Like many people in our country, I was in utter disbelief when Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. 2016 had been a year of negative campaigning which most Democrats blamed on the Republican party. I knew that we had major hurdles to climb as a society and that Donald Trump was going to add gasoline to the fire with his polarizing rhetoric. I knew that it would take more diversity and progressive champions in Congress to offset this negative trend transpiring across the country. President Barack Obama famously said that if you don't like what’s going on in politics, you should get a clipboard and run for office yourself. So I decided to run for Congress in the 7th District in Virginia to unseat the Koch-funded Tea Party favorite, Dave Brat and to fight against the Trump regime.
I am a proud Army veteran and have been a Democrat all my life. As a small business owner and an active participant in the Richmond Economic Development Authority,, I have seen that the last 20 years had been tough for the so-called middle class. The middle class has been dealing with stagnant low wages, job loss, and high health insurance cost. The American dream is just that, a dream, unless you are part of the wealthy upper class. The poor working class is stuck with poverty wages, no benefits, and low paying retail jobs that continue to flood our communities.
For these reasons, I chose a progressive platform that would serve the 7th district best. I want to build an economy that works for everyone and provide real affordable healthcare with “Medicare For All” single payer healthcare. I will fight discrimination, mass incarceration, and racial injustice. I will fight to increase the minimum wage to $15 dollars per hour, legalize marijuana, make public college tuition-free, and forgive all student loan debt.
When I announced my candidacy, I was informed that there were 2 other people running for the seat and that there might be more candidates announcing their run in the weeks to come. I spent the next four months traveling throughout my district learning what the needs of the people were and I enrolled in candidate training to learn everything about running for office. Eventually, there were 7 candidates looking to replace our current representative, Dave Brat. I was the only minority candidate. I was told that the Democratic race would be a friendly, yet competitive primary to win the Democratic nomination for the 7th Congressional district. This was untrue because I was being short-changed by my own party.
For example, I wasn't told about the opportunity to attend Candidate Week in Washington, DC in October 2017. Democrats running for the House were brought together from all over the country to attend Candidate Week which is a huge networking opportunity for candidates because of the valuable training and introductions. At the time of Candidate Week, 3 people had exited the 7th District race and 2 more had entered. I didn't discover until months later that one of the last candidates who entered the race had been invited by my local party to attend Candidate Week in October.
I also discovered in the Fall of 2017, that one of the candidates who had exited the race had begun a smear campaign to undercut my candidacy. Although no one questioned my legitimacy when I announced my run, the supporters of that candidate began a widespread whisper campaign saying that I didn’t belong.
I began reading articles about progressive candidates in other races who were being shunned like I was by their own local Democratic party. These candidates reported that the Democratic party was also actively working against them by endorsing “safe” conservative candidates.
Winning as a Progressive in Virginia is doable. The November 2017 House of Delegates elections in Virginia was the beginning of the Blue Wave nationwide. The winners were a widely diverse group including the first transgender, the first openly gay, the first Asian, and the first Latina delegate. Despite the diversity of these progressive Democrats, leaders in local Democratic parties decided to interfere in the Congressional race by pushing a conservative candidate of their choice.
It became apparent that some of the county chairs of the Democratic Committee were offering special treatment to one candidate. One county’s Facebook page became an extension of the conservative candidate's page with the chairs posting events, articles, and photos for only that candidate.
I was told that the committee wouldn't endorse a candidate until after they held a public primary. After further questioning, I learned that the Democratic Committee in the 7th district had never held an open primary and had always simply picked a candidate on their own. I became even more concerned when the 7th district committee held a meeting and expected their county committee chairs to select a candidate to support without even speaking with all the candidates. After a 3-hour debate in a late January committee meeting, an open primary was selected reluctantly by the members. Nonetheless, having decided on a June 12, 2018 primary, I was hopeful that we would start fresh, I was wrong.
During the first debate in February, all candidates agreed that they would support whoever won the Democratic primary. At no time did I pledge not to run independent of the Democratic party and made this known to the party chair.
In March, hostility from the conservative campaign had dramatically escalated and I had to officially ask the 7th District Chair to put an end to the childlike bully tactics being used against me and the other two remaining candidates. My words fell on deaf ears.
Despite pledging to remain neutral before the primary, 5 of 7 committee chairs publicly endorsed and held fundraisers for the conservative candidate. One widely publicized fundraiser was even held outside of our own district in donor-rich Northern Virginia. This was the last straw.
The Democratic Committee Chairs in the 7th district were actively sabotaging two of our campaigns instead of helping all three of us and staying neutral. It became crystal clear to me that continuing as a Democrat in the race was impossible. I was faced with the choice of withdrawing entirely or continuing as an Independent candidate. I chose Independent. I was very quickly endorsed by the New Modern Whig Party and progressive activists who were enthusiastic about my original Progressive platform. Leaving the 7th district Democratic Party may have saved my own campaign, but unfortunately, I have seen that the same behavior of my local party is occurring with many other Democratic candidates around the country, candidates like me who have made a personal and financial sacrifice and dedicated their lives to improving our country.
When President Obama made his famous statement, he didn’t say that the biggest obstacle you would face if you run would be your own party. I'm running to bring a much-needed change to our country because I'm not satisfied with the status quo and neither are most Americans across the country. I've lost my confidence in both major parties because of the bullying behavior and the need to always promote the “chosen candidate” by any means necessary. As a progressive candidate of the Whig Party, I will continue to push a platform for the people. I will fight for the working class to make the 7th district of Virginia and this country better.
Please support my campaign by following my social media and making a donation to this progressive movement.
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