If youre like me were out extremely late last night and this is super early. Thank you very much for taking the time to come here and participate. That, i would like to give each panelist a chance to briefly introduce themselves. Rojas. G with alexandra hello, everyone. My name is alexandra. I used to work on the Burning Campaign as a Digital Field manager on the distributed organizer team. Shortly after, granted congress is not an old concept in women talking about it for quite some time. , it is nots necessarily a new idea. A good place for me to go next after bernie. And just a bit background, im 21. Im still in progress with going to school. But bernie, as many volunteers have, has just consumed. Im into political organizing as well as activism. Mariahave state senator the doll running for congress. By Marissa Palma doll and i was a state representative for three terms and in the second term of my time in the senate with the missouri senate, it was a pleasure to endorse bernie, i think i did that and perhaps may. I wanted to have an opportunity to really listen to the issues that impact the community that they represent, which is ferguson. Message loud and clear and decided to endorse bernie because we needed to go in a new direction and the people who have been voiceless for so long deserve and need to have champions were not only in congress, but also the white house. Thank you. Who is aave misty snow democratic candidate for u. S. Senate in utah. One that the mechanic from her nomination. Democratic primary nomination. Im running for u. S. Senate in the state of utah. I wanted grandma credit primary 18 democratic primary. A lot of people were surprised. Late. Red the race kind of i started a guy started six months ahead of me and i thought it was wrong on a lot of issues. I felt that we democrats need to nominate people who are actually got to stand up for things like women reproductive rights, lgbt community, living wage, reforming the criminal Justice System which disproportionally and carpets or its people. It was silent on it. I thought he was wrong. I challenged him for the nomination and i just from the primary a couple weeks ago and im happy to be here today. Thank you all for coming. And you for inviting me and other people. Thank you. And we have cars and alan grayson running for u. S. Senate in florida. Early bernie dorset. Endorser. I was the fourth member of congress to endorse Bernie Sanders and i did so after we set up the website grace and invited people to come vote for the two candidates but also to ask when why. Berniee came in at 86 and 14 Hillary Clinton group always fascinating to make was to see all the explanations. Bernie sanders supporters really want to see change in the country, fundamental change. He understands the system is rigged and we need somebody as a leader who will change that. Im trusting going, the executive director of democracy for america. An organization that started 12 years ago after governor howard dean ran for president and we started a longterm organization over 846we elected candidates to congress up and down the ballot across this country, raised over 59 for candidates and specifically with the Bernie Sanders campaign, we members very early, our participated in over 115,000th banks helpingone to make 75 million phone calls which is an outrageously awesome number. We played a very important part in that. It seems like a perfect way to continue on the work of what democracy for america is all about. Which is about fighting a 50 state strategy of fighting up and down the ballot. What we are here for today is we are about the next steps for Political Revolution. We have some great candidates. Ernie is no longer a candidate bernie is to log a candidate for the presidency. No longer a candidate for the presidency. Have Political Revolution candidates up and down the tolot and are in a position make headway for the Political Revolution as soon as the Upcoming Elections happening right now. That said, this is a longterm movement. Whatu look at the work of democracy remarked has done, this is 12 years later after a very similar exceeding exciting grassroots campaign. We are still around 12 years later and bigger than ever. Im excited to see what happens at the Political Revolution move forward and i can only imagine, onenly 11 state won state, vermont. We have a Sanders Campaign that one 22 states and 8 Million People and 75 million called. They are docked on 5 million doors, that is amazing. With that, want to put some questions to the panelist. Pretty straightforward, i like to start with the alex, what did you learn from the Sanders Campaign as we move our word . Forward . I would say the biggest lesson i learned from both starting off as a volunteer in entering the campaign is to have trust in grassroots organizing and your volunteers. This movement would not be possible without the millions of people and volunteers that stepped up and demanded change. Regardless, it bernie is not the president , is that the president , at rasters organizing least in my lifetime in the generation that was able to watch bernie ancillary debate, shows that people are powerful. It is to make sure, im beside the amount of trust we had within the Bernie Sanders campaign and relied on grassroots volunteers to do the bulk of the work. You are running for congress, maria locally here against lacey kelly. One of the lessons you learned from this the Sanders Campaign . I love this question. Heres what i would say, be real. Talk to people. Have a relationship with people who are on the ground. Communicate and translate. Something that happened, all of you know, it is called ferguson. The ferguson uprising. Our congressman did not show up until day seven. Like four days after teargas and and two days after buildings were bernie. Congress was on a fiveweek rate. They take a fiveweek break everything august. Im dealing with a challenger who is riding on the coattails of his father, between the two of them to have served for 48 years. That is one family that is served for 40 years. When things went down in our community, that was like one of my first wakeup calls that we have some serious issues that are going on and we need someone who is present. Not only someone who is present, but someone who is willing to communicate the challenges that people live every single day and to be unafraid to communicate those challenges. When i said at the beginning, be real, people want to hear the truth. You is off, people will be thinkable for that. You can tell me what to shut up. 39 hour filibuster this year on lgbt writes. [applause] we got into another crisis. Waste that hasve been