. What organizations has she worked with in the district? -- KA works with activist and assistance organizations like Evanston Community Fridges and Chicago's Period Collective, with people donating food and period products. She also mentioned why her platform does not mention housing and labor issues. That is because she is consulting with local activists on what to put in her platform.

5. Given how corrupt Congress is, what do you think you can achieve that will produce noticeable improvement in the lives of your constituents? -- KA plans on a text-chat feature for constituent services. She also proposed banning trading individual stocks, and to have binding codes of ethics for Congresspeople and the Supreme Court.

(Extra) Will she have a KatGPT for constituent services? -- KA: no.

6. Has she seen my resume? -- KA said that that is not much to go from.

Then mentioning her competition: Evanston mayor Daniel Biss, State Senator Laura Fine,

7. What do you know about legislative mechanics that would make you a better representative for IL-9 than a state senator or a sitting mayor? -- she has long had a lot of interesting in politics, and she received a copy of Robert's Rules of Order when she was 5. She also credits her staffers with a lot of expertise.

8. With a staunch Republican grandmother, a hedge fund- owning father, and a family that has historically been Republican, how do we know she won't flip her party when she wins? -- her family was Reaganite Republicans, but got turned off by Donald Trump. She also learned that some right-wing notions were just plain mistaken, and she came to question more of them. She then went on to have a career exposing right-wingers, so she's sure that she would not be welcome among them.

The interview ended with KA conceding that it is difficult to convince people that she isn't some crypto-Republican other than being deposed by Elon Musk.

Making Baklava and Answering Questions - YouTube - thus competing with AOC

 

[lpetrich]

Saikat for Congress

Nancy Pelosi entered politics 45 years ago. Back then, your rent could be a few hundred dollars a month and a summer job covered college tuition. Republicans and Democrats agreed that climate change was real and that democracy was a good thing. Roe V. Wade was the law of the land, and it was impossible to imagine going backwards.

Today, even highly-paid professionals struggle to afford decent housing, healthcare, and education. MAGA Republicans are tearing apart virtually every public institution. And the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to allow states to totally ban abortion without exception for rape, incest, or age.

He's running against her.

Nancy Pelosi believes Democrats don't need to change. She believes Trump, MAGA, and the new authoritarianism will fade away on its own. I believe we need a totally new leadership in DC that not only knows how to fight Trump, but also how to deliver the change that Americans are demanding.

Then describing that he was once an AOC staffer, complete with helping to launch her Green New Deal.

"Twenty terms in Congress is enough."

She was a fighter who joined Congress in 1987 — but she does not understand the anti-Democratic, anti-Constitution, and anti-American forces that we are up against in 2025. And at age 85, she no longer has the strength for the current fight.

 

[lpetrich]

Saikat for Congress - Issues

San Franciscans are working more to afford less. ... Authoritarianism is winning because the American Dream is failing. ...

We have done that before. We did it during the New Deal and mobilization for World War II, when we built the industries that created our middle class. Back then, America had its own home-grown fascist movement filling stadiums. But that movement evaporated when FDR’s economy provided high paying jobs and radically improved people’s lives. This is a plan to do that again.

These policies are overwhelmingly popular – not just in San Francisco, but across America. There is no reason we can’t have the future envisioned here. All we lack is political will.

Then a lot of details.

Stop Trump’s authoritarian coup ... He is doing it by taking a wrecking ball to our government and other public institutions. He’s going after law firms and universities to take more and more control over our civil society. He’s creating a vigilante police force of masked agents in unmarked vans who pick up our neighbors off the streets and disappear them into far off detention centers. And we already know he and the Republicans in Congress will dispute the results of any election where they don’t win.

...
To protect San Franciscans, I will build the best constituent services office in the country. ...

...
To stop Trump’s attacks on our civil institutions, I will treat my job as more than a legislator – I plan to be an organizer. ...

That's very ambitious.

