PDA is Working to Build the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party!

[helderheid]

By Tim Carpenter, Executive Director, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
September 26, 2006, Florence, MA

In 2006, the progressive community must and can work to elect a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, while continuing to put pressure on the state parties and the Democratic National Committee on the issues of peace, universal healthcare, voting integrity, fair trade, environmental sustainability, and social and economic justice.

The Democratic left is in a position to make this effort because it is not only alive and well, but also thriving and growing in cities, suburbs, towns and rural areas all across America. Progressive Democrats of America is a rapidly growing, two-year-old, 80,000-strong, 135-chapter organization operating in over 30 states. PDA’s Board of Advisors is a diverse group of committed progressive elected officials and activists.

Since it’s founding in Roxbury, MA in July 2004, PDA has aggressively worked an“inside/outside” strategy, networking progressive Democratic elected officials inside the beltway with grassroots Democrats and progressive movement activists across the country. PDA was the driving force in the passage of resolutions opposing the war in Iraq by eight state Democratic Party meetings. The organization also was instrumental in the passage of resolutions in 10 states calling for the impeachment of President Bush. PDA is often referred to by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Executive Director Bill Goold as the CPC’s field operation, because PDA has built relationships with members of Congress by delivering grassroots support for their initiatives – from Rep. John Conyers’ investigation of the 2004 Ohio voting fraud, to Rep. Jim McGovern’s bill HR 4232 to cut off funding for the war in Iraq, a current priority effort.

While still only a progressive “pup” compared with big liberal dogs like MoveOn, PDA-backed candidates have taken some big bites out of conventional wisdom and centrist Democratic complacency. In Los Angeles, local PDA leader Marcy Winograd won 37% of the primary vote against entrenched pro-war Democrat Rep. Jane Harman with only two months of lead-time. In Maryland, the dynamic Donna Edwards appears to have come up only a few hundred votes short of toppling the multi-term Rep. Al Wynn in her first bid for public office, and she is seen as well-positioned to prevail in 2008. And in Illinois, with strong PDA support, Christine Cegelis, though outspent 8 to 1, nearly beat the candidate of the inside-the-beltway Party leadership and Illinois party machine, Tammy Duckworth, to vie for the seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Hyde.

This fall, in the House, PDA is focusing attention and effort on several strong progressives worthy of note and support in hopes of flipping several seats from red to blue. In California, Jerry McNerney is running a strong race against an incumbent Republican. In Michigan, Tony Trupiano, with one of the nation’s strongest grassroots efforts, has his sights in a Republican-leaning district. And in New York, anti-nuclear activist John Hall has won the Democratic nomination to challenge a four-term incumbent Republican. In Arizona, while the local PDA primary candidate Jeff Latas did not prevail, PDA will now enthusiastically join forces with PDA Board Member Rep. Raul Grijalva and support the Democratic nominee, Gabby Giffords, as well as PDA-backed Herb Paine who won a razor thin primary victory in a neighboring district.


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http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2006-09-26-10-18-59-news.php