My campaign’s progressive, people-powered message is overwhelmingly popular with voters. Whether we’re talking at their doors, over the phone, or via socials or newsletter, they light up with joy when they hear about my bold platforms in housing, education, green jobs, and tax reform. This is often even the case with older, slightly more conservative voters after we get to talking for a while. At the end of the day, everyone wants safety, stability, and a future that works for them.
But people often pause when they hear I’m running against an incumbent Democrat, assuming we have the same priorities and values, and wonder why we would shake things up. This usually leads to questions about what’s distinct about our campaigns, what sets our policies apart, and how I would be any different. The graph below outlines these things.
Of course, there is plenty of daylight between me and Jake Fey. The most notable being that he is a career politician with deep corporate connections, and I’m a longtime community organizer running a people-powered campaign. All you have to do is look at our donor bases. To date, my campaign has raised over $75,000 from around 350 individual donors and one major union, the United Auto Workers. My median donation is $27 and the lion’s share of my support is from Tacoma and Pierce County.
On the other hand, Fey has 236 donors this election… but only 25% of them are individuals the rest are a variety of Political Action Committees and corporate donors. Yes, he has some support from tribes, unions, and even a couple of progressive PACs. But the lion’s share of his support is from major corporations such as Amazon, Kroger, DoorDash, Boeing, Chevron, and Puget Sound Energy. Major industry lobbyists also maxed out personal donations and spoke out against environmental legislation Fey helped block, such as the WRAP Act. In fact, only 25 of his donors are individuals from Tacoma.
Let’s look briefly at where we stand on the issues and how his donations connect. A quick scan of PDC filings shows he’s raised over $235k this session, it’s mostly corporate money, and much of it comes from contributors opposed to some of the most important solutions to today’s most pressing crises.
Fey likes to style himself as a “progressive” and an environmentalist. But his votes show otherwise, and it’s hard to not see his voting record as connected to his donor base. Fey takes major hospital and insurer money… and opposes universal health care. Fey takes money from plastic producers, polluters, and major waste haulers… and opposes universal free recycling such as the WRAP Act. Fey takes significant fossil fuel money… and supports more fossil fuel infrastructure. I believe he is on the wrong side of history with these positions, and failing to meet the moment in a time of crisis.
Lastly, Fey seems more concerned about his seat and party power than he is in real democracy. I am an open supporter of campaign finance reform and ranked-choice voting. Fey has refused to take any positions supporting either, and activists working on both have asked him for support many times. Like others, Fey seems concerned that ranked choice voting and campaign finance reform would open up elections to outsiders. What separates us from Fey? Maybe it's that I say it’s time that we change things up, empower voters, and fight for a future that works for all.
Opmerkingen