 

[lpetrich]

Make housing affordable.

...
In Congress, I will create legislation for a national housing plan to build tens of thousands of new homes in San Francisco and millions of new homes across the country. ...

He says that " I’ll lead the way advocating for federal programs that help cities and states cut red tape and quickly approve new housing." Thus agreeing with the "abundance" movement. But he goes further. He proposes a Reconstruction Finance Corporation that will invest in the building of new housing that "the market" is unwilling to build, like starter homes, low-income housing, and “gentle-density” homes such as townhomes or ADUs. "I will also repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which currently blocks the government from building new publicly owned housing." Then noting other countries with success in building "incredibly high quality social housing."

So he wants to out-abundance the abundance movement. I think that that is more productive than endless uphill struggles to keep rent from growing and growing and growing.

"We must end housing being used as a speculative asset. Housing should be for people to live in, not for big corporations to gamble with." Building a lot of it will help.

"Build the clean economy to create prosperity for all" After mentioning FDR's WWII mobilization, he continues:

Building the clean economy will create millions of high-paying American jobs and dramatically improve living standards. I’ve spent the last seven years proving this. As Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, I helped author the Green New Deal. I also co-founded the think tank New Consensus, where we have created the Mission for America — a successor to the Green New Deal with the details filled in.

"Save Muni and BART" - "I'll fight to redirect federal funds away from highway expansions and put it towards supporting and expanding public transportation."

"Enact universal healthcare" - Medicare for All

"Make raising a family affordable" - "I’ll start by making sure that every new parent has a right to 24 weeks of paid parental leave."

"Lower utility bills" - "The worst part? PG&E doesn’t use your money to improve our infrastructure — it goes to profits for wealthy shareholders" - "In Congress, I’ll use my position to enforce the Raker Act to help San Francisco establish a public utility."

 

[lpetrich]

Create real public safety

... In cities across the world like Tokyo or Copenhagen, it’s amazing to see young children playing in the parks or taking public transit by themselves. It’s incredibly freeing both for children and their parents. I believe we should aim for that kind of freedom in San Francisco.

Too often, the conversation around crime gets reduced to a false choice: go back to the failed “tough on crime” playbook of the 1990s or ignore the real problems San Franciscans are facing everyday. I reject that choice entirely — the issues we face are complex, and they demand complex solutions.

... That means investing in alternative responders — mental health specialists, addiction counselors, and social workers — who can de-escalate crises and connect people to real help. I’ll work to ensure every federal public safety grant includes funding for this kind of response.

...I support rebuilding our police force with well-trained, community-minded officers who are equipped to respond without intimidation or excessive force.

"Ban congressional stock trading" - His opponent Nancy Pelosi has done a lot of that, as has Marjorie Taylor Greene.

End money in politics

...
We must create a publicly financed election system to end the role of big money in politics. Places like New York City, Seattle, Arizona and Maine have versions of this already.

...
I have pledged to take no corporate or lobbyist PAC money in this campaign. I am spending my time talking to voters, not big donors and when in Congress, I will spend my days doing my job rather than dialing for dollars.

Which is what many politicians do, sad to say. AOC says that that's helped her do her job better, by giving her time to sit in on hearings and the like.

 

[lpetrich]

Empower workers

... Today, we see an unprecedented level of the wealth our economy creates going to the owners and shareholders instead of the workers, and this upward transfer of wealth is decimating our middle and working class. We must reverse this, especially as we embark on a mission to create vast amounts of new wealth by building a new, clean economy. As your Congressman, here is how I plan to make sure workers get their fair share of the prosperity they are building:

• Raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour over the next five years by passing the Raise the Wage Act
• Support every American’s right to join a union by passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
• Promote sectoral bargaining — where workers across an entire industry negotiate wages and conditions together, not just at individual companies — to raise the wages of millions of Americans.
• Crackdown on wage theft — the most common form of theft in the United States — by making intentional and repeated wage theft a felony punishable with jail time.
• Guarantee every worker the legal right to bathroom, water, and rest breaks.

