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OpEdNews Op Eds    H1'ed 3/5/18

The Frontline in the Battle for the Soul of the Democratic Party

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Reprinted from www.dailykos.com by Mark Pinsley

Mark Pinsley is running in Pennsylvania's 16th State Senate District against PA Senate GOP Appropriations Chair Pat Browne
Mark Pinsley is running in Pennsylvania's 16th State Senate District against PA Senate GOP Appropriations Chair Pat Browne
(Image by Mark Pinsley)
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On Friday, I was in Harrisburg preparing to submit my petitions to become the Democratic nominee for the Pennsylvania Senate's 16th District. At the same time, news of an underhanded plot broke in the Washington Post about the DCCC's attempt to push a fellow progressive into the primary race against me. They swooped into the area and tried to convince Greg Edwards, the most outspoken progressive, and only candidate of color, to drop out of the PA 7th Congressional race. In an attempt to induce him to meekly surrender to the establishment, they offered him support in the state senate race against me. I am Mark Pinsley, a business owner and progressive activist running against the incumbent PA Senate GOP Appropriations chair from Lehigh County.

The DCCC has no ties or loyalty to the people of the Lehigh Valley. If they had, they would have known that Greg and I had supported each other's campaigns as a unified movement to change politics. The DCCC also called Susan Ellis-Wild's campaign, the only woman in the race who is second in fundraising only to Greg, non-viable without any explanation. They could care less about the children in the Allentown school district, one of the most economically disadvantaged school districts in the nation. They'll be long gone when their plan resulted in losses for the Democrats in the Lehigh Valley up and down the ticket. Their consultants would be wealthier, and they would move on to losing their next race.

The Lehigh Valley has long been the bell-weather of national politics. Lehigh County narrowly voted for Hillary Clinton while neighboring Northampton County elected Trump. In fact, Northampton is one of only 206 'Pivot Counties', places that voted for Obama in '08 and '12 and then swung for Trump in 2016. We are the swing area of one of the most important swing states. But the people of the Lehigh Valley are not moderate, the 2016 primary was a 50-50 split between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

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