Welcome to a Wednesday night edition of Progress Report.
I did not make or choose the thumbnail above, which was instead rendered by Substack’s auto-generate system. I could change it, but it’s pretty funny and I think offers as a great example of the ridiculousness of allowing automated systems to make editorial decisions. I will sacrifice my dignity to make that point.
Tonight’s newsletter features my live conversation with Patrick Roath, a Democrat who is running a well-funded insurgent campaign for Congress in MA-08, as well as some news below that. On Thursday night, we’ll have another live stream, this time with Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang, who is running for Congress.
On a personal note: Today marks three months since I underwent my sixth open-heart surgery. I’ll be honest, recovery has been way harder than anticipated. After previous surgeries, I’d always bounced back pretty quickly, but it’s dragging a bit this time; the brain fog is often more like mental quicksand. But the chaos of this moment demands we all give everything we have, so let’s get going.
Note: The far-right’s fascist takeover of this country is being aided by the media’s total capitulation to Trump’s extortion. Constantly layoffs at these major media organizations, at the behest of billionaires, is making it even worse. It’s never been more critical to have a bold independent media willing to speak up against the powerful. That’s what I’m trying to do here at Progress Report.
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Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch attended the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. Had he been in the the 12-term congressman’s position, as he hopes to be next year, Patrick Roath says he would have skipped President Trump’s long, rambling speech at the Capitol.
“It kind of bugs me to say that, because I’ve spent time in D.C., I believe in our institutions, and I would like to think that there’s a part of our commitment to civic tradition that rises above partisan bickering,” he told Progress Report during a live stream interview on Tuesday evening. “But … I fear that I would conveying my tacit support for what’s happening, providing more legitimacy by attending this State of the Union that’s being offered by this would-be authoritarian.”
Roath interned in the Obama White House and then worked for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, both in government and during his brief run for president. In more recent years, he’s worked as a lawyer by day and chaired the Massachusetts chapter of Common Cause, which focuses on preserving voting rights and advancing democracy. The biography doesn’t scream radical, but Roath’s challenge is as much about generational change and political peril as any policy questionnaire.
Not that there aren’t major differences between the incumbent and the challenger more than 30 years his junior: Roath rips Lynch for being one of the few Democrats to vote for the Laken Riley Act, a GOP bill that suspended due process for many immigrants, and for being one of the even fewer Democrats to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security and ICE during the last budget go-round.
There’s also Lynch’s distinction as the lone remaining Democrat to have voted against the Affordable Care Act back in 2009, an indicator of the sort of instinctively conservative predisposition the 70-year-old still carries in office. And that’s the through line for Roath, 39, who understands that the future depends on a new kind of politics, one grounded in unyielding principle and driven by the dire need for a brighter, more hopeful future.
Maybe that’s the millennial optimism of the Deval Patrick and Barack Obama years shining through in bleak times, but his district also has a lot of young men who broke to the right — this is South Boston and its suburbs — and could use a sense of better days ahead.
You can watch our entire conversation at the top of the newsletter; we dug into policy issues like AI regulation (check out the clip above), universal healthcare, affordable housing, and local environmental concerns. There was also talk about his newborn daughter and how that has shaped his political outlook.
This is the latest in our interview series with Democratic primary challengers; you can watch our recent interview with former NY Assemblyman Michael Blake, who is running against Rep. Ritchie Torres in the Bronx, below:
Kansas House passes election bills targeting noncitizens, advance voting [The Lawrence Times]
Thousands, but few electeds, descend on state Capitol to pressure Hochul to tax the rich [City & State NY]
Florida Senate advances “medical freedom” bill expanding vaccine exemptions for K-12 schools, despite GOP concerns [CBS Miami]
CT Sen. Chris Murphy fries MAHA grifter Casey Means during surgeon general confirmation hearings [YouTube]
KY Supreme Court unanimously strikes down Republican lawmakers’ 2022 charter school law [KY Lantern]
Two liberal challengers test Georgia’s entrenched Supreme Court [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
The Border Patrol murdered a blind, elderly refugee [Investigative Post]
If John Fetterman runs for re-election, he will lose [Quinnipiac]
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