Every once in a while, you get to campaign for your dream candidate. Someone who shares your values on every level, someone with integrity, someone whom you know is “unbought and unbossed,” who is progressive with attitude and has lived the causes she fights for. For me, that candidate is Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards, running for the U.S. Senate. I’ve been campaigning for her for six months now, and she has never disappointed me. Let me tell you about her.
Donna Edwards is an African-American woman whose father was a Air Force veteran – he moved them around as his way of giving them a taste of the middle-class life. As a result, she is a major supporter of veterans’ rights. At 53, she is just old enough to remember Martin Luther King, Jr., and champions all civil rights causes. Donna – and I call her that with no disrespect intended – went to school for journalism, but ended up working on the technical side at NASA Goddard – so she’s on the STEM committee in Congress.
Having seen domestic abuse around her among military families as a child, on her college campus, and even at her job, in 1990, she founded and ran a grassroots organization – the National Network to End Domestic Violence – that pushed for and established the first Violence Against Women Act of 1994. She is steadfast in her support for women’s causes, from the right to make reproductive health care choices, to equal pay for equal work, to paid family leave.
She studied law, which earned her $100,000 in student loans – she understands first-hand the importance of student loan forgiveness. And as a divorced woman who raised her son alone, she has briefly faced homelessness, briefly gone without healthcare, and on a gut level, understands #BlackLivesMatter.
I had a chance to meet Donna back in April when she was visiting Baltimore, and I wasn’t sure what you ask a Congresswoman who was running for US Senate. So I posted a query on Facebook, and got a lot of answers. One of them was to ask where she stood on marriage equality. As a progressive, I expected her to have a reasonable record with LGBTQ civil rights issues – she did not disappoint. In January 2012, Donna was the first congressional candidate in Maryland to champion marriage equality – even though it was not popular in her congressional district – winning her the financial support of LPAC, the lesbian equivalent of EMILY’S List. Her support for the LGBTQ community actually dates back to when she was first elected in 2008, supporting the repeal of DADT before it was popular, as well as supporting ENDA – the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has been floating around since 1974. Donna has been very active in championing civil rights bills affecting the LGBTQ community since then. She sponsored the 2011 version of the Student Non-Discrimination Act, she fought against the Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act of 2012 because it did not protect lesbians and transgender individuals, she has most recently championed the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, and she is a co-sponsor of the 2015 Equality Act.
Donna is opposed by Congressman Chris Van Hollen, who, while having a strong progressive record, does not have any of the types of life experiences which would compel him to fight untiringly for a human rights issue, even when it means standing alone. In fact, there are people who believe that Donna’s willingness to stand alone is a weakness. That she should compromise more, and be able to show more for her efforts.
I don’t agree. I don’t see Elizabeth Warren compromising. I see Elizabeth Warren fighting for what she believes in. I want another woman like Elizabeth Warren in the Senate: a woman who fights for causes because they are personal to her. So, I’m campaigning for Donna every step of the way. I hope you’ll join me.
Congresswoman Edwards will be at the Liberty Pavilion in Druid Hill Park (Baltimore) on Friday, October 9 between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. Please go hear her. She will not disappoint you.
To get active with her campaign, e-mail perrice@donnaedwardsforsenate.com