This is the kind of Dem we need to win in red areas! Super populist FIGHTER for working people!

as GOP incumbent Evan Jenkins chose not to run and instead unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination to run for the Senate against Joe Manchin. Ojeda currently holds a small lead, but your contribution can help seal the deal. A win for Ojeda helps secure a sane Congress headed by Democrats and is a win for all of us, regardless of where we live. I grew up in this district and was there last weekend for the memorial service for one of my relatives. It did my heart good to see the Ojeda signs around my town! He has received endorsements this year from the United Mine Workers, National Education Association, Communication Workers of America, SEIU District 1199, American Federation of Government Employees, and the West Virginia AFL-CIO. If you can afford it, please help send Ojeda to Congress!

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/oje20180921-google?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7ZvwnIn-3QIVBb7ACh0toQSdEAAYASAAEgIMRPD_BwE

Maine the out of work paper mill workers have suffered, and in so much of my area they switched to Trump. Trump won up here. The Dems forgot how to be strong fighters for working people and how to CONNECT to them.

I hope the teachers, miners, and union people are working like hell for Ojeda.

Progressive fighters are what we need.

gnash my teeth and pull out my thinning hair.

It we do manage to get a Dem majority in the Senate in November - as I hope and pray that we will - we MUST do something in WV and "red" areas like it that will actually educate voters so that they understand how much they have voted AGAINST their own best interests and that things will only change for the better when they don't allow Fox News and their RW evangelical churches to do their thinking for them.

That takes consistent grassroots efforts and rebuilding state and local Dem networks - something that Howard Dean understood and began when he was DNC Chair, but that has been neglected again until recently. Grassroots efforts must continue all year, every year, even when there is NOT an important seat at issue.

And there MUST be something done about political activities of, by and in churches. This is where a LOT of RW organization goes on, literally from the cradle to the grave.

To Claim Brett Kavanaugh Affirming Voting, EpiPen Justifying Daughter Price Hiking, Neil Gorsuch Voting Loving --- Joe Manchin is the Best We Can Do in West Virginia....like "ever"....

This is what we need.

they agreed with his bigotry. if they didn't agree with it they are welcome to speak against him but they aren't because he still has huge approvals among them.

the number of articles I've seen which looked at how working-class PoC fared under Obama and now Trump.

And no, Trump supporters won't speak out against the bigotry,,ever. Tells me all I need to know.

He is a guy I would go into combat with.

I wish him the best of luck!

A bright part of my day is reading about all the veterans running for office.

It is a force of mindless anger, by definition directed against an amorphous "the establishment," though secondary victims are often targeted, such as immigrants for trumpsters. Populist leaders are threatening to destroy democracies around the planet. Hitler was one, and populilsm is raising its ugly, destructive head across Europe once again.

Populist fears and resentments can be harnessed by charismatic, usually authoritarian-sounding ("strong" ) leaders of virtually any ideology, and leaders using them to gain power can often turn out to be very bad. Not only do they not need to tell anything resembling the truth when feeding this negative force with populist rants, but truth, rationality, intellect, morality and temperance are virtually always obstructions the mob is turned on to destroy. (Trump.)

Btw, since this is a liberal forum, it's important to realize a large portion of any populist group will be people who combine a desire for public programs for themselves and theirs and social conservatism. Yup: social conservatives, the world's big troublemakers for other people. When you think about it, of course those aggressive hostiles will be drawn to populist movements, left or right depending on what's most important to them. Trump's leading a right-wing populist movement, and Sanders was leading a combination left-wing movement that included a strong populist element, hoping to draw more voters away from Trump.

So, maybe this guy's not really a "super populist"? If true, that would not be a good thing.

what kind of positivity. A populism that is fundamentally about people from the middle class on down needing to come together, rather than ginning up violence and hatred is a positive way to use people's dissatisfaction and righteous frustration. Getting people to come out for the primaries and to themselves run in them as agents of change is a good way to use that frustration, and isn't about centering a charismatic demagogue of a leader.

Of course on the flip-side it can be ugly, and more often than not is.

It's plain old democracy, not a dangerously negative manifestation.

Populism is a real thing with real meaning. The word's frequently misused, often ignorantly but even more often NOT innocently. If you intended to inflame and control populist anger against the wealthy "establishment" for the express purpose of using it to defeat the Democrats who were threatening to tax great wealth out of existence, would you want people to know what populism was? The Koch alliance certainly didn't when they hired agents to create the Tea Party movement by harnessing and redirecting resentment against the kind of wealthy people who'd taken over the Republican Party.

And yes, good people can lead those in the thrall of populist angers in the right direction, but they seldom are able to because competing leaders who fan the flames of resentment are far more appealing to those who are drawn to negative populist messages. We're talking about the mobs who flock to burn barns, not the peaceable people who come together to build new barns. Very different phenomena.

works for THE PEOPLE and not the rich and powerful. This man is fighting for the interests of the poor and working class.

Good for him!!

the planet right now. It's a real thing, not just a slogan that can be taken any way a person wants. Or any way leaders instruct.

Hitler's was a populist movement that drew supporters from both the left and the right. Once he got power, he took his movement completely hard right and had a socialist coleader executed, along with any others who objected. And it was too late for those who'd made the horrible mistake of empowering him to do anything about it.

These are dangerous days, and it's especially important now to understand that our ability to direct political power through our votes is being targeted by people whose goals may not always be what they claim. Also, one of my problems with Sanders is that I believe he's weak and that any populist movement he put together might end up falling into bad hands and used to consolidate right wing authoritarian power by defeating Democrats. Hardly an unforeseeable situation.

and not just writing him off for being in a red state or whatever.

This is the type of candidate and message we need

"I'll fight you in the street".

Thank you Michael Moore for introducing him to those outside of WV.

WOW..

WV would be well served by this man!

(I've talked to him)

Doesn't bother me, but some folks here insist that ANY Trip voter must be attacked as a racist, sexist bible-thumper.

https://www.facebook.com/motherjones/videos/richard-ojeda-who-voted-for-trump-in-2016-slams-the-president/10155767412652144/

and this explains why he voted for Trump:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/05/richard-ojeda-slams-trump/#1

Best of luck to West Virginia Democrats!

Kyle Kulinski I could do without. He sounds like he took elocution lessons from Cenk Uygur. His intonation is identical (just a little angrier, like a Fox Noise commentator). Kulinski voted for Jill Stein in 2016, by his own proud admission, and openly despises Hillary. Not the sort of commentator whose endorsement I'd actively be seeking, although I wouldn't turn it down, either.

Listening to him is like descending into a well of stupid so I avoid him best I can.

Ojeda, on the other hand, is an interesting candidate, I'll be following him closely.

And no mater from what end of the spectrum, even if it's ours.

I submitted my absentee ballot last night and voted for him (also Janet Mills for gov). Jared currently represents my district of Lewiston in the Maine House. I've met him on a few occasions. He seems like a great guy.

I had not heard that he had been attacked only 2 years ago

Historically, that is not even close to the reflection of populism. I trust very few people who label themselves as populists. It can be a great word for campaigning. It's pretty void of any meaning.