"Make public college tuition-free" - then noting how his adopted state had tuition-free public colleges until half a century ago.

"Fund public schools" - "I will fight to fully fund our schools, raise teacher pay, and improve learning outcomes."

"Enshrine reproductive rights" - "Although we are lucky to live in a state that protects reproductive freedom, Trump’s Project 2025 made clear that the goal is a national abortion ban." Then mentioning how Democrats spent nearly half a century counting on the Supreme Court to protect abortion rights without codifying abortion rights into law. "I will not make that mistake."

What explains this disastrous policy? Trying to get the soft anti-abortion vote?

 

[lpetrich]

Welcome immigrants

Let me be clear: The Trump administration's immigration agenda is cruel, authoritarian, and profoundly un-American. ICE is a personal police force for Trump now full of masked agents in unmarked vehicles picking people up off the streets and disappearing them with no due process. Claiming this is about immigration is a farce.

...
In Congress, I will stand up to President Trump’s authoritarian immigration policies. I'll vote to repeal dangerous laws like the Alien Enemies Act that the administration uses to detain and deport people without trial. I’ll rein in ICE by making it illegal to detain people at courthouses and use Congressional oversight powers to investigate ICE for civil rights abuses. We need a fighter in Congress who will protect sanctuary cities like San Francisco from federal intimidation and ensure families aren't torn apart by deportation.

However, we can’t just settle for playing defense against the Trump administration’s racist agenda. We need new leaders who will follow through on their promise to pass comprehensive immigration reform. We need immigration reform that expands legal immigration pathways, reunites separated families, and treats asylum seekers with the dignity they deserve.

Even if it must be conceded that the US cannot accept *every* potential immigrant. I'd propose assistance in finding other countries willing to take such would be immigrants.

End the wars

We need to stop bombing and sanctioning countries every chance we get. We’ve destroyed our standing with the world and our unhinged foreign policy is leading us to ruin. We need to have a complete change in our foreign policy to become one where we follow international law and do business with other countries instead of coercing them. We should be doing the modern day version of the Marshall Plan, except this time to help developing nations create their own clean, sustainable, and prosperous economies — that would be a win-win for the United States and the world.

Then something very daring.

I’ve also been a vocal critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as the race to war with Iran. If elected, I’d be a vote to end all military aid to Israel.

That's very daring.

I believe Congress—not the president—should decide when America goes to war. I support repealing outdated Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) and backing legislation like the National Security Powers Act to end forever wars, close legal loopholes, and make sure no president can unilaterally drag the U.S. into conflict.

Great. I'd reduce Presidential power in a LOT of other ways, making the US semi-presidential. Congress ought to accept responsibility for running much of the Executive Branch.

"Protect the LGBTQ+ community" - stating that his adopted city has long been a center of LGBTQ+ activism.

 

[lpetrich]

Fix inequality and the national debt with a wealth tax on billionaires

From 1975 to 2023, the balance of incomes have been shifted from the bottom 90% to the top 10% of income earners to the tune of $79 trillion dollars — with the vast bulk of that going to the top 1% of the top 1%. ...

There is perhaps no better example of this massive “reverse Robinhood” wealth transfer than our government’s response to the 2008 financial crisis — under both Republicans and Democrats. After Wall Street got carried away with reckless speculation on an unprecedented scale, the leaders of both parties literally bailed out Wall Street’s biggest losers while millions of ordinary Americans lose their homes and life savings — a national trauma that created the Tea Party and set the stage for Trump’s rise.

Incredibly, nearly all of the CEOs and other leaders who led our economy to ruin not only kept their jobs but were rewarded with trillions of dollars of support from the government. ...

Then about how he had a middle-class upbringing and went on to help build the payment processing company Stripe. As a result, he became a centimillionaire, at least on paper. "I’ve seen how, thanks to our rigged casino economy, the rich get richer without lifting a finger while everyone else struggles to hang on to what they have."

