This diary will be used as a forum for the following question: Who should represent The Progressive Ticket in the Pennsylvania Gubernatorial elections?
What is the Progressive Ticket, you ask?
The Progressive Ticket is a crowdsourced list of political candidates who the Dailykos Community at large support for their respective elections. The candidates will be chosen largely from community-wide debate and consensus. The goal is to have a Progressive option for every election in November, write-in or otherwise.
And what better way to develop this support, that embodies the spirit of the Democratic ideology, than an open forum?
This will hopefully be the first of many such forums this year, as I think it is vital that Progressives have ways to build their influence, within the Democratic Party, as well as the larger US political landscape.
As such, I decided to kick things off with the hottest election of my state, the race for Governor.
This election is extremely important for a number of reasons. First, due to Tom Corbett's dismal popularity, this makes this office one of the most likely party flips this year.
Second, being one of only a few statewide offices up for election, it has the strongest effect on coattails, so having a strong Democratic challenger is important for overall turnout, which could be the key to turning Pennsylvania blue for real.
Third, with Democratic support split among multiple strong contenders in the Primary, this is a real opportunity for Liberals/Progressives to influence who ultimately represents the Party as the state's highest executive. Especially since all the Democratic frontrunners boast competitive numbers vs. Corbett, this is a chance to field a strong Liberal candidate that should not be taken lightly.
The question then, is who is that candidate?
The current Democratic candidates:
Allyson Schwartz - current US Rep for the 13th District, who drew considerable excitement with her candidacy last year, which has since waned with her ties to the Third Way becoming an issue.
Tom Wolf - Self-funded York business owner. Has established himself as the frontrunner thanks to his aggressive tv advertising.
Rob McCord - Pennsylvania State Treasurer, who has recently started putting out ads of his own. Dunno how much more PA viewers can take.
Katie McGinty - Former Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary, which seems to be how her campaign will be strongly flavored. Still, with fracking a major issue in the state, this is not necessarily a weakness.
Frankly, I am personally alright with any one of these candidates representing me as a Democrat in November.
But it's not just up to me.
Make your voice heard. This is your chance to build up Democrats. Write what you have to say about these candidates in the comments. And read what others have to say as well. Then come back tomorrow, when we will put it to a vote. And the Progressive Ticket will have its Representative for Pennsylvania Governor.
Notice a blank in the Ticket that should be filled, or a name that should be erased, or an election you want to see discussed in a future forum? Let us know in the comments.
Are you here for electing more and better Democrats? Here is your chance to prove it.