in our community for about seven generations, excusing, seven decades. Our congressman has not done anything. I was surveying as a School Board Member and state senator because i wanted to give extra time to my community that i live in. I resigned from the school board when i found out the number of cancer clusters that we have in the area that i represent. All of a sudden, that this wakeup call, i can go visit st. Louis. There is nothing more pitiful that having an Absentee Congress member. He grew up in maryland. He looked Elementary School in maryland. He went to middle school in maryland. He went to high school in maryland. He was a college in maryland. , theres a seat that was open and st. Louis and he ran for a special election. Seat that was another was open and he ran for a special election. And thatdad resigned he ran for congress. He has been living in maryland for quite some time. , whatk what is important bernie brought to the table is that you should always be among the people and always speak the truth. If you make a mistake here and there, you are speaking the language of the people. Never be afraid of speaking the language of the people. Someone will understand and we deal with racial issues pretty badly and st. Louis and missouri. I thought at one point there were a lot of white folks who are upset with me. Translating the issues that my constituents were concerned with, but what i found out is that they were also grateful for me standing up because they saw that the silence that we had been living and breathing for quite a long time is the same type of silence that they have been dealing with when it came to radioactive waste contamination. Where children are getting sick. Think one of the things that youre saying, it is not just about truth, you are also saying its about action. When have somebody who is an absentee that is not in what they need to get done, this time to have some of someone stand up and take action. That makes a lot of sense. I think one of the things that, barrier smashing about the Sanders Campaign is the way in which it broke conventional wisdom. One of the big waste i think conventional wisdom was broken was this concept of that you have to run to the middle. We saw that independents want to hear a bold articulated vision. They are not looking for the middle, they are looking for some of that inspires them. When you look at a 22 point victory in new hampshire, it was based on that. It was the independence that gave the 22 point victory. I think the interesting way in which is massive conventional wisdom. Youleading tea misty, when think about utah, there is often the idea that this is a red state, no way a liberal could win, no way to sanders democrat can win utah. The conservative democrat should be up to walk away with the race. Think you can learn from the Sanders Campaign and how will impact the race . What ive learned is you just have to speak what you believe in. Be honest about your beliefs. Moderate,to do this just, they want honesty from the politicians. A lot of people are trying to frustrate politics as well. They want to see anger. The state of Utah Business reputation of being conservative but also really young estate could you look at the population, 18 and over, 41st millennial. Re the program you ties that but a participation is really low. Election, state of utah had about 28. 8 you tolerate. The Second Lowest aside from texas. We are forfeiting our government to conservatives because a lot of times, a love democrats, democratic voters, they feel like theres not a choice because utah Democratic Party, they were these selfdescribed conservative democrats. Almost indistinguishable from republicans. Not quite as extreme. The band of losing by 30 point margins because they dont offer an alternative. I think its important to offer a real or tentative. Alternative. We will stand up for a living wage. We will stand up for women rights in the us to be teaching energy. We will give you affordable college. We will try to address the racist criminal Justice System. The people of color being treated unfairly. We will fight to offer a new vision for the country and look at the future instead of the old ideas. That people want politicians to say, saying those things. Against, mike lee, not that popular. He only has about a 38 approval rating. A lot of people think he is a lock for reelection. I think we will suppress them. Every step of the way, people have underestimated me. He a lot of people thought it would never win the primary and i won by 90 margin disobeying 19 margin despite being outspent 41. And won bypent speaking the truth. He had like a million dollars, which is not a lot for a senate race. A lot of people dont think it is competitive, no donations coming in. I think a lot of people have realized, as a Bernie Sanders movement, the next step in the local revolution is we have to start supporting down the ballot. The senator from utah has just as much power over your life as a senator from texas or florida, if we want to change out dialogue as a nation, we need to get my progressive throughout the country know matter where they are from. The more progressive you have in the better the Progressive Agenda and harding to fight for the policies that Bernie Sanders talked about. He was to have 15 minimum wage. Affordable college. We need more progressive in college congress. Every victory get is another boat. That is where we need to go. Thank you. [applause] continuing on this theme of this conventional wisdom is the idea that in red states or purple states that somehow democrats win that about a more moderate or conservative, nobody on this panel has probably experienced that conventional wisdom or stronger than congressman alan grayson because he is someone who was elected and is working with the establishment every day. Or against them. What we have seen as being tired establishment is sort of working against you like ernie. Bernie. Real talk about your general election opponent yet, were talking about your absolute terrible opponent in the primary. What do you feel about your learned from the Sanders Campaign that he taking in implementing into your senate race . Im pleased to see that theres an audience for progressivism. The Sanders Campaign is the most successful progressive president ial campaign in the last many years. If anything deserves applause, it is that. [applause] hope that the Democratic Party can so be the home of progressivism. It seems that there is definitely an audience within the party for progressive values of justice, equality and peace. Theres also consensus within the swath of the party that the system is rigged