Progressive Voters Guide

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden has a long career in public service, most notably serving as Vice President alongside President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2016. Prior to that , Biden served six consecutive terms in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009. Biden is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, which only three others have received. In 1972, two weeks after his election to his first term in the Senate, his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. In 2013, Biden also lost his eldest son to brain cancer.

Joe Biden speaks frequently about tragedy and loss as a way to communicate that he understands the hardships everyday Americans face, particularly when it comes to dealing with the healthcare system. One of his signature accomplishments was getting the Affordable Care Act passed, which helped expand health insurance for millions of Americans and guaranteed no one could be discriminated against for having a preexisting condition. Biden believes in building on the success of the Affordable Care Act - and has advocated for adding a public option, with the goal of universal coverage for all Americans, regardless of income.

Biden also came into office as Vice President during the depths of the Great Recession. He played a key role in planning the recovery effort, which pulled the American economy back from the brink and led to more than a decade of job growth. Biden’s decades of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also informed his more recent accomplishments on the world stage, including helping the U.S. join the Paris Climate Agreement, securing the Iran Nuclear Deal, and building international alliances.

Biden has received his fair share of criticism. He sponsored the 1994 crime bill, which is blamed for accelerating mass incarceration rates of Black and Brown Americans. Biden also supported the Hyde Amendment, a provision barring the use of federal funds for abortion. In both cases, Biden’s views evolved. In the past few years, he’s repudiated the crime bill and supported legislation to end the death penalty and reverse mass incarceration. Biden has also pledged to eliminate the Hyde amendment as part of his larger platform of expanding health care to all Americans.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden’s platform was already progressive. When it was clear he was going to win the primary, Biden pulled together top progressive leaders from across the political spectrum, from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to John Kerry and Eric Holder. These committees were tasked with building a platform to address the greatest challenges of our time, including health care, criminal justice reform, and climate change.

Biden believes economic recovery cannot occur until the pandemic is under control, which he believes requires federal support for testing, distributing protective equipment, and providing federal aid to states and the unemployed. To kickstart the economy, Biden proposes mobilizing manufacturing, infrastructure spending, clean energy projects, funding and training for caregivers and educators, and fighting systemic racism through targeted investment.

At George Floyd’s funeral, Biden called on Congress to pass the House’s wide-ranging police reform bill, written in the wake of the ongoing, historic marches demanding racial justice all around the country. Joe Biden is also committed to passing the bill named in honor of John Lewis to enshrine the sacred right to vote. Finally, Biden supports the end of the Senate filibuster in order to pass progressive legislation and end decades of Republican obstruction to pass laws that enjoy broad support among Americans, including universal background checks for firearms.

Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate and Vice Presidential candidate. Harris is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. Her background is in law. She served as the San Francisco District Attorney from 2004 to 2011 and Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2016. She has represented the state of California in the U.S. Senate since 2017. Harris is well known for confronting Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings over Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford’s serious allegations of sexual assault against him. Harris’s views are progressive; especially on health care. She has co-sponsored bills that would expand Medicare to cover all Americans.

Joe Biden is running against Republican incumbent Donald J. Trump. Trump has tried repeatedly to take away the rights of immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, women, and tribes. He’s separated families at the border and put children in cages. He’s denied the reality of the climate crisis and repeatedly ignored the science that links it to the record setting fires, storms and floods devastating peoples’ lives. . Trump cheered GOP legislation like the 2017 tax bill, which burdened families and rewarded the rich and supported GOP efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act and the protections it provides for Americans with pre-existing conditions.

Trump’s presidency has been characterized by unprecedented levels of corruption with a record number of staff, cabinet members and campaign staff indicted and convicted. His failure to lead during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left hundreds of thousands of Americans dead and the economy in shambles. Trump even admitted on tape that he knew about the severity of the virus as early as February and deliberately withheld that information from the public. Trump is only the third president ever to be impeached by Congress. There are active criminal investigations against his businesses and his family. Openly, Trump seeks to undermine the bedrock principles of democracy by obstructing justice, attacking peaceful protesters, and using the powers of his office to prevent Americans from voting.

Joe Biden is the most progressive choice in the race for president.

Kamala Harris is the Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States. She was born in Oakland, California to immigrant parents. Her mother was a cancer researcher from India and her father is an economist from Jamaica. Senator Harris is the first Black woman and South Asian American of any gender to be nominated for Vice President of the United States by a major party.

