Look at the Daily Bits. A Letter to Michelle Obama, Medical Care Policy and My Doctors
2020 General Election
He is young. A couple of years older than AOC. Start with his parents. Start earlier. In his 2018 campaign, Josh Harder https://www.harderforcongress.com/ touted he was a fifth generation Central Valley resident. His family came to California in a wagon train. A long enough journey. A tough enough journey. It evokes the treks of immigrants to the United States.
Josh Harder’s parents. Dad is an optometrist. With a mission. Mom has a Master’s Degree in Public Health. Mom is religious. These days, when religion and politics mix, we think evangelical. Not Linda Harder. New Age might be a better description. Delete the slightly mocking tone that comes with “New Age.” Josh Harder’s parents took service seriously. Still do.
They met volunteering in a poverty eye health clinic in Latin America. They still volunteer. Every year they take four weeks to open and run eye clinics in poor areas of Latin America. Parents who demonstrate commitments to service are powerful examples. Josh Harder had two powerful examples.
Josh Harder grew up in a world of opportunity. A strong student with an interesting background, he went to Stanford. Rotary Club and American Legion Scholarships. Have you seen “What the Constitution Means to Me” on Broadway?
He excelled. Had more opportunities. Became a venture capitalist. Worked for the Boston Consulting Group. Management consultants. 85 offices in 48 countries. Josh Harder took a leave of absence. Relying on the Gates Foundation and other nonprofits, he assisted and organized small farmers in Kenya and Uganda.
Volunteering was not enough. He worked for Accion Venture Lab, an investment fund providing financial services in third world countries. He integrated the work of finding resources for startups into working directly for a bank start up in Indonesia.
Working in third world countries was not an exact fit. He went to Harvard. An MBA at the Business School. An MPP from the Kennedy School. A new job at Bessemer Venture Partners. He built connections with Silicon Valley. After three years, he returned home in time to begin the Congressional campaign he won.
Cognizant of his district. Drawing on his experience with venture capitalists. Aware of how Congress works. Josh Harder is not a white male version of the Squad. Josh Harder is not challenging authority. His 2018 campaign called for strengthening the agricultural economy, for improving the Affordable Care Act, for strengthening education, and for comprehensive immigration reform with practical steps to deal with immigrants while working on reform. Elected, he joined only one Congressional caucus – the moderate and fiscally conscious New Democrat Coalition.
Josh Harder was rewarded with committees where he could work on his priorities. He is on the Agriculture Committee and the Education and Labor Committee. Neither committee puts him in a position to impeach the president or find members of the administration in contempt.
Josh Harder’s committees put him in a position to influence bills as they pass the House. Whether they become law by passing the Republican Senate and getting signed by the President is a different story. He supported a bill that had some bipartisan support to strengthen training for children’s protective service agencies in preventing child abuse. His amendment to provide training to help individuals find support in dealing with opioid addiction passed the House, but without Republican support. He did better with mental health. He got unanimous support for an amendment requiring the GAO to analyze the effect of the administration’s proposed alternative insurance plans on mental health services. Josh Harder built a coalition to support his Save the Water Act. If passed it would improve water storage, reuse, and recycling – a big deal in his parched agricultural community.
Josh Harder https://www.harderforcongress.com/ is one more freshman incumbent Congressman who deserves support. His 2018 victory was the fourteenth closest Democratic victory. By 9,980 votes. Resources, we buy attention. Candidates who get enough attention and are worth that attention, get votes. Josh Harder is one of those. He has the kind of connections that bring in resources. Join the friends of Josh. Add to his totals.
The Daily Kos has reviewed the recently published 2019 2nd Quarter Fund Raising Totals. Every one of these new members need support to stay there, even Gill Cisneros the lottery winner. Choose a few to support. The total cash in thousands each candidate has raised is listed first. How much cash on hand in thousands each of them had at the end of the 2nd Quarter is listed second.
- Ben McAdams UT 04Elected by 694 votes $783/$484
- T. J. CoxCA 21Elected by 862 votes$894/$644
- Kendra Horn OK 05 Elected by 3,338 votes $1,075/$795
- Jared Golden ME 02 Elected by 3,509 votes $623/$495
- Lucy McBath GA 06 Elected by 3,634 votes $1,294/$929
- Xochitil Torres Small NM 03 Elected by 3,722 votes $1,099/$1,012
- Andy Kim NJ 03 Elected by 3,973 votes $1,165/$970
- Joe Cunningham SC 01 Elected by 4,082 votes $1,353/$970
- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell FL 26 Elected by 4,119 votes $1,134/$934
- Anthony Brindisi NY 22 Elected by 4,373 votes $908/$771
- Gil Cisneros CA 39 Elected by 6,711 votes $593/$390
- Abigail Spanberger VA 07Elected by 6,784 votes $1,153/$1,025
- Cynthia Axne IA 03Elected by 7,709 votes $1,037/$841
- Josh Harder CA 10Elected by 9,980 votes $1,702/$1,406
Three from the Northeast.
Four from the Southeast.
One from the Midwest.
Six from the West.