and something needs to be done to change that. The second thing i learned from the Sanders Campaign is this, voters want elections to be about something. Theyve got into this rut in america were political discourse consists also kind of ad hominem attacks and we end up choosing between the lesser of two evils. No doubt that both candidates are both evil is always seen are negative ads about them for literally weeks upon month before the election takes place. That is something not what people want. One people think will remember is that sanders saying enough about the emails. Whate want to hear about we need to do to make our lives better collectively and how the locking a cop was that. That is a message that is fundamentally progressive. When the system is broken, we need to take the system over and change the laws and make things better. This, a learned is democracy is not quite dead yet. We are not quite at the point where the oligarchy gets every single thing at once. What happened with the Sanders Campaign established a new paradigm in the wake of Citizens United regarding campaignfinance and that turned us be very important. Before he ran for president , senator sanders was the only member of the senate who raised most of his Campaign Funds from small donors. , i was cycles in a row the only house member out of 435 us to raise most my Campaign Money from small donors. We summit happened at the president ial level. While the campaign was actually going on, senator sanders out raised everybody else. He out raised donald trump by 71. That was just trump reach into his pocket so does not count. There is an alternative way to run for president , senate, im the only Senate Candidate whos racing with his money from small donors. 150,000 contributions already. Ityou want to go to and make contribution, i will not stop you. [laughter] this is what we need. I look along around the timber and i see 434 members were largely taught by special interest. Lobbyists, multinational corporations, billionaires. People who want something for themselves. Democracy cant survive that way. After the Citizens United decision, when it was rendered, i said that if we do nothing, then you can kiss this country goodbye. Sanders campaign is a sign that we are doing something, that there is a possibility that we can have a functional democracy in this country. I find that encouraging. [laughter] [applause] theme, whatg on the do we need to do to get the on toto get the into caps the chemical aspects of the policy fight, the vision for america that so often the Democratic Party make the decision that im not as bad, look at the other guy, he is terrible. But for us. Vote for us. Onterm elections running toning down the values. Battles we have lost over and over again. It wase won races where a bloodbath across the board but the races we won the ones where we talked about a vision for america. Franken, brianl schatz. Those of the people who one. How do we do a . It . Hadley breakthrough and make it happen . I think there is little or no hope of that happening. It is appalling meet to me to see how corporate bought and paid for democrats to control the process. In the because im a progressive and i want they want to see a rightwing democrat running for marco rubio. He cant possibly win on the issues so what they do is they attacked a personal. They are not good at defeating republicans. They do have a certain flair for getting under the skin of democrats. In finding ways to undermine progressive democrats finally run for office and we have seen all along the country. Donna Edwards Campaign is a good example of that. I dont think these people are ever going to wake up and realize that what theyre doing is bullish and that they have cut us cost us 900 legislation seats in the country. It is time for a new generation. Similarly, a foreign that the courage of her convictions and understand that the public is with us. Hastroduced a bill than a 175 cosponsored to expand expand medicare. Why is it that instead of adopting Something Like that that the party adopts a platform to extend the bank for foreign car reservations corporations . The same way the Democratic Party is in the process of adopting a platform and thank goodness for bernie adding as hard as he did, we that form the house of representatives and the number one item on the platform is defeating isis. In my district where the average wages are told by dollars an hour jumped dollars an hour, people are way more interested in a 15 wage and they are in defeating isis. , nancyire leadership pelosi, the leadership has been corrupted by money. It is dealing with its own failures. It is not interested in pulling. A interesting poll, that showed that when you actually asked the public where you stand on issues come on solid specific progressive proposals, overwhelmingly the public is with us. The leadership is not with us. Did get a complete and total overhaul. We have to elect new candidates across the board which is why misty is a fantastic example taking on republicans and murray is a fantastic example taking on bad democrats. Like you want to Say Something else. In my lifetime, the most progress the progress that the mermaid was when howard dean was in charge. We need an outsider. [applause] we need an outsider who can come in to the party and to recognize that is in the practice of values progressive by his belly to victory. We have candidates here talking about pushing that in new ways and if their candidate who is doing it in an open primary. Brandnewso have a congress were the actual mission is to replace everybody. He tells a little bit about how you are planning to do that . And brenda congress is an idea Brandnew Congress is an idea we can together with it has been in the making for at least a decade so if youre familiar exley, it was his idea and it snowballed into what we have today which is the unified National Campaign to elect 400 plus candidates in the recently say 400 plus is because, this is for the 2018 election, we have some existing members who should stay in their as well as others will jump on board if we give them a reason to. We are a me generate the same amount of volunteerism, small dollar donations by funneling people are through Online Fundraising and get people excited about running those 400 candidates for 2018. Anybody will qualify as artie been good enough or every race everywhere . Alan really wants to know the answer to that question. I think their people like senator sanders and Elizabeth Warren have consistently shown that they fight very hard for not only progressive values but what their constituents really want, what the American People