|
By Tim Wheeler
SEQUIM, Wash.—Confined to their homes by COVID-19, Olympic Peninsula voters were able to hear—and see—two candidates for the Sixth Congressional District of Washington State. Speaking in two separate ZOOM “virtual house parties,” the electronic gatherings broke new ground—two Democratic candidates for high office who both gave up all face-to-face gatherings, observing the “Stay-At-Home” order imposed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
But it was also the first time incumbent Congressman Derek Kilmer, chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition in the House, has faced such a determined, skilled, articulate challenger from the left, Rebecca Parson, a young woman community activist from Tacoma. The district has elected Democrats to the U.S. Congress without fail for the past 55 years.
The difference between the two candidates was stark and convinced many that it is time to embrace Parson, a bold grassroots challenger to stick-in-the-mud, stand-pat politics.
The first ZOOM session featured Parson, a first-time office seeker, a tireless community organizer, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of Democratic Socialists of America, a lesbian active in the struggle for LGBTQ equal rights. Parson accepts no corporate campaign contributions. She is also a Democratic Party Precinct Committee Officer in her home district in Tacoma, endorsed by the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party of Washington State.
In her socially distant crowd were movers and shakers, members of...
READ MORE »
|
