Look at the recent Daily Bits on the website. More from Mike; The Players — Mike Pompeo
2020 General Election
Gina Ortiz Jones https://ginaortizjones.com is a minority within a minority. It is part of her tradition. She is an Ilocano. There are about 10 million Ilocanos in the Philippines. They are10% of the population — one of four main ethnic groups in the country. The Ilocano language and tradition continues, though they are also Christian and Filippino.
Gina Ortiz Jones mother immigrated to US. A teachers’ college graduate with a Master’s Degree, she worked as a domestic for a European embassy in Washington until she obtained a teaching certificate in the US. Her daughter was also a student.
Gina Ortiz Jones stood out in a 3,000 pupil, 90% Hispanic high school in Texas. She came out as gay to her mother when she was 15, earned an Air Force ROTC scholarship, and enrolled in Boston University – about as far away from San Antonio as she could get. She majored in East Asian studies, got a Master’s degree in economics, and was deployed to Iraq as an intelligence officer.
After a hiatus caring for her mother at home, Gina Ortiz Jones was deployed to the Africa command in Germany and then to Leavenworth, Kansas where she earned a Master’s Degree in Latin American studies at the School of Advanced Military Studies. Trained to be a leader in the military, Gina Ortiz Jones went to Washington, first as a strategic planner, then as a senior advisor to the Deputy Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
At the end of Barack Obama’s term of office, Gina Ortiz Jones was assigned to review investments for national security implications for the US Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President. She left soon after Donald Trump took office, saying “The folks who were brought in to do the nation’s work were not interested in the public, much less service, much less public service. It was clear that I was going to have to serve my community and my country in a different way.”
Gina Ortiz Jones went home. Except for the time caring for her mother, she had been away from Texas for thirteen years. As for serving her country in a different way, she intended to run for office. Her Congressional district and her mother’s district which ran along the Texas Mexico border from San Antonio to El Paso. In 2014, in that district, an African-American Republican, a former CIA officer had been elected to Congress in his second try – by two percentage points. He won again in 2016 against the former incumbent. This time, by one percentage point.
Gina Ortiz Jones was his opponent in 2018. She lost by a half a percentage point; by less than 1,000 votes. She had her talent and her experience going for her. That she was running in the district where she grew up helped. There were also challenges. She was a Lesbian in Texas (not a particularly friendly place for gay men or women), in a district that was 75% Hispanic (a culture not particularly friendly to gay men or women). Her mother’s family name, her family name sounded Hispanic, but her mother was Asian.
Gina Ortiz Jones, like the Ilocano, is a minority within a minority within a minority. She knows the challenge. She has been a student of East Asia, of Africa, and Latin America. She has lived the life of a Filipina in a 90% Hispanic high school, a gay woman under Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military. She has been tough and outspoken.
Gina Ortiz Jones is running again. In 2020, no Democrats oppose her. In 2020, she will not have to run against Incumbent Will Hurd. He has been distancing himself from Donald Trump. So distant, he decided not to run for reelection. He has moved as far from Donald Trump as he could.
She described her view of the world and what she wants to achieve in Congress in an interview with Elle magazine. Gina Ortiz Jones referred to her mother’s decision to come to the United States, despite her college degrees: “…she came here as a domestic helper. Like so many people, she humbled herself and jumped at the opportunity because she wanted a chance at the American Dream.”
Gina Ortiz Jones saw her community needed better representation: “I saw that my community, the community that I grew up in, was not being adequately represented, and I thought I could bring the voice that was needed. Where I went to high school, we start with 900 kids and only 500 graduate. It’s a community of color, it’s lower income families. And frankly, I thought, [it’s] the type of community that would suffer the most under misguided policies.”
Gina Ortiz Jones commented about the importance of the social safety net: I’ve seen that talent is universal and opportunity is not. And I know that as a first-generation American, somebody raised by a single mother who needed a little bit of help growing up — reduced lunch, subsidized housing…critical investments that allowed me to earn a four-year ROTC scholarship. Gina Ortiz Jones is exquisitely conscious of the public support that was instrumental in helping her become a high level official in the military and an advisor to the president. These supports were investments in her.
Gina Ortiz Jones compared her experience in the military under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to the experience of DREAMers: “I had first-hand experience of what it’s like to have worked hard for something and have that fear that it could be ripped away from you. If they found out I was gay, they would rip away my scholarship, my opportunity to get an education, my opportunity to serve my country, to die for my country, if need be. So that needless fear, that needless anxiety … parallels the needless fear and needless anxiety that our DREAMers are dealing with because we have members of Congress that don’t have the moral courage to fight for our DREAMers and fight for a clean DREAM Act.”
This should be Gina Ortiz Jones’ time. Not that it will be easy. She is a minority within a minority within a minority. She is also tough and she is outspoken. Like most in the military, she has served under Republican and Democratic presidents. She is not always bipartisan. She was dismissive of Beto O’Rourke and Will Hurd’s live-streamed trip from DC to Texas: “When bipartisanship means two dudes get in a car and help each other get elected, we’re all fucking screwed.”
Do not be dismissive of Gina Ortiz Jones https://ginaortizjones.com. Send her some support. She will be an extraordinary addition to Congress.
Expand the House majority. Win the Senate. Succeed in the Midwest. Look at my Notes. Google them. Think about who to give some money to.
WEST Notes so far:
Arizona: Mark Kelly for Senate
California:
CA 10 Josh Harder for reelection, 14rh closest Dem win in 2018
CA 21 TJ Cox for reelection, closest Dem win in 2018
CA 39 Gil Cisneros for reelection, 11th closest Dem win in 2018
CA 48 Henry Rouda for reelection, 27th closest Dem win in 2018
New Mexico:
NM 03 Xochitl Torres Small for reelection, 6th closest D win in 2018
Oklahoma:
OK 05 Kendra Horn for reelection, 3rd closest Dem win in 2018
Texas:
TX 07 Lizzie Fletcher for reelection, 15th closest Dem win in 2018
TX 32 Colin Alred for reelection, 24th closest Dem win in 2018
Utah:
UT 04 Ben McAdams for reelection, 2nd closest Dem win in 2018
Washington:
WA 08 Kim Schrier for reelection, 21st narrowest Dem win in 2018