want. That is why we say 400 plus in addition to the fact that it is funky with the way that different cycles work. Thank you. I want to open it up for you all to ask questions. We have microphones here. We would like you to come up to the microphones. In advance, the microphone actual not be able find your internally, as microphones are for the video. Still speak your loud when you talk to the microphone. Loud when you talk into the microphone. If you have a question, get in line behind one of the mikes. Maria, you take on this mantle of being a sanders democrat and what has that meant . Actually, before i say that. I love your breakfast of champions right to put the red can mount to do. That is a candidate working hard. 9 00 a. M. With a melted it. This is my second one. What has it meant to be a sanders democrat in your campaign so far . There are some people who were on the ground running who have been inspired either by ferguson or by Bernie Sanders and what i have chosen to do in my satellite is support many of the candidates who are running on a progressive platform. Before there was just this movement for congress, im doing a movement in st. Louis for progressives so we can take out some of these establishment democrats who do nothing and dont show up. [applause] that is what im doing. I have my a pretty movement and it happens to be the legacy that i want to leave. St. Louis because we need and peopleple willing to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work. What it means is challenging your party as often as possible. As a senator i do that. If there is enough room for a prolife democrat, then there is enough room for a ferguson democrat and senate and congress. Misty, do you have anything else to add to that . Fighting for about living wage and affordable college. State the youngest in the nation. Thingsf people make up about me being the first transperson. Inl be the first millennial the u. S. Senate if i got elected in the first woman in the senate from the top. There were some other firsts that are probably more important than the fact that im trans. I just happen to be trans. I want to the issues out there and give a voice to important issues that i feel we are not voicing of the utah Democratic Party is nobody was talking about things like 15 an hour minimum wage or reproductive rights. Some people say they put it from at the convention because i was the only candidate those even talk about issues affecting people of color. Utahs a huge silence and when it comes to issues affecting color. I was talking a lot about that and i got a lot of respect. I know there are important issues. Have a9 white but we do prison population that is disproportionately minority. We have problems with that. Black teenagers getting shot by police. 17yearold was shot and severely injured by police. Happened, ithat happens to my own city in Salt Lake City where an unarmed black are being shot by police. We need to really adjust the way we do our police in the country and reform our entire system from a place of to the courts. Coure police up to the ts. I find that these issues resonate even utah. There are a lot of people who care about these issues and a lot of young people who have not gotten involved in the local process but are getting excited. A lot of people are getting excited about me talking about the same issues. Im hoping to get them in the fall and support me. I feel like we can win. Before i won the primary, i was 1 . Ing up 37 to 51 i got 30 of the vote. Getting 37 and a gentle is good in utah. I feel that we can close the gap and if i can continue to build redneck admission and fundraising. Name recognition and hundreds in. Fundraising. Myould like to try to keep fundraising and a try not to take a lot of money from corporations. 5 of all his money comes from wall street. I would like to not have to do that. I think Bernie Sanders has the right idea, he could get from small donations. Fantastic. Another great pitch. Mistyksnow. Com. Lets get a question. Good morning. How are you doing . I like to wish you well on your campaign. This is my question, how do you propose to make sure Health Care Workers if you work 10 hours a week in the minimum wage here is seven dollars and . 55, he dont qualify for benefits . You, to answer your question, and address one of the differences with the Establishment Party a member of, it was suggested by our caucus that we file a minimum wage bill of 10. 10 and i refuse to sign onto that bill. Let me tell you this, i would be recalled if i filed that, i filed the 15th dollars minimum wage increase this year and i said i cannot hold my head up and go back home knowing that i signed onto a minimum wage . 10. Se of only 10 and the second thing, i look at your tshirt, for the last 12 years, i have been a huge proponent of home care workers and let me tight white, but i used to work for the Lieutenant Governor we assessment onn Nursing Homes and more people of color stay in their homes as they age and we are looking at the population of people and the folks who are serving those individuals as well and it is absolutely true that you do not get paid a livable wage whatsoever for the work that you do. Im guessing you are a member of sei you sviu it is the Fastest Growing union in the country. They are also one of the unions that have stood up for immigrants and Refugee Rights before any other union. Encourage and also try to do my best and have done and work towards is ensuring that you do have coverage. , weso have to tell you that have not passed Medicaid Expansion in the state of missouri and it is costing, this is money that should come back to the state to benefit you. My mom is also having to deal with the challenges that are presented to her because she is depending on the aca. I get it. I think that you do and i will work towards, i think you deserve more and i am working to make sure you have your own health care if its because what you do and what your allies to and the other folks is the work that people are willing to do. Unwilling to do. It is remarkable how you give of yourself to help the people who have stood up for us for so long. I want you to have health care and you deserve to have your health care and when you see the advertisements of the increase of the minimum wage, ask them if it is 15 or 10. Just because someone says lets increase the minimum wage, you asked them if you are talking about 15 where you talking about 10. . Thank you very much for the question. Good morning. My question is about tactics we can use to make, especially state legislatures more progressive. One thing that the right has done very well in the past is taking big money and putting it into small districts where can have a large footprint. One of the most inspiring things about the Bernie Sanders campaign was that they sent money to 21 other candidates by doing can of fundraising and that includes some state Legislature Candidates who with one email sent of small dollar donors from the Bernie Sanders campaign were able to fill of their budget probably for the next few cycles. How can we encourage more campaigns that you have large fundraising list that are able tos mobilize the National Progressive small dollar donors into small races where that money can make a huge difference . N . W do we make that commo my question goes along with yours. Brea mentioned this and she might shoot me for saying that that that might report yesterday so it is Public Knowledge now but one thing that is happening here missouri to talk about maria a little bit and asked the rest of the panel is, im executive director also of runningmissouri and im for committeewoman in taylors. Since my sharia maria caps on the money cant send the money she has been given into about 25 different candidates who are my age and most of them younger that are running for Committee Positions to take back our party at the state level where missouri refuses to talk about abortion, to talk about policing in the state or a myriad of other issues that Progressive Care about. Maria has taken the money that she cant spend on her congressional race and given it to us so not only help her because in a comment, but we did a grassroots work at the most basic level to change our party and to change our state. We have 25 young people running for party positions, but we have Bernies Campaign manager running for state rep and another young man who introduced bernie at a rally is also running for state rep. There are a lot of us and i would say part of us, we are all Bernie Sanders supporters overall black lives matter activists before we were Bernie Sanders supporters. Can never pay maria for what she has given back to our community and how youre taking a leadership . Your leadership and running for the office that is critical. I would argue one of the most important things that we can do as a Political Revolution is recognized that our job is not just to get elected to congress or u. S. Senate, is to get elected to school boards, to offices across the nation, up and down the ballot. They have a huge impact. Sometimes they have a bigger impact on peoples lives in a member of congress can have. Often congress is just degnan and things dont actually forward and yet constantly and even corporate democrats, when it in the small town races, it is not just having a direct impact on your life, there also running themselves into position to make it easier for them to run again for Higher Office as well. Negative triple of affect. The great been people like maria and run up for member of congress with a member of house of representatives. That is what we need to support promoting from within and that starts at the bottom. This is a Perfect Question for you alex to expand on. I completely agree with what you said which is, why bring in congress is running that Single National unified campaign to generate the same amount of dollar contributions on a Massive National scale and get actuallycited about taken of the primaries and getting people, progresses into office. I think the way to do that is exactly that, grassroots organizing and small dollar contributions. The getting to work part in organizing is super important in addition to the money that is being spent so we can ask the allocate that. I think that is important and crucial as we expand. I think randy congress is focusing on congress. Created locallly organizing groups in every part of this country and so it brenda congress is about is, yes we are aiming for congress, but through doing this, we are igniting the flame of people getting involved at a local level, state level, regional level and federal level. That is whatthat bring to congress to try to copper which and will continue to do that accomplish and will continue to do that by letting people like maria and misty and alan to actually represent the American People and represent the demographic makeup. Promoted yourner event. 2016. Com. Iva, and question about brenda congress. I live in eugene, oregon. Theres a strong Earnings Group there organizing a march on the same day as your kickoff event there. Weve been trying to get a hold of somebody and i can much response to correlate to make sure we dont step on each others toes. And also im sure you are overwhelmed with stuff, a lot of us have here it was love to help so feel free to reach out for more volunteer help to field questions like that. You have a huge volunteer army and waiting. On, weddress that heads are building our sort of internal infrastructure and we are almost completely grassroots and the reason we have not gotten back to you is because at that point person for that and to give you guys a taste of something we are working on, is building actual infrastructure within the campaign of the Ground Support team that will be expanding and it is going to be able to support the local organizing that is to take place in washington as well as six other teams in california and other states already. I will be reaching out to you hopefully after this panel if you stay around to talk about it. Cool. And the question was about, until delta, your local kickoff there is on july 20. And it seemsre like a fantastic ending event to go to but in the facebook events, the people asked about this and so many commented, this is a local event. Would you all be willing to consider making that a more general event so therell will be summoning people from across the country will be there . We have two events going on. One on the 22nd and the other on the 28th as well as i will be there and tons of other volunteers who will not only be in this room but online and they will be meeting up in philadelphia to sell shirts and pass on information and answer questions. We will be there for much right to the convention and all the way through. And we can talk low after just to make sure you can eat make it to the event either make it to the event or we will talk about other strategies. And thef the lasting impacts that i dont think is resonating deeply across the board for a lot of people, the effect of the cedars campaign which is being incredible amount of grassroots supporters beyond the metrics reported on. Is to a 20ported million being raised from small donors. Classes oft the d. C. Software. Obsessed with. The reality is that one of the incredibly impactful aspect