For immediate release. For more information, contact: Joe Dinkin at 9 78 223 5868 or j [email protected]
Working Families Party Endorses Karen Mallard for Congress National progressive organization to mobilize members for candidates who will fight for all working families
VIRGINIA BEACH, April 4 The Working Families Party today announced its endorsement of Karen Mallard for the Democratic Party nomination in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District Primary, set for June 12th.
Joe Dinkin, Working Families Party spokesman, says that the organization has seen something special in Karen Mallard.
“As a schoolteacher, Karen’s life’s work has been public service. She is someone we can count on to stare down Wall Street and other powerful, bigmoney interests and always do what’s right for everyday families. She believes government should work for the many, not just the wealthy few. We’re thrilled to be on her team.”
The Working Families Party will mobilize its grassroots supporter base to volunteer for Karen Mallard in advance of the election. The Working Families Party endorsement is a “seal of approval” for progressive voters.
“I’m honored to earn the Working Families Party endorsement,” Mallard said. “For two decades they’ve been out there fighting the good fight, advancing the causes that I share and believe in. When it comes to jobs, healthcare, public education and raising the minimum wage, they’ve been leading the charge in the battle of the haves vs. the havenots. And there’s no mistake about whose side we’re on.”
Karen Mallard is a schoolteacher who grew up in rural Virginia. A coal miner’s daughter who walked the picket lines with her father, Mallard has spent 30 years in public school classrooms. A union leader and longtime Democratic Party activist, she felt compelled to run for office in the wake of the 2016 election and the subsequent appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
Mallard is running on a platform that emphasizes fighting for working families, protecting military families and safeguarding our children. She’s a strong environmentalist who opposes offshore drilling on our coasts. She stood up to the National Rifle Association, destroying her family’s assault rifle in a show of solidarity with the students of Parkland, Florida, the resulting video topping threemillion views and earning her the wrath of the NRA, a badge she proudly wears.
Mallard is running to unseat firstterm Congressman Scott Taylor, a Republican who’s sided with the Trump Administration close to 99 percent of the time. The vast 2nd District, which includes Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore, Williamsburg and parts of Norfolk, went Democratic in 2017’s gubernatorial election and tops the list nationally of potential Congressional pickups in this November’s General Election.
The Working Families Party is a national political organization that is recruiting, training, and electing the next generation of progressive leaders to office. The Working Families Party has had an impressive record of downballot wins in 2017, electing nearly 2/3rds of its more than 1,000 endorsed candidates, including P hiladelphia’s new District Attorney Larry Krasner, helping elect the new M ayor of Jackson, MS, Chokwe Lumumba, a sweep of school board races in Milwaukee, and special election victories for progressive leaders running for state legislature in N ew York, C onnecticut, and R hode Island.
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