Did I work hard at Stripe? Sure. But did I work harder than a teacher at SFUSD or a nurse at UCSF? No way. Do I think people should be rewarded for starting great companies? Absolutely. But should our economy be organized as a winner-take-all battle for survival? Absolutely not. A society that works like that, where you either hit the lottery and get rich or you’ll never be able to afford a house or a secure retirement, is crazy. And unless we change it, America is doomed to fail.

Then proposing to support

... the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act proposed by Elizabeth Warren and Pramila Jayapal. This bill creates a wealth tax on the top 0.05 percent of American households by having them pay 2 cents for every dollar of wealth over $50 million, and 3 cents for every dollar of wealth over $1 billion.

I will also fight to reverse the Trump tax cuts and end tax loopholes that allow the wealthy to avoid paying estate taxes. Creating a fair tax system will not only reverse the decades of wealth transfer from the working and middle class to the ultra-rich, it will allow us to fund programs like universal healthcare, universal childcare, and public transit.

Great platform. I like to see politicians who propose to do something worthwhile about the nation's problems.

 

[Derec]

Saikat for Congress - Issues

The fan of a Nazi collaborator? This ought to be good!

San Franciscans are working more to afford less. ... Authoritarianism is winning because the American Dream is failing. ...

Speaking of authoritarianism, he supports the guy who literally worked with Hitler.
But he has something of a point. The Trump-style authoritarianism is winning because the mainstream has failed in many aspects. And the Left has their own authoritarian streaks. Like diktats on cultural matters such as #BLM or transgender activism in the workplace. I think telling people that everybody should display their pronouns for the sake of <1% of the population went way too far for example.

We have done that before. We did it during the New Deal and mobilization for World War II, when we built the industries that created our middle class. Back then, America had its own home-grown fascist movement filling stadiums. But that movement evaporated when FDR’s economy provided high paying jobs and radically improved people’s lives. This is a plan to do that again.

Big part of that recovery was that US was relatively unscathed while especially Europe was devastated by years of mechanized warfare. The debt-to-GDP was much lower back then too, so US could afford to borrow more.

As you can see, federal debt to GDP was ~50% in 1940, so there was room to go up. Now it's >120%, higher than even at the height of WWII.

These policies are overwhelmingly popular – not just in San Francisco, but across America. There is no reason we can’t have the future envisioned here. All we lack is political will.

Policies that promise people stuff are popular. Sure. Paying for them is not. Because it will be paid for, one way or another. TANSTAAFL.

Stop Trump’s authoritarian coup ... He is doing it by taking a wrecking ball to our government and other public institutions. He’s going after law firms and universities to take more and more control over our civil society.

I hate what he is doing with universities and research grants. Good basic research is key to US economic strength.
But I think universities share the blame for becoming so unpopular in much of the population. Over the last few decades, they have become increasingly ideologically monotonous, and accepting of left-wing radicalism. Columbia University even hired Kathy Boudin who served 20 years in prison for a deadly armored car robbery done in order to finance extremist groups dedicated to destroying the US. Boudin's Weather Underground cell even planned to bomb Columbia University's dining hall in the 1970s. Luckily, the bomb exploded during assembly, taking a few of the terrorists with it.
Or take the Gaza protests. Universities had been too accepting of those, even when they directly supported Hamas' attack on Israel.

He’s creating a vigilante police force of masked agents in unmarked vans who pick up our neighbors off the streets and disappear them into far off detention centers.

Again, decades of neglect of the problem of illegal immigration from both sides of the aisle led us to this.

 

[Derec]

Nancy Pelosi entered politics 45 years ago. Back then, your rent could be a few hundred dollars a month and a summer job covered college tuition.