of the Sanders Campaign was the way in which it mobilized and engaged with the power of bulger to work for them and work for themselves in a slow ways. I think what is exciting about brenda congress and some of the candorptions of the , andin Sanders Campaign longstanding organizations that have extremely similar goals like democracy for america is that volunteers can, we have a lot. There are a lot of people who are really engaged out there who want to do actual things and we have a Democratic Party that for decades has said sit down and shut up. We dont want to hear from you. We dont trust you to say the right things and what has been exciting about the campaign is the way in which it has empowered volunteers to take it and take control and drive that change. That is why you can have a media for six months to you your campaign is over and he can still continue to win 20 more states. That is a really important lesson. Empathize, other Digital Field number, and i just want to emphasize that that point he may just made, almost the entire campaign was powered by volunteers, not only in individual states make it better, but they courted it naturally online and through other digital platforms and thousands of volunteers made 75 my phone calls. 75 million phone calls. It is the backbone of what we are try to do to expand and not only involve people who are been involved forever but people who are ready to get to work and fight for the change that they want. As long as you are willing to step up and get to work. Brenda congress has done for you to do. Has stuffew congress for you to do. Have a question about congressman grayson and Debbie Wasserman schultz. What the bernie revolution has done to decrease her status in the party. To charles, you seem to want downplay the list and treasure that is the list. List . Fa get access to the how would brenda congress get Brandnew Congress get access to the list . Lastly, or to say that i think it is a great panel and is so interesting that the clintons theyve has not come up yet. Hillary clintons name has not come up yet. My understanding is that there is a new segment director at the dnc now an executive director is performing a lot of the functions and decisionmaking. I think that debbie still has the title, im not sure how much shes involved daytoday decisionmaking. People tend to overstate her own personal authority all along and that the decisions that tended to infuriate certain parts of the party in the past couple of years were not hers alone. Is not a sophisticated view of how these things happen. There are powers behind the throne that are not visible. What should she was in charge of the party, she is the people person that people see. Run the debates and decisions made, it is to oversimplify the actual process by which those decisions were made. That is right. At the same time i was push back and say you look at some of the governor dean when he was there who constantly followed the exercise real power when he disagreed with them. You look at the 50 state strategy of the notorious meetings with rahm emanuel and rahm emanuel where walks out of the room and says fuck you. Always howard interest bonds, he was i dont care. I was to do it. Theres something to be said for the readership in the role even if no question, it is hard. You are fighting against the establishment. That . Uld agree with the powered under howard dean was not the same party under the be wasserman schultz. How do was more willing to assert himself on matters of principle howard dean was more willing to assert himself on matters of principle. Debbie has decided to excel in fundraising for the party. Some people think that its a good idea, some people think it is utterly pointless as we have no message. [laughter] what you do, you buy a lot of advertisements. Answer,ertisement absolutely. When howard dean ran the party, it really meant something very important and none of us can forget the principal involved when you run a real republican against the thick republican. That is a lesson that has still not been learned. I will not address that portion but i am watching the race in florida very closely and Debbie Wasserman schultz has something in common with my opponent which is, she support the payday loan industry. I dont know if you have read about the New York Times article recently but in misery, we have more payday loans operations and walmarts, starbucks, mcdonalds put together. That is because of people like my opponent and others like evie wasserman schultz. The other thing is neither one want to debate in front of the people they represent. Especially, i dont how many years she has done it, but here missouri, when you have had an incumbent family for 40 years, the people do deserve to have an open debate. [applause] just to address the magical email list, i think it is really crucial that we know that. At the same time, the way that i view it, brenda congress does not have the list. We have to earn every supporter that we get. We ask we have to go out. The reason why we are going to be washington, the reason we are going to be philadelphia is because we are doing a 100 city tour to actually go out and talk to people. And find out what they are saying. It would be nice if we had such a big email list already, it help withtainly fundraising. However, im excited to work with restaurants and to work with local organizers to find out new ways to talk with voters and get to understand everyone. Also the give my perspective, it regularly happens among the political professional classes we literally talk about it like it is a list. It is not. It literally is. It is people. There are people attached to this email addresses. [applause] the fact that sanders has 8 Million People on his list, that is fantastic. But those people are out there and if we are talking to them and giving them a bold vision and we are doing the real work done in some ways those people will help find us. Certainly it helps, the more that sanders can highlight people get into network, the better. Tocertainly hope to continue partner with sanders as we move ahead in my hope is that some of that means that we get that exposure that also helps bring the door. The bottom line is that there are people and people are inspired by revision, real action and Effective Work and if youre doing those things, they will come to you. That is why Bernie Sanders has gotten over 12 million votes even a few is being fought at every step of the way by the establishment in every possible way they could. Next question. In 2014, 60 of state legislator steeds were opposed and 40 of them were completely uncontested. I lived in springfield, oregon