NO MORE PATIENCE FOR WEAK ALLIES

Early voting in Maryland’s upcoming primary begins on July 7 – and July 19 is the last day to vote!

With the election just days away, I want to share why I’m voting against an incumbent running as a champion of gun violence prevention and abortion rights. My feminist political litmus test is how a candidate will lead on those two issues, which I consider the most fundamental women’s rights – to live a life we choose and keep all of our children safe. That’s why I’m supporting Max Socol for State Senate in District 18, who’s challenging the long-time incumbent, Jeff Waldstreicher, a conservative Democrat with a record of inaction.

I've been a gun violence prevention activist since 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in America’s deadliest school shooting in 2012. As someone devoted to this issue for 10 years, I regularly hear: “If nothing changed after Sandy Hook, it never will.” This cynical refrain is inevitable after every major national gun violence event. We heard it again after a white supremacist murdered 10 people in Buffalo, followed by America’s second deadliest school shooting, in Uvalde, Texas. I understand why people feel helpless, but I reject this hopeless shrug.

To quote Cory Booker, I believe gun violence is the civil rights issue of our time. As a mother, I see gun violence as, among other things, a reproductive health and racial justice issue – because other women’s children don’t have the same right to life as my white kids. As someone who had an abortion at 20, I believe the ability to decide when to have children is a fundamental freedom for anyone with a womb. I consider these two issues as foundational. What can we build if we can’t stand strong on those basic things?

IF YOU DON’T LOOK AWAY, THERE’S NO CHOICE BUT TO FIGHT.

Over the past decade, our struggle to end to gun violence has been a perpetual frustration of one step forward, two steps back. Just recently, on June 23, the Supreme Court issued a disastrous ruling declaring – for the first time – an individual right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, the biggest expansion of gun rights in a decade. Two days later, President Biden – the strongest ally the gun violence prevention movement has ever had in the White House, signed into law the first significant national gun safety legislation in three decades. A devastating loss followed by a hard-fought win.

When I started volunteering in 2013, I learned that 86 people died by guns every day in the US. Every year, that number ticked up. At latest count, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns daily. Like many, I’m angry that – despite the best efforts of many good people – more lives are taken by guns every day. But the cynics are wrong – both that nothing has changed and that nothing will. While overall gun deaths haven’t declined, that doesn’t mean nothing has changed.

In fact, I’d argue that everything changed after Sandy Hook – and again after Charleston and Pulse and Las Vegas/Sutherland Springs and Parkland and Dayton/El Paso. Each event brought new people into the movement. The largest surge after Sandy Hook was Parkland, when advocates like me slept four hours a night for months building a grassroots operation that could accommodate everyone who wanted to help. Over the past decade, we’ve built infrastructure for long-term change, to hold every new person joining our cause and keep going until we end gun violence. The gun lobby had a four-decade head start, but our movement has grown quickly, strengthening every time our nation’s attention turns toward this issue, becoming more and more undeniable. Today’s movement is ready for the latest influx. 

WE HAVE THE POWER, WE JUST NEED TO USE IT.

 After Sandy Hook, most Americans assumed change on a national level was inevitable. Instead, some of the only progress made that year was Maryland’s Firearms Safety Act, which strengthened state law but left many loopholes. In the 10 years since, I’ve worked with other activists and legislative champions to build on that foundation, advocating in Annapolis for the most basic gun safety laws – requiring a background check on every gun sale, removing illegally possessed guns from convicted domestic abusers, and keeping guns away from those who are a danger to themselves or others – things most people assumed were already in place. Honestly, it’s baffling we had to fight for any of it – and that, despite a Democratic supermajority presumed friendly to gun safety legislation, we faced strong opposition, legislation was weakened and took years to pass. I’ve learned that not every legislator who claims to support the cause can be counted on in this fight. 

We’re at another tipping point right now – as we were after Sandy Hook and after Parkland, where support for the gun violence prevention movement is surging. We have more volunteers than ever and politicians are making promises again. But to realize the potential for real change on this issue, there’s something we need to overcome – legislators who say they care and do nothing.

In Maryland, we need to look at legislators like my state senator, Jeff Waldstreicher, vice-chair of a powerful committee, who has been in office for 15 years and is running for re-election on the issue of gun violence. He’s not the champion he claims to be. As we learned watching live-streamed committee hearings, thanks to Covid, he often stands with Republicans, voting for amendments to weaken good bills, before he votes with Democrats to pass it. In a cynical ploy, Waldstreicher maintains a progressive voting record, while playing an obstructionist role blocking or weakening progressive legislation.

