Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Pressley's Upset Another Win for Fresh Democratic Voices
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 7 years ago on
September 5, 2018

Share

BOSTON — Ayanna Pressley is all but assured of becoming the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, the latest example of the Democratic Party’s embrace of diversity and liberal politics as the recipe for success in the Trump era.

“This is a disruptive candidacy, a grassroots coalition. It is broad and diverse and deep. People of every walk of life.” — Ayanna Pressley, Boston City Councilor
The 44-year-old’s upset victory against longtime Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano in Tuesday’s primary sets the stage for Pressley to represent an area once served by Tip O’Neill and John F. Kennedy. Her win comes at the tail end of a primary season in which black politicians have made a series of advances.
In nearby Connecticut, Jahana Hayes is on track to become that state’s first black woman to win a congressional seat if she prevails in November. And black politicians in three states — Florida, Georgia and Maryland — have won the Democratic nomination for governor, a historic turn for a country that has elected just two black governors in U.S. history.
Greeting voters at a Boston polling station, Pressley spoke of “the ground shifting beneath our feet and the wind at our backs.”
“This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy,” she told reporters. “This is a disruptive candidacy, a grassroots coalition. It is broad and diverse and deep. People of every walk of life.”

Liberal Credentials Smoothed Her Path to Victory

For Pressley, as with many other ascendant candidates of color, unabashedly liberal credentials smoothed her path to victory in the primary. No Republicans were running, so only a write-in campaign in November could possibly stand between her and Washington.

“We have to be disruptive in our democracy and our policymaking and how we run and win elections.” — Ayanna Pressley, Boston City Councilor
She was endorsed by fellow congressional upstart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who knocked off veteran Rep. Joe Crowley of New York in June. Pressley backs Medicare-for-all, the single-payer health care proposal, which helped her garner backing from Our Revolution, the offshoot of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
Pressley called for defunding the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, which helped her draw support from Massachusetts’ popular attorney general, Maura Healey, who’s gained a national following for repeatedly suing President Donald Trump in an attempt to block his policies on immigration, gun control and other issues.
“We have to be disruptive in our democracy and our policymaking and how we run and win elections,” she said in an interview this summer with The Associated Press, adding that Ocasio-Cortez’s victory challenged “narratives about who has a right to run and when, and who can win” in American politics.
“My mother did not raise me to ask for permission to lead,” she added.

Growing Cries Within the Democratic Party

Pressley tapped into growing cries within the Democratic Party for newer, more diverse leadership. She and Ocasio-Cortez both defeated older, white congressmen who were reliable liberal votes, but who didn’t look like many voters in their districts.
“With so much at stake in the era of Trump, tonight’s results make clear what Ayanna Pressley knew when she boldly launched her campaign against a ten-term incumbent: Change in the country and Congress can’t wait,” said Jim Dean, chair of the liberal group Democracy for America.
The district she’s competing in includes a wide swath of Boston and about half of Cambridge as well as portions of neighboring Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, Somerville and Milton. It includes both Cambridge’s Kendall Square — development there is booming — and the neighborhood of Roxbury, the center of Boston’s traditionally black community.
Pressley has bristled at the notion that race was a defining issue in her campaign.
“I have been really furious about the constant charges being lobbed against me about identity politics that, by the way, are only lobbed against women and candidates of color,” she said in one debate. “I happen to be black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both, but that is not the totality of my identity.”
Massachusetts’ last Democratic primary upset came in 2014, when Seth Moulton defeated Rep. John Tierney in the state’s 6th Congressional District.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

DON'T MISS

UnitedHealth Spent $1.7 Million on Executive Security in 2024, Filing Shows

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

DON'T MISS

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

DON'T MISS

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

DON'T MISS

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

DON'T MISS

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

DON'T MISS

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

DON'T MISS

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

UP NEXT

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

UP NEXT

Chargers in Need of Help at Wide Receiver and Tight End in the NFL Draft

UP NEXT

Magic Happens When Kids and Adults Learn to Swim. Tragedy Can Strike if They Don’t.

UP NEXT

Humanoid Robots Run a Chinese Half-Marathon Alongside Human Competitors

UP NEXT

Anti-Trump Protesters Turn Out to Rallies Across Country

UP NEXT

250 Years After America Went to War for Independence, a Divided Nation Battles Over Its Legacy

UP NEXT

Greg Cronin Fired as Coach of Anaheim Ducks After 2 Seasons

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill More Than 90 People in 48 Hours, Palestinians Say

UP NEXT

US and Iran Advance Nuclear Talks to Expert Level After Rome Meeting

UP NEXT

Putin Announces an Easter Ceasefire as Russia and Ukraine Swap Hundreds of POWs

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

2 hours ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

3 hours ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

3 hours ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

3 hours ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

3 hours ago

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

3 hours ago

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

4 hours ago

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

4 hours ago

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

4 hours ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

5 hours ago

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Paul Atkins, who previously served as a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member from 2002 to 2008 and wa...

44 minutes ago

CEO of Patomak Global Partners Paul Atkins takes part in a strategic and policy CEO discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Eisenhower Execution Office Building in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo)
44 minutes ago

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

The corporate logo of the UnitedHealth Group appears on the side of one of their office buildings in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April 13, 2020. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
1 hour ago

UnitedHealth Spent $1.7 Million on Executive Security in 2024, Filing Shows

2 hours ago

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

Pilar Rose, 51, formerly of Fresno, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstructing an IRS audit, agreeing to forfeit her mansion and BMW after falsifying financial records to evade taxes and secure fraudulent loans. (Zillow)
2 hours ago

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

Nathaniel Ray Diaz, 21, of Greenfield, is a California state prisoner who has been indicted on federal charges on Monday, April 21, 2025, for allegedly directing a minor to send sexually explicit images while serving time for previous offenses against the same child. (Shutterstock)
3 hours ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a news conference about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest autism survey in Washington, April 16, 2025. In his first attempt to significantly change the nation’s food supply, Kennedy will direct food manufacturers to phase out eight petroleum-based food dyes that are found in hundreds of thousands of grocery-store staples, the department said on Monday, April 21. (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times)
3 hours ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

3 hours ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

President Donald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
3 hours ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend