By Staff Reporter |
A coalition of U.S. House Democrats have banded together to pledge against socialism, but none of Arizona’s Democrat congressional leaders signed on.
Reps. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ-07), Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04), and Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03) have not signed the Promise to America, an organization pushing a pledge to align the Democratic Party around the principles of capitalism, safety, fiscal responsibility, effective government, common purpose, and patriotism.
The three congressional leaders have not publicly aligned with socialism, and are not known to be members of the Democratic Socialists of America. Stanton’s primary challenger, Kai Newkirk, was a self-identified democratic socialist.
However, top Democrats in Arizona appear to be looking to reclaim and redefine socialism. Gov. Katie Hobbs’ consultant Stacy Pearson, who has represented her campaign to the media, recently told KJZZ that all public goods qualified as socialism, and that Democrats needed to reclaim socialist ideology as their own.
“[W]hen politicians are arguing against socialism, they’re arguing against well-funded public education and good universities and public transportation and affordable housing,” said Pearson. “The Democrats need to get a hold of the word socialist like we did with abortion, and we stopped using weird pitter-patter words like ‘reproductive freedom’ and ‘reproductive rights.’ No, we’re really talking about a woman’s right to have an abortion when she needs one, period. And so I think we need to get a hold of the word again and remind people what it really means.”
The new pledge from U.S. House Democrats against socialism declares a belief in an economy driven by merit and hard work, secure borders and orderly immigration, a balanced budget, reduced bureaucracy, free speech, common political ground, and confidence rooted in patriotism.
“We are proud, not ashamed of America,” stated the pledge. “We believe America’s story is one of extraordinary achievement and unfinished work. We honor America’s strengths and exceptional character while striving to build a freer, stronger, more prosperous, and more perfect union.”
Ten congressional Democrats and five candidates have signed the pledge as of this report. Signatories hail from California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas.
The pledge was developed by New York Rep. Tom Suozzi and California Rep. Adam Gray alongside a team of fellows following sizable wins from socialist candidates in the June primaries. The founding fellows were Felix Frisch, who serves as director; Mac Healey; Sarah Buchanan; Molly Uthoff; Aarynn Deleon; Chloe Stevelman; and Yenjay Hu.
Suozzi and Gray market themselves as the two Democrats to have successfully flipped districts that President Donald Trump won in the 2024 election cycle.
Promise to America appears to be aligned with the Welcome Party, which has an affiliated political action committee with millions in funding from the likes of LinkedIn cofounder and tech venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, former 21st century Fox CEO James Murdoch, and Walmart heir Samuel Walton.
Only one Democratic candidate from Arizona was listed as having signed the pledge: Marlene Galan Woods, who lost the Democratic nomination for the 1st congressional district seat to Amish Shah.
Candidates Jonathan Nez, 2nd congressional district; Elizabeth Lee, 5th congressional district; JoAnna Mendoza, 6th congressional district; Bernadette Greene-Placentia, 8th congressional district; and Dani Sterbinksy, 9th congressional district, also have not signed the pledge.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
