THE MIDTERMS MINUTE (Primaries): Support Progressives in Arizona and Florida on 8/28

The Midterms Minute is a look at the candidates and races that you need to know about, shout about and support to make sure we have a blue tsunami on November 6th. (Quick links at bottom of the page.)

As the primaries keep coming, progressive candidates are proving their message resonates across the country, and religious, racial, and gender barriers are being broken down along the way. You can help keep this progressive tide rolling by getting involved, no matter what state you live in. Both Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress offer Get Out the Vote online calling and texting tools, with scripts on individual candidates, allowing you to talk to voters from the comfort of home. This is a great way to make a real impact. We’ve included the links to both tools in the show notes.

Today, we’re going to talk about Arizona and Florida which both have primaries coming up on August 28th.

ARIZONA (Reg. Deadlines: Primaries - July 30th / General - Oct 9)

Senate: In Arizona, Deedra Abboud is a Justice Democrat and immigration and estate planning attorney running for Jeff Flake’s soon to be empty Senate seat. Her campaign is focused primarily on getting special interests and lobbying money out of politics and she has been endorsed by the National Organization for Women, Vote Pro Choice, and more. She also happens to be a former Christian who converted to Islam and has faced threats on her life and online abuse during this campaign from far right groups.

2nd District: In Arizona’s 2nd district, Mary Matiella is running for congress. Matiella is the former CFO of the US Forest Service, former Assistant CFO of Housing and Urban Development, and was nominated by President Obama to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Army. She is also a Justice Democrat who has endorsements from Demand Universal Healthcare, Democracy for America and Common Defense.

3rd District: Raul Grijalva is a Justice Democrat and Latino Victory incumbent running to retain his congressional seat in Arizona’s third district. He faces a write-in candidate in the primary, but it very likely to win. (Not featured on air for time.)

Governor: Veteran and former teacher, David Garcia, is leading in the Democratic primary for Governor of Arizona. Garcia supports Medicare for All, tuition free public college, wants Arizona to become a solar superpower, and is not accepting lobbyist campaign contributions. He’s been endorsed by Latino Victory, The Working Families Party, People’s Action, NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona, and more. If he wins, he will face current Arizona Governor and Republican Doug Ducey in November. Garcia is already facing some of the 7 million dollars in opposition efforts from the Republican Governors Association which attack his position to replace ICE with a system that quote “reflects our values.”

Important Dates: The voter registration deadline to participate in the Arizona primary was July 30th. If you were registered by then, early voting is going on right now. A heads up that the voter registration deadline for the general election is October 9th.

We now turn to Florida.

FLORIDA (Reg. Deadlines: Primaries - July 30th / General - Oct 9)

7th District: Veteran and civil rights activist Chardo Richardson is a Justice Democrat and Brand New Congress congressional candidate for for Florida’s 7th district.

8th District: In Florida’s 8th district, Sanjay Patel is a first-generation immigration and former small business owner running for congress. His campaign focuses on ensuring fair wages and a reasonable cost of living for all working people and, of course, he supports Medicare for All.

18th District: In Florida’s 18th district, Pam Keith is a Justice Democrat running to unseat Republican Brian Mast. Her campaign is focused on reform of the broken criminal justice system and closing the income gap.

26th District: In Florida’s 26th district, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is running for congress. She has been endorsed by End Citizens United, Latino Victory, NARAL, Common Defense, Planned Parenthood and Moms Demand Action.

27th District: Michael Hepburn is a Justice Democrat and Brand New Congress candidate running in Florida’s 27th district. Hepburn is a former Fortune 500 Company Executive and Academic Adviser at the University of Miami Business School. He is advocating for universal pre-K to tuition free public colleges, universities and trade schools, a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, end of mass incarceration and rebuilding the economy with renewable energy and infrastructure repairs.

Senate: Florida’s Democratic Senator, Bill Nelson, is up for reelection and facing Florida Governor Rick Scott in November.

Governor: Since Rick Scott has reached his term limits and is now running for Senate, Floridians will be voting for a new Governor. Mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew Gillum, has recently been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Women’s March Florida and is picking up steam in the polls against his primary opponent, Gwen Graham. He is fighting for a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, a ban on assault weapons, an end to the Stand Your Ground law, marijuana legalization, restoration of voting rights for felons, and more. As we’ve mentioned, the national importance of this race is that whoever holds the office will be involved in the state’s redistricting process following the 2020 Census.

Important Dates: You must have been registered to vote by July 30th to participate in the Florida primary. Early voting is going on now. If you didn’t make the cut off, be sure to be ready for the general by registering by October 9th.

We want to emphasize registration cut off dates and absentee ballot request and submission dates are different for each state, sometimes even each county. We highly suggest reviewing your state’s information, and voter ID laws, at rockthevote.org as soon as possible to ensure you will be able to vote in both the primary and general elections.

So, if building the bluest of blue waves is important to you, be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about supporting progressive candidates across the country via social media so that others in your network can spread the word too.

THE MIDTERMS MINUTE:

Check on candidates endorsed by Justice Democrats | Brand New Congress | DSA | Latino Victory | Our Revolution