in the past three races there races, 18 of the 26 were unopposed, only times that of the 26 were people running. Dont act too surprised, and you couldve had but it cannot at 100 it would automatically go to nobody ran against him. Addressing it down about spots, i work for nation butter, i can do because i called run forte office. Org. I was sick and tired of the elites of the democratic interpublic and parties holding onto that information for how to get on school board, how to get onto all those special districts. Democracy for america, where were you . We had 26 races and no one is running. Youre not developing the bench. Consent was kathy, i just same as cap to, i just did the research, for a fiveyear municipalities dont have a website. There are five or six positions of publicly elected marshall which is like a publicly elected sheriff and you dont run for those positions either. We have a lot of work to do them ballot. Im a big proponent of open data. I will give it to any group, a got to everyone. Im also not entirely bring tole give them a convert that you think these candidates congress, what is up with that . What is your metric . In terms of the vetting process, were going to the communities. If we are looking at Congressional Districts, were going to talk to the people that actually they represent and it is more sort of a nomination and betting process. Vetting process. It is not a final decision profit from it is after long talking with the Community Members that identify those people and it is not only career politicians, it is members of the community that we dont even know of yet. Im more concerned of how you make the choice on who gets the money. Im also like to say that it happens in each and every one of your districts, all i do is look at Election Results develop these list of elected positions. The same goes for you congressman grayson. The people you neglect to get on the ballot, those are also your voters and some rain for in nextrk, you can come or 50 votes for those be at the top. Every four years is a new esoteric trip, it is bull shit it has to stop. Lets give people a check to answer. Let me tell you, a quick the people who live in the first Congressional District live in poverty. 60 of the token to go to Public Schools are on free reduced lunch. The average American Community is currently expressing an Unemployment Rate of 17 . When you run for office, let me tell you about the colorization of campaigning, when youre black and a woman, and if you are both like me, you dont get support from the party. Heres the other thing, when you look at how people im not accountable, hes republican and i dont know how he got elected. You heres what is about to go down, there are people after ferguson who have woken up for challenging the system, the people who i am supporting who are lower ballot, it is because they have been inspired. Instead of yelling at us, realize that because of that death of a young black man and several deaths and young black women, we are inspired and we are engaged in we are waking up and were saying we are not could you tolerate this anymore and it is our responsibility to help those who want to work on supportsroots and every other person who is out there who does not have an opportunity. I would to push back. We have fiveoblem, people who want to run for , mayor and that is pitiful. We have people running against each other who have both been inspired. Im try to figure out who my going to support or from supporting both. In a couple races on supporting both people. They are all inspired. This is not good be perfect, you are not perfect and im not perfect. We all children of god. Tot we should be doing is help people who have no voice and take the energy and passion that you have and look at those numbers as you do and help build and opposed the establishment at every civil turn that you have. Single turn you have. We do have our problems, just like you all do. Speaking for dfa, the bottom line is that we have worked hard across the board to elect candidates up and down the ballot, unlikely to be defensive, we cant support everyone all the time, we cant force people to run in district and we can require somebody, we can say you have to run. If you dont run, we can budget and we try to empower people. Weve been very successful at it. Think about the scale of what you are asking. When you think about state legislative races, there over 3000 state legislative races each year. We have a cycle budget of 10 million. Theres only so much we can actually do for each and every candidate. We encourage people to run as much as possible. We look for candidates Better Running for real and fighting hard. We very much encourage people to run for lower levels of office. One of the thing that is set us apart is that as a national organization, we do things like supporting her as one of the first candidates way back in 2004 in her race for state representative of missouri. Nobody else was supporting her. We did it and we worked our butts off and we continue to support her year after year. Reality is that while there are not enough stories like that, as i would love to give you 3000 stories like that, i was not to be to you that we convince him and i wouldayor love to tell you that we can fill every School Board Race and state senate race and the reality is that that is lift. Ely that is a big and when we recommend that is what we are pushing for, it is way more likely to happen. It also takes a lot more that just a few people, the staff in burlington other resources we have to make it happen in 3000 seatsin. Bigot than one organization. People having to get up in the local communities. Congress, Brandnew Congress, it is to inspire people that dont have those resources to get up, start organizing and filling the seats instead of waiting for someone to do it. We recognized it is more than one organization and as hundreds of democracy for america is hosting a pallid panel with a potential competitor. My name is cheryl from new york. Not a place for we had trouble with democrats. We have many democrats. But if you talk about the more versus better, we have more. We need better. [applause] the democratic committee, i have that much power, and iota over zero. That incumbentgs democrats were not necessarily front of progress used very very much to hold onto their power is the gerrymander and i was wondering if you guys could address the structural obstacles that we face insurgency. Allen, do you want to take that . Are you referring to gerrymandering specifically or, what do my structural challenges . Certainly structural , imenges within the party referring specifically