I agree that Pelosi has held this seat too long, 38 years. She is also already 85 years old. But it is unfortunate that there seem to be few younger moderate Democrats vying to take over. The choice should not be a binary one between old geezers and DSA.
The rent being a few hundred dollars a month does not say much. That's just cumulative inflation - $500 in 1980 is worth $2000 in 2025. The second comparison is better, and we have to ask ourselves why college cost increased so much more than inflation, rather than just throw more money at the problem.

Today, even highly-paid professionals struggle to afford decent housing, healthcare, and education.

I very much doubt that, unless they have very unrealistic expectations.

Nancy Pelosi believes Democrats don't need to change. She believes Trump, MAGA, and the new authoritarianism will fade away on its own. I believe we need a totally new leadership in DC that not only knows how to fight Trump, but also how to deliver the change that Americans are demanding.

Did she really say that?
I think Democrats do need to change. I just don't agree that they need to change toward the DSA.

Then describing that he was once an AOC staffer, complete with helping to launch her Green New Deal.

Case in point. A completely bloated idea, including many policy proposals that had nothing to with climate or environment. And despite the stated urgency in the original resolution, it was never developed past the "concepts of a plan" stage since it was first introduced in 2019.

 

[lpetrich]

Arizona Seventh Congressional District Special Primary Election Results 2025 - The New York Times - the results are in, 77% at the time of this writing.

Adelita Grijalva 62%, Deja Foxx 21%, Daniel Hernandez 14%, and 2 more.

I would have liked to see DF, but AG seems worthwhile. Their platforms are very similar, and DF objected to AG's candidacy being dynastic succession, and also the risk of dying in office. That's rather unfair to AG, since she is 55 years old and seemingly in good health, even if DF is more correct in general. DF herself is 25 years old.

• Dianne Feinstein - CA-SEN - 2023 Sep 29 - (unstated, though she had been in poor health for a long time)
• Donald Payne Jr. - NJ-10 - 2024 Apr 24 - heart attack (diabetes complication)
• Sheila Jackson Lee - TX-18 - 2024 Jul 19 - pancreatic cancer
• Bill Pascrell - NJ-09 - 2024 Aug 21 - (unstated, but he had had heart problems)
• Sylvester Turner - TX-18 - 2025 Mar 5 - osteosarcoma (rare kind of bone cancer)
• Raúl Grijalva - AZ-07 - 2025 Mar 13 - lung cancer
• Gerry Connolly - VA-11 - 2025 May 21 - esophageal cancer

Their health problems had often been apparent for several months, plenty of time to decide not to run again.

 List of United States Congress members who died in office

Turning to AG herself, she graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in political science, then served for 20 years in the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board, and then in the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Endorsements | Adelita For Congress - her endorsers include Bernie Sanders and AOC.

 

[Derec]

He says that " I’ll lead the way advocating for federal programs that help cities and states cut red tape and quickly approve new housing." Thus agreeing with the "abundance" movement. But he goes further. He proposes a Reconstruction Finance Corporation that will invest in the building of new housing that "the market" is unwilling to build, like starter homes, low-income housing, and “gentle-density” homes such as townhomes or ADUs.

There is some good in that proposal, as long as it is targeted where the free market truly fails and does not try to undermine it. Which will not be in already densely built, high real-estate price areas like San Francisco or Manhattan.
As far as the "Abundance Movement", one of its main planks is that there are progressive holy cows that stand in the way of completing projects quickly or affordably. Ezra Klein calls that "Everything Bagel Progressivism". I doubt the likes of Chakrabarti or Mandami will stand against, I don't know, mandates to give preference to black poly amputee hijabis and similar when awarding building contracts.

"I will also repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which currently blocks the government from building new publicly owned housing." Then noting other countries with success in building "incredibly high quality social housing."

Which countries does he have in mind? What are the details? When different countries are taken as a model, details are often ignored. Details that would make implementation difficult in the US. Take free university education in Germany. The access to university is much more strictly regulated than in the US. Here, you can just barely pass high school or even get a GED and you can enter Bumfuck State University, even if you have to take remedial math and English to do so. This faux-democratic access to university makes it unworkable to make it paid by taxpayers in its entirety.

