The Working Families Party Endorsements
I was there on Saturday to hear from an inspiring array of candidates. And inspiring they were, individually and collectively.
But let’s not bury the lede:
Collin O’Mara delivered the single most inspiring and visionary speech I’ve ever heard from a Delaware office-seeker.
Visionary in that he talked about there has been no fundamental change in state government since the implementation of the cabinet form of government circa 1968. How the entrenched system and the people who have run it have focused time and time again on cost, and not on the benefits, of beneficial programs. John Carney’s blinkered opposition to universal breakfasts for public school students being a typical example. He focused on how public education has traditionally been underfunded and called for a major new infusion of revenue to the system including, yes, tax increases for those most able to afford them.
Truth-in-advertising: I’m a WFP member. I’ve contributed, gone door-to-door, and even occasionally helped out with tracking legislation for WFP. I feel most at home when in the presence of the WFP volunteers, candidates and elected officials. For the first time literally ever, I can make out a future in Delaware with a visionary governor and an equally forward-thinking Delaware General Assembly.
That forward-thinking General Assembly? There are already several WFP stalwarts serving in Dover. If we can add Branden Fletcher-Dominguez, Kamela Smith, Monica Shockley Porter, Terrell Williams, Nick Beard and Frank Burns to that crew, one of the bluest states in the country can actually govern like one of the bluest states in the country. I also think there will be some more endorsements from WFP coming soon.
I believe that this is the year, and these are the folks who can fundamentally drive a stake through what passes through the heart of the Delaware Way. Great time to jump in with both feet.
I’m looking forward to hearing Colin speak on Wednesday for the first time.
I’ve now had a chance to hear from all three of the gubernatorial candidates.
Both Collin and Matt will speak at a Virtual Town Hall that our RD committee is holding next week. BHL has already addressed our committee, so this will be the chance to hear from the other two.
It’s not just Collin, though. Man, the WFP has endorsed some seriously good candidates.
He’ll be my last gubernatorial candidate to hear. I’ve seen the others at RD or other meetings.
An exciting slate of endorsements and candidates for sure!
The WFP def has some muscle in Dem primaries. Some of these challenges are long odds but the WFP has won before.
There state endorsements are about what I expected. Colin didn’t surprise me. He’s the most progressive to anyone paying attention.
I hear they are doing County races next I believe but could be mistaken on that.
The thing also is, in many of these races, the primary is essentially the general.
I can’t emphasize enough just how close we are to finally getting a progressive House to accompany an already-progressive Senate.
Im supporting Meyer but I don’t worry about O’Mara and his people running the government if it were to go that way. I don’t feel the same about hall long.
I don’t see it going that way with omara but you can’t overestimate little things like having energy and a platform and calling out bullshit. Sarcasm because these are major major things – we just aren’t used to them here because no one in our current state government has created a new memory since roughly 1998.
I do think once things start actually moving with these campaigns there are going to be some surprises. But this is going to be a Meyer and O’Mara race. Thousands of reasons why I think that but ultimately they have and will have the best campaigns and the most money and they seem to understand the zeitgeist. Social and political progress has its own inertia and momentum. WFP and others can help speed it along but it’s really outside of the control of everyone. Hall long is constitutionally incapable of leadership and vision and the people around her, speaking of 1998, have every motivation to keep things the status quo. This assumes they even have creativity or vision to begin with, which they don’t.
But hey. The optimistic case is Maybe we get rid of Longhurst, and we get a supermajority in the House, we lose these freaks like Republican coward Mike smith (who seems perhaps emotionally unhinged given his remarks to Sophie Phillips on the floor recently), get rid of hall long and the life raft of misfits and lowlifes and lobbyists and soft brained men who lost their touch who are weighing it down along with the bags of money she and her husband stole. And then we can send John carney off to fill potholes and open up vape shops and bardeas for the next decade. Sounds like a nice future to me.
What did Mike Smith say to Sophie Phillips?
I would also like to know what he said.