I live in Kentucky’s First Congressional District. This year, we have a great Democratic Lady running for our Congressional seat, Heather Ryan. Well, we are not the only first district in the south that has an awesome Democratic lady running for their Congressional seat. In the First Congressional District of Louisiana another stellar Democratic woman is running to expand our Congressional majorities. Her name is Gilda Reed.
Well, the really great news is the fact that Gilda Reed is an awesome Democrat who will fight for us in Washington was not lost upon the Democratic voters in Louisiana’s First District. They rewarded Gilda Reed with a huge victory in their primary the other evening. From Gilda’s site:
The elections, first steps in the new closed party primary system for federal elections, took place in the 1st and 6th congressional districts, which cover much of southeast Louisiana.
In the 1st Congressional District, state Sen. Steve Scalise was forced into a runoff with state Rep. Tim Burns of Mandeville. Scalise had about 48 percent of the vote and Burns 28 percent. The two will face each other in a runoff election 4 weeks from tonight and then face Gilda Reed, the outright winner of the Democrat Primary tonight.
Reed, an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans, beat Vinny Mendoza, an Air Force retiree handily. Reed won the backing of trade unions and about 70 percent of the vote. She will continue her campaign in focused on her goal to be the first Democrat to win District 1 in 30 years. In early May, Reed will face the winner of the Republican run off in a special election.
Gilda gave some brilliant insight on her victory that more Democrats should take to heart:
To the overwhelming pleasure of her supporters and in answer to a question regarding what makes makes Gilda a better candidate than Steve Scalise or Tim Burns, Gilda answered simply, “for one, I’m a Democrat.”
Wow, Democrats running proudly as Democrats and winning? What a profound idea Ms. Reed!!!
Go here to see Gilda Reed being interviewed after her smashing victory in the primary for Louisiana’s first:
http://www.wwltv.com/video/new…
From all of us here at Ryan for Kentucky we want to send a huge Congratulations to Gilda and everyone associated with her campaign!!! We didn’t have a primary here, and we are all happy to know that another great Democrat made it into the election in the fall. We need Ms. Reed and Ms. Ryan in Washington working side by side to change this country and fight for One America!!
Be sure to show Gilda some love and help give her the resources she needs to win in the fall here:
https://www.officialsecureinte…
Now, on to our campaign in Kentucky’s first where we have another great lady who needs our support. Heather Ryan is up against an entrenched Congressman in Ed Whitfield who is part of the corrupt Mitch McConnell machine. He has a million dollars of special interest money to unleash upon us. He has flown under the radar in Washington, and makes little news.
However, Ed Whitfield has no record of achievement for citizens of this district to point to. His only accomplishment was passing a ban on eating horsemeat. While I am sure the horses in Kentucky will acknowledge this achievment, the people of the first district of Kentucky are falling further and further behind. While Ed Whitfield gets richer, wages for our working families are stagnant or worse, and we watch in horror as our economy is now dominated by low-wage service jobs with no benefits.
Yes, while Exxon Eddie reaps the benefits of his Exxon and Chevron stock, those profits are made on the backs of hard-working Kentuckians who face record energy prices on all fronts. Although Kentuckians in the first district are paying the penalties for the corporate greed that has made Whitfield a rich man, Exxon Eddie can’t even buy a house in our district. He must pitch a tent on the empty lot he owns in Madisonville.
This time we have a real choice of a fighting Democrat to replace Exxon Eddie with. We have Heather Ryan, who in a history making year for Democrats can make a little history of her own by being the first ever female Congresswoman from this district.
I recently asked Heather about re-building the Labor movement in our state and the country. She had this to say about it:
Our country has seen an all out assault on Organized Labor in the last several decades. We believe Organized Labor is essential in achieving fair wages and benefits for workers. We believe we need to rebuild our Union movement by passing the Employee Free Choice Act and give workers real choices in forming a union. We believe penalties for breaking labor laws should be tougher, and enforced faster. We also support banning the permanent replacement of striking workers. We should also defend and restore a workers right to overtime. We also need to end the practice of mislabeling workers as an independent contractors to avoid paying benefits and taxes. We should expand minimum wage protections to tipped workers and home healthcare workers. We should give public employees every opportunity to compete with private contractors and evaluate a companies record on tax, labor and environmental standards before awarding them any federal or state contracts. Finally, we should recognize that any work that involves essential government functions should not be privatized.
I couldn’t agree more with those priorities.
Heather also wants to fight to invest in innovation for our state and nation. She had this to say about what we should be doing in that regard:
In the new global economy our economic competitors are investing aggressively in infrastructure, education and engineering. We simply must begin to match them in this pursuit. To do this we must make the tax credit for research and development permanent. We should invest in renewable energy and the fuels and technologies of the future. We should invest in the recruitment and pay of good teachers while strengthening curriculum in High Schools and expanding college opportunity. We should set the goal of having broadband access to all homes, businesses and schools by 2010, even in rural and low-income areas. Finally, we should protect our scientists and researchers from being pressured by political ideology.
Investing in the fuels of the future is essential to this campaign. With a little research, development, and patriotism in something besides war America and Kentucky have an awesome opportunity to lead the world in an exciting new field, growing and refining the fuels of the future. With high Energy prices due to our dependence on foreign oil, and the emergence of a service-type economy in the first district we can kill two birds with one stone.
We can create high-paying union jobs, and end our dependence on the unstable middle-east for our energy needs. We can once again offer Americans a reasonable product for a reasonable price for their energy needs.
The only thing standing in our way is entrenched politicians who profit from the current madness, and care little for the plight of their constituents as long as the money is rolling in. It is time we replaced Exxon Ed Whitfield with a voice of sanity and Progress, and a Democrat who will fight for us in the Congress.
Please join and help us in this endeavor. Go to the site and sign up for email updates. If you live close enough, volunteer:
http://www.ryanforkentucky.com/
More importantly, please help us get the resources we need to get our message of hope and of Exxon Eddie’s abyssmal record for the citizens of Kentucky out to the 62% of registered Democrats in this district. If we do that, we win.
Please help me to my goal of $1500 for Ryan by May 20, I am almost one-third of the way there!!:
http://www.actblue.com/page/am…
No matter what you do this year, don’t forget all our awesome Democratic candidates running for the House and Senate. These are the Democrats who will change this party for all of us!!
And don’t forget about two great ladies in two first districts!!!
The correct link is http://www.gildareed.com/donate
Thanks so much!!
Gilda