"We must end housing being used as a speculative asset. Housing should be for people to live in, not for big corporations to gamble with." Building a lot of it will help.

We also should learn to live with a stable population. Continued growth, especially exponential growth (which means constant percentage growth rate) is unsustainable, and building enough for an exponentially growing population will lead to increasing encroachment into nature areas.

Building the clean economy will create millions of high-paying American jobs and dramatically improve living standards. I’ve spent the last seven years proving this. As Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, I helped author the Green New Deal. I also co-founded the think tank New Consensus, where we have created the Mission for America — a successor to the Green New Deal with the details filled in.

"Green New Deal" was "concepts of a plan" before Trump came up with that phrase. And in the years since it was first introduced, AOC et al did precious little to flesh it out, despite claims of urgency in the original resolution. There was a FAQ released with it, but it was full of stupid ideas like eventually "getting rid of airplanes and farting cows" that the authors distanced themselves from it. But it still remains the most concrete roadmap to its implementation. It is also an example of "everything bagel progressivism" as it includes policy proposals that have nothing to do with the climate, like federal job guarantees.

And I have already said why FDR is a poor model for today in a previous post.

"Save Muni and BART" - "I'll fight to redirect federal funds away from highway expansions and put it towards supporting and expanding public transportation."

I support expanding transit. But we do not have vilify cars to do that.

"Enact universal healthcare" - Medicare for All
"Make raising a family affordable" - "I’ll start by making sure that every new parent has a right to 24 weeks of paid parental leave."

24 weeks in almost half a year. Seems like a lot. And what if the couple has many children? Can they get paid parental leave most years for a decade or more?

"Lower utility bills" - "The worst part? PG&E doesn’t use your money to improve our infrastructure — it goes to profits for wealthy shareholders" - "In Congress, I’ll use my position to enforce the Raker Act to help San Francisco establish a public utility."

The dividend yield of PG&E is less than a percent. I do not think shareholder profits are excessive. What evidence does SC have that PG&E does not invest in infrastructure? I would also think that one of the reasons for high energy prices in California are high taxes and regulations.

 

[lpetrich]

AZ-07: 84%

He says that " I’ll lead the way advocating for federal programs that help cities and states cut red tape and quickly approve new housing." Thus agreeing with the "abundance" movement. But he goes further. He proposes a Reconstruction Finance Corporation that will invest in the building of new housing that "the market" is unwilling to build, like starter homes, low-income housing, and “gentle-density” homes such as townhomes or ADUs.

There is some good in that proposal, as long as it is targeted where the free market truly fails and does not try to undermine it. Which will not be in already densely built, high real-estate price areas like San Francisco or Manhattan.

Whatever Derec might mean by the market failing at something. A lot of cities are not building enough housing, and NIMBY's often obstruct efforts to do so.

"I will also repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which currently blocks the government from building new publicly owned housing." Then noting other countries with success in building "incredibly high quality social housing."

Which countries does he have in mind?

He says so in his platform document: "Many countries around the world, including Austria, Singapore, and Finland, build incredibly high quality social housing.".

Some people praise Singapore as a capitalist utopia, but that place has an alternative to taxes: mandatory savings.  Central Provident Fund

The Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), commonly known as the CPF Board or simply the Central Provident Fund (CPF), is a compulsory comprehensive savings and pension plan for working Singaporeans and permanent residents primarily to fund their retirement, healthcare, and housing needs in Singapore.

 

[Derec]

Whatever Derec might mean by the market failing at something. A lot of cities are not building enough housing, and NIMBY's often obstruct efforts to do so.

