The Progressive Midwesterner

Despite a very large gubernatorial candidate field seeking the Democratic nomination in Wisconsin (including ten candidates who were invited to speak at the Wisconsin Democratic convention a few days ago, eight of which received at least 8% of the vote in the non-binding convention straw poll ), the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association (WBA), a trade group representing the right-wing corporate media in Wisconsin, only intends to invite a total of four candidates to a scheduled Democratic gubernatorial debate: The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association says no more than 4 candidates will be invited to its debates on July 21 for Republican Senate candidates and July 27 for Democratic governor candidates. Criteria includes being in top 4 of latest @MULawPoll pic.twitter.com/ilwGLcSAoH — Scott Bauer (@sbauerAP) June 4, 2018 It's important to note that, unless Marquette University does another pre-election opinion poll before the scheduled July 27 debate, the Marquette poll that was r...

On Tuesday, Kara Eastman, the chairwoman of Omaha, Nebraska's Metropolitan Community College (MCC) board, pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Nebraska political history by defeating former Congressman Brad Ashford in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska by a narrow margin, but a large enough margin to avoid an automatic recount, in the Democratic primary. Eastman will face Donald Trump crony Don Bacon in the general election in November. One big reason why Eastman won is because she is willing to stand up to those in her own party that oppose progressive values; this campaign ad is an actual campaign ad Eastman ran during the Democratic primary campaign: Eastman's victory in the Democratic primary will live in the glories of the progressive movement for generations to come. Democratic primary voters in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District rejected the notion that Democrats need to appease Republicans, or even run Republican candidates as Democrat...

This is how the frontrunner in the crowded race for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Wisconsin is acting about his campaign: “I think it’s a one-person race,” Evers responded on “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “When you have a 10-point lead, I’ve run statewide three times. There’s no other candidate that can say that. Last time I got 70 percent of the vote and won 70 of 72 counties, including Ozaukee County, which hardly ever has gone to a progressive. So no, I think it’s a one-person race,” he said. “I feel very confident that we’re going to win that primary and beat Scott Walker,” Evers said. For added context, UpFront is a Wisconsin adaptation of ABC's This Week political talk show that airs on the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee. Literally every poll I've seen of the Wisconsin gubernatorial Democratic primary has had Evers ahead of a very large field of candidates, largely because Evers is the only Democratic candidate who has w...

While Chicago-area progressives can claim multiple victories from Tuesday's Democratic primary in Illinois (including Chuy Garcia's victory in the 4th Congressional District primary and Fritz Kaegi's victory in the Cook County Assessor primary), progressives suffered a disappointing defeat in the 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary, as Dan Lipinski, the incumbent machine Democrat who is strongly opposed to women's reproductive rights, defeated progressive challenger Marie Newman by an approximately 2.4% margin. Lipinski is almost completely certain to win re-election in the November general election, as the Republican nominee who is running against Lipinski is Arthur Jones, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who won the Republican nomination with no opposition in the Republican primary. The 3rd Congressional District of Illinois includes southwestern and central portions of Cook County, a very small section of southeastern DuPage County, and northern portions of Will ...

With less than two months until the March 20 major-party primary elections in Illinois, Marie Newman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in the Chicago-area 3rd Congressional District of Illinois, is making it completely clear why she's running against incumbent U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski . As many of my blog's readers already know, Dan Lipinski is one of the most right-wing members of the U.S. House Democratic Caucus, having voted against expanding health care access for millions of Americans, co-sponsored unconstitutional legislation to restrict the right of women to make their own health care decisions , has opposed LGBT rights, voted against the pro-immigration DREAM Act, and has voted with fascist Republican President Donald Trump over one-third of the time . Lipinski's voting record is so awful, two of Lipinski's colleagues, Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutiérrez , have endorsed Newman's campaign against Lipinski . Marie Newman, on the other hand, ...