I started the week with just the activist self-care Netflix ordered, and I watched Knock Down the House.
As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rolled ice buckets in and out of elevators, weaving between drink wells, I longed for the bar I worked in before the pandemic.
I met Cori Bush, and my heart ached with hers when she lost to the incumbent. I watched Amy Vilela harness her outrage at her daughters’ death at the hands of the for-profit healthcare system and use all that she has left to prevent future tragedies. Paula Jean Swearengin stood up and primaried Joe Manchin’s Senate seat in West Virginia, continuing the decades of work her coal-mining union predecessors began.
We all know the rest of the story for AOC, and we love it.
Amy Vilela lost that race.
Cori Bush Lost that race.
Paula Jean Swearengin lost that race.
And then I woke up this morning on twitter to see that Cori Bush had ousted the incumbent in Missouri’s 1st congressional district. And I thought… no way. Was it the same woman from Knock Down the House? Was I looking at proof of an electorate we all so desperately hope this nation could possess? Yes. The movement is marching on.
Then I saw Rashida Tlaib tweeted:
Damn right we are.
AOC is the one and only, you know her, you love her, we all do.
Cori Bush won today. Amy Vilela was very much involved in her second run and continues to be an outspoken advocate for affordable health care.
Paula Jean Swearengin won the democratic primary and is facing off against Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito for another seat in the Senate this fall. Support Paula Jean here.
And I remembered why the movement is the way that it is. As individuals we can become tired and weary, feebly attempting to mute the pain of facing such a broken political system. And we must honor that with rest, but remember always that while we rest someone else is always fighting, and when we’re rested, we must return to the field with them.
Thats why I am supporting Matt Rogers in the primary for Virginia’s 47th District Seat in the House of Delegates.
Should he lose, I guarantee, you’ll see him again. Just like AOC. Just like Cori. Just like Amy and Paula Jean. And when he wins, because of supporters like you and me, you’re going to want to follow along for the ride on twitter @politidope.
The blue wave is rising on the horizon. But it is rising because of people like you and people like me supporting people like AOC, and Cori, and Amy and Paula Jean who pave the way for candidates like Matt.