Lizzie Pannill Fletcher is a tough, colorful, corporate lawyer. Her firm describes her as someone who wins cases. She has progressive positions on every issue except unions. Her law firm has opposed unions for corporations, which she does not disavow.
Scott Wallace is conscious of a family predecessors: farmers, writers, entrepreneurs, business exeuctives, philanthropists, and a vice president under FDR. He has been a business executive and a philanthropist. Now he is seeking to expand his influence by serving in Congress.
Kara Eastman has been CEO of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance (OHKA). Focused on combating lead poisoning, the organization expands its work by addressing the context in which lead poisoning happens. She was a surprise winner in the Democratic Primary taking on the incumbent Congressman.
Stacy Abrams is Georgia House of Representatives minority leader. In this case, minority means Democrat. If elected Governor, she would be Georgia's first African American and first woman governor. Her record is pragmatic. She is sometimes criticized for not fighting hard enough for Democratic priorities. In the primary, she was targeted for agreeing to decrease funding for the HOPE Scholarships. She says she preserved the program and ensured full day kindergarten.
Alessandra Biaggi is taking on the Democratic establishment, running in a primary against the head of the IDC. This role is unexpected. She interned for the King's County District Attorney's office, for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. and for Congressman Joseph Crowley of Queens, the Chair of the US House Democratic Caucus and of the Queens County Democratic Party. Look at Alessandra Biaggi’s jobs. She worked for Hillary Clinton, for Andrew Cuomo on women's policy issues. She worked for the Governor on the Executive Clemency team and on health and human service initiatives. She was a young member of the establishment before deciding to challenge it.
After college graduation, Abby Finkenauer spent nearly two years running for the state legislature. She cherishes the conversations she had with people as she went door to door campaigning for herself. The campaign itself, she thinks, was a right of passage, a process of becoming a genuine grown up taking on adult work. As a legislator in her twenties, Abby Finkenauer did the work. She sought relief for people with college loans, urged that people be able to testify about legislative proposals via the internet, and fought to protect women's right to control their bodies.
On September 11, 2001, Dan Feehan was in Washington, DC. His public service goal became joining the military. He signed up for ROTC, graduated, and served two combat tours in Iraq from 2006 to 2009. Next, he joined Teach for America and got an internship in the White House. The internship brought him back to the military. After some civilian experiences with the military, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readines
Angie Craig has been head of human resources for a large corporation. Her most recent non-political job was head of communications for St. Judes (a familiar name to those who give to medical charities). The divide in the Democratic Party has largely to do with economic issues, how to work with corporations. Angie Craig, like others who share her perspective, is comfortable with large corporations. She lost a close race in 2016 and is trying to unseat the freshman incumbent who defeated her.
Mike Espy was the first African-American Congressman from Mississippi since reconstruction. He was Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton administration. He is practicing law now. In Mississippi. He resembles many of the Democrats running for Congress in Republican districts. He is a moderate Democrat. As a Member of Congress, he got NRA support. As a Member of Congress, he was not controversial. He was on the Agriculture Committee. He was a member of Bill Clinton's moderate Democratic Leadership Council. Mike Espy was successful in attracting a substantial portion of the white vote in his district.
Lauren Underwood was a nurse. She became interested in health care policy, earned a degree from Johns Hopkins, and served in the Health and Human Services Department of the Obama administration implementing the Affordable Care Act (the health care part, not the computer part). She grew up in her congressional district, overcame serious illness, stood out as a diligent and agreeable student. People in the district know her, like her, and she knows them. They know her as a courageous, even an audacious young woman. Her run for Congress, as a young, black woman counts as audacious.