The Progressive Midwesterner

Across America, there is a wave of energy for Democratic candidates for public office, and that's no different in the Heartland. Many Midwestern states have seen more Democrats file to run for seats in Congress or state legislative seats in this year's elections than in recent election cycles. In this wave of endorsements from The Progressive Midwesterner, I will endorse multiple candidates who are running as a Democratic candidate in an officially partisan race or are running as a de facto Democratic candidate in an officially non-partisan race. North Dakota Tax Commissioner - Kylie Oversen Kylie Oversen, the chairwoman of the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party (DNL), is running for the statewide elected office of North Dakota Tax Commissioner. The Progressive Midwesterner endorses Kylie's campaign for tax commissioner in North Dakota, and you can learn more about Kylie's campaign here . People like Kylie are the future of the Democratic Party, no...

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 ...

I'm excited to announce that I endorse Kelda Roys for the Democratic nomination for the office of Governor of Wisconsin! A few days ago, Kelda released this web video in which she talks about her efforts to ban the usage of the neurotoxin Bisphenol A in plastic products, such as baby bottles: Kelda's web video got a ton of national attention, not because of her opposition to unhealthy chemical compounds in plastic, but because, during the video, Kelda breastfed her infant daughter while continuing to talk about her opposition to Bisphenol A. The video has been featured by, among others, People magazine , Cosmopolitan magazine , and Bustle . I was going to hold off until after my home state of Illinois held its primary elections later this month, but, since her campaign has received a ton of national attention, I'll say this now...I proudly endorse Kelda Roys for the Democratic nomination for the office of Governor of Wisconsin! The biggest reason why I'm end...

A far-right organization called Family Foundation of Kentucky successfully lobbied Republicans who control the Kentucky State Senate to block passage of a proposed Kentucky state law that would ban child marriage in that state: A bill outlawing child marriage in Kentucky had been expected to receive a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but that vote has been delayed due to last-minute opposition by the conservative Family Foundation of Kentucky, according to the bill’s lead sponsor. Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, filed Senate Bill 48 on the first day of this year’s session of the Kentucky General Assembly, which would prohibit anyone under the age of 17 from marrying and only allow 17-year-olds to marry with a judge’s approval. Under the current law in Kentucky, 16 and 17-year-olds can marry with their parents’ permission, and a girl of any age under 16 can marry as long as they are pregnant and marrying the expectant father. Likewise, a boy of ...

I'm only going to write one blog post on The Progressive Midwesterner during the Winter Olympics this year, but it's for a good reason. Kriss Marion, a farmer, political activist, and a member of the Lafayette County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors, is running for a seat in the Wisconsin State Senate in the 17th Senate District of Wisconsin, which includes parts of southwestern Wisconsin and is home to many farms and small towns. I endorse Kriss Marion in her state senate race in Wisconsin. Marion's campaign website and Twitter page can be found at the links in this sentence. Marion's political advocacy led to Wisconsin's ban on the sale of home-made baked goods to be ruled unconstitutional by a judge in her home county in Wisconsin, and Marion supports implementing a "cupcake law" in Wisconsin that would officially legalize and regulate the sale of home-made baked goods in Wisconsin. My home state of Illinois passed a "cupcake law" in 201...

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, ...

Last night, Democratic nominee Patty Schachtner defeated Republican nominee Adam Jarchow in a special election for a seat in the Wisconsin State Senate, doing so by a margin that would make Katie Ledecky's runaway swimming performances look like photo finishes by comparison. Based on election night results , Schachtner received 54.82% of the total vote to Jarchow's 44.55% of the total vote in the 10th Senate District of Wisconsin, a district in western Wisconsin where Donald Trump got 55.30% of the vote in the 2016 presidential election . There was one other state legislative special election in Wisconsin, and that was for a Wisconsin State Assembly seat in the Milwaukee suburbs-based 58th Assembly District of Wisconsin. While the Republican candidate won that race, the Democratic candidate in that race got well over 40% of the total vote in a district that is usually one of the most Republican areas of not just Wisconsin, but the entire country. While far-right outside gro...