Harris went to public schools, attended Howard University, and returned to San Francisco for law school. She began her law career in 1990 working in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office specializing in advocating for child victims of sexual assault. She then moved to the Deputy District Attorney’s office prosecuting criminal cases.

In 2003, she was the first woman to be elected District Attorney in San Francisco’s history. Harris fought against racial profiling as a driver of mass incarceration. She championed re-entry programs for youth offenders. As Attorney General, Harris also championed the Open Justice program, which provided public access to crime statistics, including use of force incidents by the police. She also expressed interest in redirecting police funds to social programs. Overall, prison incarceration rates in California dropped significantly during her six years as Attorney General.

In 2016, Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. She captured national attention right away for her questioning of U.S. Attorney General candidate Jeff Sessions on issues related to foreign interference in the 2016 election. In 2018, Harris again captivated the nation in her questioning of Brett Kavanaugh, who was under scrutiny for sexual assault and political corruption. Her voting record in the Senate is progressive. She repeatedly co-sponsored bills to protect human rights. She also voted against the confirmation of the majority of the Trump Administration’s extreme rightwing candidates for office, including Betsy DeVos. Harris spoke out passionately against Republican efforts to block evidence from being considered in President Trump’s trial and ultimately voted to impeach him. She also vocally opposed the 2017 GOP Tax Bill, a massive tax giveaway to the richest one percent of Americans.

Kamala Harris’s opponent is Vice President Mike Pence. After finishing law school, Pence jumped into politics with two unsuccessful runs for Congress. His loss in 1990 is partially attributed to his embezzlement of campaign funds, which was not illegal at the time. He then built his career as a rightwing radio and television personality in Indiana. A decade later, he finally won an election for Congress and built a record as an enemy of reproductive rights, sensible firearm regulations, social programs for impoverished Americans, and protections for LGBTQ+ citizens. He was elected governor of Indiana in 2013. He refused federal funding for pre-Kindergarten programs, which earned him significant criticism. Pence then used his office to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ+ citizens. His bigotry and lack of leadership were so severe that Pence allowed one of the worst HIV outbreaks in the country to happen in Indiana under his watch.

In 2016, Presidential candidate Donald Trump chose Pence as his running mate. Trump chose Pence on the recommendation of Paul Manafort, who now serves jail time for lying to the FBI about his relationship between Russian military intelligence and the Trump campaign. Even though Pence serves as President of the Senate, he’s been completely absent in desperately needed negotiations over a second round of economic relief during the pandemic. He has supported Republicans in their near unanimous vote against full extended unemployment insurance, stimulus checks, support for health care systems, protective gear and testing for frontline workers, mail-in election funding, funding for state budget shortages to prevent layoffs, and new small business loans.

Kamala Harris is the most progressive choice in this race.

Senator Gary Peters was first elected to the United States Senate in 2015 and was the only non-incumbent Democrat to win a Senate election in 2014. Before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, he was a financial advisor and part of the Navy Reserves. He also served in the Michigan State Senate from 1995-2002, the Michigan Lottery Commission from 2003-2007, and the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009-2015.

While Peters has been in office, the biggest issues he’s fought for include veterans’ health and safety, lowering prescription drug costs, protecting the Great Lakes, fighting for small businesses, keeping the government transparent with the people, and fighting against the 1% by supporting movements like Occupy Wall Street. He’s also well known for working across the aisle effectively.

Peters has also been a champion for reproductive health throughout his political career. He fought for the Affordable Care Act, expanding healthcare including no co-pays for contraceptives, and has defended it ever since. He also opposed the 2013 “Rape Insurance” bill that passed in Michigan, and is a strong ally for reproductive rights.

Most recently he filed an investigation into efforts to cripple the United States Postal Service and expressed concerns about delayed absentee ballots and other important packages like medications, bill payments, and Social Security checks.

Peters, a veteran and an expert in national security, serves as the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, as well as the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gary Peters is a man of dignity who takes human rights very seriously. In his time in office as a Congressman and a Senator he’s voted for the Recovery Act, the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the DREAM Act, all of which have passed and have made life in the United States better for everyone.

Sen. Peters has been endorsed by six of our partner organizations fighting for a Michigan where everyone thrives. This includes Michigan Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Clean Water Action, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, Between the Lines, and BlackPAC.

Sen. Peters is facing a challenge from John James, who in a previous campaign had a swastika in his political ad and said he supported the “Trump agenda 2000 percent.”

We highly recommend re-electing Sen. Gary Peters, who is the most progressive choice in this race.


Learn more here: https://petersformichigan.com/