It is pretty obvious what I mean. Not providing a good or service that is needed.
I do not see evidence that the market is not building housing in cities like NYC or San Francisco. What is lacking is "affordable" housing. But these cities have high real estate prices because they are desirable places to live for many. It's supply and demand.
If a city mandates cheap housing, it should not be forced in the areas that have very high real estate prices, but rather in outlying areas with more available land and where such housing could be built much cheaper. Especially when he envisions things like "gentle density housing" which are very expensive where land is expensive, like in SF. I think he is right though that developers should be encouraged to build more smaller "starter homes". Developers prefer large homes because they have higher profit margins, just like US carmakers prefer large SUVs and trucks for the same reason.

He says so in his platform document: "Many countries around the world, including Austria, Singapore, and Finland, build incredibly high quality social housing."

I am not looking for campaign blurbs, but details, as the devil often hides therein. Also, what are his sources?

Some people praise Singapore as a capitalist utopia, but that place has an alternative to taxes: mandatory savings.  Central Provident Fund

Yes, Singapore is a pretty capitalist place. It also has high real estate prices. No wonder "Crazy Rich Asians" was set there.
Do Saikat and his ilk propose a mandatory savings scheme modelled on CPF?

 

[Derec]

Create real public safety
... In cities across the world like Tokyo or Copenhagen, it’s amazing to see young children playing in the parks or taking public transit by themselves. It’s incredibly freeing both for children and their parents. I believe we should aim for that kind of freedom in San Francisco.

There is the issue of crime, but there is also the contemporary cultural aversion to "free range parenting" to overcome. Japan had a TV show where they send toddlers on errands. In America, that would not fly.

Too often, the conversation around crime gets reduced to a false choice: go back to the failed “tough on crime” playbook of the 1990s or ignore the real problems San Franciscans are facing everyday. I reject that choice entirely — the issues we face are complex, and they demand complex solutions.

I agree that the issue is complex, but he does not offer any details on the complexity.
I disagree that "tough on crime" of 1990s failed entirely. I think this is the right prescriptions for serious crime, and especially violent crime - homicides, robberies, aggravated assaults. For less serious crime we can be more flexible. I do not see a reason for jail time for first offense petty shoplifting for example - but if the thief perceives leniency for weakness and does it again, punishment needs to escalate. The situation in NY where thieves can be picked up over and over again and be RORed every single time is untenable.
Then there are things currently illegal that should not be a crime at all. Things like weed or consensual sex work.

... That means investing in alternative responders — mental health specialists, addiction counselors, and social workers — who can de-escalate crises and connect people to real help. I’ll work to ensure every federal public safety grant includes funding for this kind of response.

This should not be a replacement for police officers. You can't just send unarmed "addiction counselors" into a potentially dangerous situation involving an addict. You can't just send a social worker to a domestic, as those often escalate into violence including toward third parties. So you still need police backup, which means you can't defund police, as left-wing nutcases want to do.

...I support rebuilding our police force with well-trained, community-minded officers who are equipped to respond without intimidation or excessive force.

By definition, excessive force is not ok. But what does he view as "excessive" concretely? And intimidation is a necessary tool in a police officer's arsenal. If a perp is not intimidated by the officer(s), he or she may think they should fight to try to escape rather than give up.
Having police is a good goal, but it costs money. So, #fundPolice? And note that when Atlanta wanted to build a state-of-the art training facility for police and firefighters, the far left responded with violence. They set construction vehicles and offices of construction companies ablaze, they camped in the area seeking to block construction, and at one point things escalated when one of the opponents shot a Georgia State Trooper in the abdomen.
You can't say you want police to be well-trained, and then object to facilities designated to do just that!

Ban congressional stock trading" - His opponent Nancy Pelosi has done a lot of that, as has Marjorie Taylor Greene.

I agree with this.

We must create a publicly financed election system to end the role of big money in politics. Places like New York City, Seattle, Arizona and Maine have versions of this already.

Difficult to get big money out of politics unless you can somehow reverse Citizens United. And despite public financing, beaucoup bucks are being poured into the NYC mayoral election, for example.

