Progressives Advance in May 17 Primaries, and Other Updates

Noncorporate Candidate updates for the May 17th primaries (ID, KY, NC, OR, PA) and other national candidate updates.

May 17, 2022 Primary Updates for Noncorporate Candidates

On May 17th, 5 states held their 2022 primary elections: Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. There is some hopeful news for noncorporate progressives.

John Fetterman (PA-D) and Charles Booker (KY-D), both running for U.S. Senate, advanced to the 2022 General Election. The potential for a strong Democratic Senate increases. And not just because they are Democrats. They are noncorporate progressive Democrats.

Hank Linderman (KY-02) and Conor Halbleib (KY-05) also advanced to the 2022 General Election. Both are noncorporate Democrats.

Chris Deluzio (PA-17) also advanced to the General Election. Summer Lee (PA-12) is in a tight race that has not yet been called. Both are noncorporate Democrats.

In North Carolina, Cheri Beasley (D) advances in the race for U.S. Senate and Barbara Gaskins (D) advances in the CD-03 race. Charles Graham (D) holds a slight lead in CD-07, but that race hasn’t yet been called. All are noncorporate candidates.

In Oregon, noncorporate, progressive Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner (OR-05) maintains a healthy lead over corporate-backed Democratic incumbent Kurt Schrader. But the race has not yet been called.

Idaho? Zip. Not a single noncorporate candidate ran for national office in that state.

Updates for June Primaries and the National Noncorporate Candidate Directory

“Noncorporate Candidates in the June 2022 Midterm Primaries” has a lot of new updates. Click the blue link to check them out.

Likewise, the master document “2022 Noncorporate National Candidates Nationwide Directory” has a lot of new updates. (It’s behind a paywall, and is meant for professional politicos and political junkies.)

Identifying and verifying noncorporate candidates is a job that’s never done! Loosely, here’s how I go about it:

• Noncorporate candidates covered by progressive media

• Green candidates

• Democratic and Independent candidates

• Republican and Libertarian candidates

• Rinse and repeat

In previous years, I focused on progressive noncorporate political candidates. This year, I focus on a single criterion: whether or not a candidate accepts or rejects corporate campaign contributions. That is, I search for unbought, unbossed, noncorporate candidates.

I won’t lie to you. It is jarring to add far-right Republican candidates to the directory. However, it’s a valuable exercise in objectivity. We all need more objectivity, when it comes to politics.

MY ADVICE: Emotionally detach, when it comes to politics. Always keep your critical-thinking-cap ON, when it comes to politics. Do not make (famously bad) “emotional decisions,” when it comes to voting for political candidates.

Stay strong!

Be a voter, especially in PRIMARY elections.

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