to gerrymandering. Both parties love it. It helps them keep their incumbents. That is correct. We are the last primary and entire country and that is because it wavers incumbents favors incumbents. I hope at some point there will thatme new supreme case will end at once for all. I think emitting as unconstitutional and i think it by was the equal protection clause in the closet that requires the federal government to guarantee the democratic government in every state. There is a separate class that does that. Im very committed to this. We had a tremendous success in florida that took years to get through litigation. We have something called for district florida. Fair district florida. Youll see that the first five figure check they got for the effort was for me. I have a blue district. Need is the government to reflect the values. We reached a point in florida where you know florida is the ultimate purple state, we had 19 members of congress who are republicans and only six after the 2010 election word democrats for thats probably a function of money but it was always entirely a function of gerrymandering. They packed huge numbers of democrats into a tiny number of districts and they got away with it. The same thing is true in pennsylvania where the current andgation is 12 republicans five democrats indicate that stock on republican in a proclamation president ial election in a quartercentury. Ohio, tenor publicans and for democrats. They created a situation where the whole country is so gerrymandered that we have to win nationwide by eight points before we get to even in congress. That is also entirely a function of german touring. Situation. Rible it needs to end. One of the things that has been done, we put it on the ballot. A constitutional effort to amend our constitution to prohibit gerrymandered. Fromok roughly 8 million start to finish to a congress that and we needed one million signatures to get on the ballot. Not every state has initiatives like florida does. Where you do, do something that needs to be done. The power structure will never ever reform itself. The result of that is we have a situation where the voters dont pick the elected officials, the elected officials are picking their voters. The point i was try to make is that democrats where i come from, democrats love gerrymander. We have a cozy ranging between our state assembly in our state gette that the democrats the assembly and republicans get the senate and everybodys happy. That is a problem. Thank you for the question. Unfortunately, we are out of time. I want to encourage those of you that still have questions, even false of others, we are all going to be here for a while. Dont hesitate to chat with us. Our panelists a chance to say closing statement. 30 seconds or less. One burning thought you would leave us with. Thats good. But some of alan. Let us start with alan. Go team blue my website is senatorwithg uts. Com. I wouldnt think everybody for coming. And as turnout. I was thinking for the opportunity to come be a part of this and for the chance to speak. I encourage all of you to check out my website at mist yksnow. Com. If anyone would like to donate, i would appreciate it. Dont underestimate the power of small donations are large numbers. [applause] dont be silent. Speak up. Peoplere often times want to put us in a box as progressives and they want to label us you want to say that we can do this, we can do that, when and where and how, project that you have an obligation as a ,rogressive to speak off up stand up and fight as hard as you can with every single tool that you possibly have in your corner. Use it. I am running for congress. I am running against an establishment opponent who takes money from the payday loans. And also as someone who does not champion the same kind of policies that elizabeth warned us. Om andsite is maria2016. C im asking you for your help. [applause] sentimentsveryones and im humbled to be on stage senators andgreat people that are running for congress right now. The message that i want to leave as to believe in yourself and never give up. And anyone, including a 21yearold from connecticut, including a 16yearold from missouri from anybody can get up , stand up, whether running for office. If anyone was to get to work, he can go to www. Brandnewcongress. Org. To sign up and contribute to our website, you can get to brenda congress the website to learn more about the plan and talk to volunteers. I do so much. We look forward to hearing from anyone who has questions. [applause] , i think if go, theres one thing i want to say about what we are learning today, it is that there are Political Revolution is, it existed before Bernie Sanders. He helped bring it together in a way that was really strong and prove to thehelped country that there are at least 46 of the Democratic Party, 12 million votes, 22 states that absolutely understand how critically important it is to stand up for blood values and pulled issues. This not going away is to not let them take it from us. There is question that we have a political establishment in the corporate establishment, a country that wants to tell us and keep us down and tell us that this campaign is over, this revolution is over and they will say everything all time we lose over the next year, next five years, next 10 years. They will tell it say everything of time. Just say that we move ahead, we need to be captain up our victories because the victors are what matters and if were going to fight everywhere, that is how we can win everywhere. That means we will not always win. We had three fantastic candidates on the stage and i hope every one of them wins and think everyone of them has a chance. [applause] dont, it is not over because we have candidates and people running across the country on our values, on our issues, on our vision and they need to be supported and that will be true tomorrow, true a year from now if theres anything i can say as big executive director of democracy for america, they will be there 12 years from now. Lets make sure we keep the clinical revolution going. Political revolution going. [applause] more now from netroots nation. Coming up a panel on the future of the Supreme Court and diversity of the judicial system. We will hear from oregon senator jeff merkley in minnesota garnishment keith ellison. Congressman keith ellison. I think we are ready. Welcome, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here. Im the president of the alliance for justice and i would say, to netroots is like coming home. It is great to be here every of. I see some old faces and a lot of new faces, which is wonderful. I would say after