What is Brand New Congress? - Dearborn Public Schools



Democrats Got Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Elected By Anna Menta @annalikestweets May 1, 2019 at 2:00pmNetflix’s new documentary Knock Down the House has been dubbed “the AOC doc” since it was announced. (I myself called it that in my review.) It’s understandable: Director Rachel Lears does indeed follow political superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez through her primary campaign to challenge Congressman Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th District.But perhaps a more accurate moniker for the film would be “the Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats doc,” because that’s the common denominator between Ocasio-Cortez and the three other women we meet: Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia. (I admit that nickname isn’t quite as catchy.) All four women are progressive Democrats who ran primary campaigns for Congress in 2018, and all four were endorsed by two groups: Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats.What is Brand New Congress?Brand New Congress is a political action committee. It was founded in April 2016 by former volunteers of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign—including Saikat Chakrabarti, Zack Exley, Alexandra Rojas—who wanted to get new, young, diverse and progressive blood elected to Congress. Though the term PAC typically brings to mind images of large financial contributions, neither Brand New Congress nor its affiliate, Justice Democrats, accept corporate donations.What is Justice Democrats?This is where it gets a little confusing: Though technically separate committees, Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats are affiliated and born from the same leadership. Eight months after founding BNC, Chakrabarti, Exley and Rojas founded a new, but similar, political action committee called Justice Democrats in January 2017. (YouTube stars Cenk Uygur of “The Young Turks” and Kyle Kulinski of “Secular Talk,” were also founding members, but are no longer affiliated with the group.)The name you hear most often in Knock Down the House is Brand New Congress, likely because the doc began filming in 2016. However, Justice Democrats has become the more-talked name as the organization who helped “make” Ocasio-Cortez.What Do Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats Do?The idea behind these committees is to find and foster candidates that align with a certain political mission—in this case, progressive Democrats who can overturn the more centrist, old-guard Democratic party. For Justice Democrats, in particular, the goal is candidates who “will create a thriving economy and democracy that works for the people, not big money interests,” according to its website.Ocasio-Cortez is, clearly, an incredible success story for the group. After all, Crowley was not just any old-school Democrat—he was a ten-term incumbent and the local chairman of the Queens County Democratic Party. His defeat was widely considered one of the greatest upsets of the 2018 midterm elections. For Justice Democrats, that’s the kind of win that “has made some lawmakers uneasy,” according to a write-up in the New York Times.Of course, as we see in Knock Down the House, for every win there are dozens of losses. In 2018, Justice Democrats endorsed over 70 candidates and recruited 12. Ocasio-Cortez was the only one of the 12 recruited candidates to win her general election. Of the endorsed candidates who were not recruited but were endorsed by Justice Democrats, six won their elections, and are now serving in Congress.You can also thank the Justice Democrats for Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal. That’s one of the group’s key policies, along with Medicare for all, free college, and being anti-corporate PAC money. According to its website, Justice Democrats is currently accepting recruitment nominations for “diverse working-class leaders” to run for Congress in 2020.Source: ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download