I have pledged to take no corporate or lobbyist PAC money in this campaign. I am spending my time talking to voters, not big donors and when in Congress, I will spend my days doing my job rather than dialing for dollars.

Corporations are not necessarily bad. And is he taking money from well-heeled special interest groups, like major unions?

 

[lpetrich]

In AZ-07, with 84% counted, Adelita Grijalva 61.9%, Deja Foxx 21.2%, Daniel Hernandez 14.3%, Patrick Harris 1.5%, Jose Malvido 1.1%.

Deja Foxx conceded:

Deja Foxx: "While the results aren’t what we hoped for, I couldn’t be prouder of what we built together." — Bluesky

While the results aren’t what we hoped for, I couldn’t be prouder of what we built together.

This started as a 25-year-old filling out paperwork alone in her bedroom, and in just over 100 days grew into a grassroots movement of tens of thousands that wrote a new playbook for our generation of leaders.

We shattered expectations, brought new people into the process, and proved that when young people, working-class families, and everyday Arizonans lead, anything is possible.

For so many, this was your first time getting involved in politics, and let me tell you: you made a difference. You made calls, knocked doors, donated what you could. You believed in something bigger than yourself, you believed change was possible.

That hope will carry on far past this election.

Because change doesn't come from a single election. It comes from a movement that refuses to give up. And we're not going anywhere.


This is just the beginning. Let's take what we've learned, keep organizing, and keep building.

I’m proud to offer my full support to Adelita Grijalva in the next phase of this race.

Something like Doyle Canning supporting Val Hoyle back in 2022 in the election for OR-04.

As to Daniel Hernandez, DMFI PAC endorses Daniel Hernandez in AZ-07 special election - DMFI PAC - "Democratic Majority for Israel"

Among his endorsers was Rep. Ritchie Torres - Endorsements - Daniel Hernandez for Congress - he did not get nearly as many endorsements as Adelita Grijalva did.

Trust But Verify: Endorsements, Errors And Lessons From AZ-07... And WI-03

We make mistakes too. Everybody does. ... And that “Everybody does” includes Bernie. He may have been wrong about AOC— although has since more than made up for it by boosting her as his political heir apparent— but he appears to have been right about this AZ-07 primary. Blue America didn’t take a stand because we couldn’t get a firm enough fix on who exactly Deja Foxx is and we were split. So we stayed out, although I thought something smelled off about Foxx. Normally, Bernie’s endorsement would have swayed us. But…

Like she's being supported by some people who want to divide the Left to get their candidates elected? Like Republicans who support Green candidates?

 

[lpetrich]

Arizona Seventh Congressional District Special Primary Election Results 2025 - The New York Times now at >95%. Adelita Grijalva 61.4%, Deja Foxx 22.2%, Daniel Hernandez 13.6%, Patrick Harris 1.5%, Jose Malvido 1.1%.

Democrats: 61,798, Republicans: 17,918

In the previous Congressional election, back in 2024, Raúl Grijalva (D) got 63.4% and Daniel Butierez (R) 36.5%. DB won the Republican primary vote in this special election.

Unlike certain Democrats about the New York City mayoral race, Deja Foxx is supporting the winner.

DEM Mayor Citywide for New York City. There were 11 candidates, and some of them cross-endorsed each other, like Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander. If you rank ZM, also rank BL, and vice versa.

The first round eliminated write-ins, about 0.1% of the vote. Nearly 60% of their vote was transferred to other candidates, and Zohran Mamdani went from 43.8% to 43.9% of the vote, and Andrew Cuomo from 36.1% to 36.2% of the vote. The others ended up with 19.9% of the vote.

The second round eliminated all but ZM and AC, because their combined votes were not as much as the ZM-AC difference. This resulted in nearly twice as many votes being transferred to ZM as to AC, and ZM got 56.4% and AC 43.6%.