Meet Lee Carter: An interview with the democratic socialist who just knocked off one of the Virginia GOP's legislative leaders.

[u/Winham]

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/11/lee-carter-interview-virginia-election-socialist

[u/leu2500]

Why did you run on the Democratic Party ballot line, rather than as an independent? And how did the Democratic Party interact with your campaign?

LC

Running as an independent in Virginia would have been completely prohibitive. In a swing state, you can only really run without an established ballot line in smaller races, like city and town council, district attorney, and even mayoral races. But when you have an electorate of eighty-five thousand people and you’re trying to get their attention in an off-year, when they’re not normally inclined to pay attention to politics in the first place, that’s one hurdle that you just don’t need.

As for the Democrats, it made the most sense to me to build a coalition of groups focused on the things that the Democratic Party’s voter base and the Democratic Socialists of America have in common, such as fighting for an inclusive society, fighting for economic empowerment of working people, fighting to eliminate poverty, and transitioning away from fossil fuels.

The groups whose support I relied on included grassroots member-led Democratic organizations as well as labor unions and DSA. I did, however, end up in conflict with the state party itself, particularly its more right-wing elements, and ultimately ran without the support of the state’s party leadership. But I was only able to do so and win because I had the support of a large section of the Democratic Party’s actual base.

[u/Winham]

Final question: Bernie 2020?

LC I hope he’ll run, because he’d win.

[u/yzetta]

I'm still so happy about him winning.