Progressives in Congressional elections: Missouri

Post columnist David Von Drehle has a piece, "What Lacy Clay’s primary loss reminds us about generational house-cleanings," commenting on the defeat of "moderate" William Lacy Clay in a St. Louis-focused Congressional district primary by Justice Democrats-endorsed Cori Bush. 

He argues that Clay took the position for granted--between he and his father, a Clay held the office for more than 50 years--but that there is something to be said for moderation. 

That's true, but I think there is a difference between moderation and not doing very much at all.

What happened in Ferguson, Missouri, not just the death of Michael Brown, but the spawning of the Black Lives Matter movement and the months-long demonstrations in St. Louis County as a result, ought to have been a wake up call to William Lacy Clay.  If not Ferguson, definitely the success of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, especially after he faced similar opposition in the 2018 primary, also by Cori Bush.

Just off hand, from what I know about St. Louis City and County and/or subsequent press coverage (e.g., "Policing for Profit in St. Louis County," New York Times), I'd say there should be a very clear agenda, including:

• a city-county merger to better balance tax revenues and services across the county ("5 Takeaways From A City-County Merger Plan That Never Got To Voters," St. Louis Public Radio)
• using court fines as a municipal funding stream 
• consolidation of some of the dinky towns that use court fines as a funding stream
• addressing the economic decline of St. Louis 
• addressing the discriminatory structure of policing in St. Louis county
• creating a county policing authority to dissolve as many of the dinky, discriminatory police departments as possible, along the Camden model ("Camden police reboot is being misused in the debate over police reform," Washington Post)
• etc.

Granted these are local issues, and theoretically a Congressman doesn't lead on those kinds of issues. But Representatives have a platform and can be a convenor-leader.

While I don't agree with his politics, The Next American City: The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros by Mick Cornett, the former Mayor of Oklahoma City, outlines a great approach to rejuvenating a city.

The OKC program is called "Metropolitan Area Projects" and is a great example of what I call Transformational Projects Action Planning.

Each round--there have been four--focus on significant capital projects that have transformed the city's downtown, the Bricktown canal district, center city schools and neighborhoods, and the Oklahoma River waterfront, among others.  Another example, building an arena, but without a tenant enabled the city to land an NBA team.

One of the most recent capital projects that has been delivered is a downtown streetcar.  They are already working on expansion.

Similarly, Hennepin County Minnesota created a program called Hennepin Community Works to reinvest in Minneapolis to staunch population loss and disinvestment.

Yes there is generational change.  But Nancy Pelosi is 78 years old, and she's kicking butt.

Still, I am super impressed that Justice Democrats figured out that they could win in heavily Democratic seats, and from those positions, could shift the national agenda in a progressive agenda.

Although they haven't figured out that those kinds of seats are a relatively small set of the total number.  That it's not likely they'll win in seats that aren't so overwhelmingly Democratic.

Still, a number of JD-endorsed candidates have won primaries in this cycle so that the number of hard core progressives is likely to at least double.  Rashida Tlaib easily held off her primary challenger, currently the chair of the Detroit City Council.  Although we won't know til next week if Ilhan Omar will hold her seat in Minneapolis.  I'm thinking no, but we'll see ("Rep. Omar faces well-funded, moderate challengers in heated District 5 Democratic primary," Duluth News-Tribune), although with four challengers she may well squeak by.