By Maya T. Prabhu Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 8/4/2019
When Khalid Kamau took the stage at the Democratic Socialists of America convention in Atlanta, the South Fulton councilman came armed with a message he hopes will reverberate next year: “We have to understand us fringe people are future thinkers.â€
Kamau was referring to how several top White House contenders have embraced Medicare for All and free public college initiatives that were long championed by the party’s left flank, a sign that even the more moderate candidates are being pulled to the left.
Throughout the four-day democratic socialists gala that gathered at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, organizers promised a more musical approach to politics in 2020, emboldened by victories last year by two DSA members: U.S. Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Kamau, who won office shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration, is perhaps the highest-profile elected official in Georgia who is a member of the democratic socialists. But he predicts he won’t be the last.
“Let me tell you this,†he told the roughly 1,000 delegates who gathered in Atlanta. “We’re going to run candidates and we’re going to win.â€
The awakening of the democratic socialists movement, which has nearly doubled its membership since Trump’s election, could pose a problem for more mainstream Democrats who chafe at any association with socialism.
And it’s a cause for celebration for Republicans, who have telegraphed a key part of the 2020 strategy is branding their adversaries, even those who are more moderate, as socialists bent on bringing European-style policies across the Atlantic.
At the convention in Atlanta, delegates talked of a scattershot approach to next year’s election.
More:
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-democratic-socialists-pledge-step-2020/E92ipxfUbgIQzKkJ9qX6HK/
