Getting Medicare for All through Congress
reporting on unions while in a union, Bloomberg campaign ads, and a last minute push for Jessica Cisneros
Hi!
In The New Republic I have a rare opinion piece to share with you— where I wade in to the somewhat treacherous world of Medicare for All politics. This has been a huge topic throughout the Democratic primary, though it seems we’re now entering a new stage, where it’s becoming maybe more OK among progressives to reckon with the political hurdles posed by a less-than-enthusiastic Congress. I wrote about building trust, and how there are many real questions for people beyond “will this president fight for me?”
At the Intercept I have two new stories:
One piece looked at an eye-popping development in the Mike Bloomberg campaign, where I found he’s been running targeted Facebook ads asking voters where he should spend his money.
This kind of advertising, which blatantly blurs the line between political campaigns and philanthropic spending, is certainly not the kind of ad your normal candidate could ever run! I talked to campaign finance experts about what they make of it.
The second story, from this past Monday, is about the home-stretch efforts led by progressive organizations and unions to elect 26-year-old Jessica Cisneros to Congress. Her Texas primary is on March 3 (Super Tuesday) and she’s running against Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of the most conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. You can read about where things stand in that big race here.
And lastly, I wrote for The Grade, which is an education journalism-focused website, about the experiences of education reporters who cover teacher strikes and teacher unions while working in unionized newsrooms themselves. I share my own experience, as well as talked to a number of other smart journalists. Near the end there is some interesting debate over what, if anything, a unionized reporter should disclose to their readers. You can read that story here.
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