 For example, with a bill requiring background checks on long guns, the law that ultimately passed only requires checks on sales; transfers were excluded from the final legislation. Similarly, he supported amendments to weaken police reform efforts after George Floyd’s death. At a local Black Lives Matter rally at the time, he was the only D18 rep not present. A quick Twitter search shows no results from his account for the name “George Floyd.” Police violence is gun violence – we can’t make progress without confronting our history of racist policing – but it’s not evident that’s clear to him. 

THIS IS ABOUT SAVING LIVES – IT’S URGENT.

 In recent years, Sen. Waldstreicher introduced a few minor gun bills, all of which went nowhere – a state repeal of the disastrous Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (slated for a hearing this year that was inexplicably canceled and never rescheduled) and another bill to keep guns out of polling places (which languished in his committee for two years). Introducing legislation and then not fighting for it makes you seem like an ally but helps no one. People are dying while the Maryland Senate strolls toward mediocrity. It’s unacceptable to me for my elected representative to be a part of that inaction. Where’s the funding for violence interruption programs? Where’s the urgency to implement evidence-based solutions? Where’s the leadership our state has demonstrated in the past?

 Since Waldstreicher can’t run for re-election on his failed record on gun safety, he has instead appropriated others’ successes by claiming credit for the work of women serving alongside him. In a campaign letter to a constituent, he wrote that he was “leading the charge to ban ghost guns.” He’s doing no such thing. Being on the committee doesn’t mean he’s “leading” anything. He even tried to convince me of the same thing – lying straight to my face, telling me in a conversation before the start of the 2022 session (and separately, to another Moms Demand Action volunteer) that he was going to be the sponsor of ghost gun legislation (as if I wouldn’t know!). Even if we agreed on everything, I can’t support someone I can’t trust (unfortunately, there are many examples to show he’s not trustworthy - here and here and here and here and more).

 To set the record straight: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Lesley Lopez have been championing legislation to prohibit ghost guns for years. They deserve our gratitude for their hard work ushering this complicated legislation through the General Assembly. Can Senator Waldstreicher point to any action he took to get this legislation through the Senate? I testified at the Senate hearing and listened to every word. He didn’t even speak. In fact, I’ve attended hearings for years and could count on one hand how often he’s spoken. That’s not leadership – it’s another mediocre white man skating by, taking credit for women’s work, and it isn’t what we need in Annapolis. 

 Equally troubling, Waldstreicher has repeatedly used the phrase “cracking down on gun violence.” That’s not how someone who cares about social justice thinks about gun violence. It’s the language of someone who voted with Republicans in favor of Governor Hogan’s crime bill, legislation full of failed ideas of criminalization rather than prevention. It’s the language of a champion for the regressive, anti-reform Fraternal Order of Police. That he was the only Montgomery County rep endorsed by the FOP in 2018 shows how disconnected he is from his community. Gun violence is a public health epidemic arising from decades of structural racism, enabled by a toxic gun culture that fights against basic regulations, like background checks. “Cracking down” on those impacted doesn’t solve anything. 

WE NEED TO BE BOLDER IN WHAT WE’RE ASKING FOR.

 Personally, I don’t care if a politician shows up at private events to hold court on how supportive they are. I want to hear what they believe – and will fight for – loudly and publicly. And then see them do the work. Commonsense, research-driven solutions to this public health epidemic exist, but legislation to support them continues to be underfunded and unambitious. It’s time to stop settling for bills watered down by moderate politicians, especially those elected by some of our state’s most progressive voters. We expect difficult conversations with legislators from more conservative parts of the state, but to be repeatedly disappointed by a legislator representing Montgomery County? Residents of Kensington, Silver Spring and Chevy Chase shouldn’t have to convince our senator to stand strong on an issue as fundamental as keeping our families safe from gun violence. 

On issue after issue, Waldstreicher has failed to show his district 18 constituents that he shares our values or will fight for them. I want to be represented by someone willing to go to the mat on what’s important, which is why his primary challenger has my support. Max Socol is a community organizer and true progressive who has been equally frustrated by slow progress on issues like gun violence. As the General Assembly continues to engage with these issues, our community would be better served by someone who was a co-founder of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, then a slippery politician with lots of excuses for why nothing can be done. Max understands that to make real progress on a community-driven vision of public safety, we need to reform our criminal justice system and listen to the communities most impacted by violence. Like me, he doesn’t accept the excuses for inaction that we hear from too many Democratic leaders.

Max’s introduction to politics was through Rev. William Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign, an heir to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His campaign isn’t just about getting elected – they are building a grassroots coalition around issues from gun violence to abortion. He’s also strong on other issues critical to our most vulnerable neighbors – like renters’ rights, affordable housing, food security, environmental racism and more. Which is why people are really responding to his campaign. His supporters have made more than 65,000 voter contact attempts, knocking on over 40,000 doors in the district. They’ve even been competitive in fundraising, raising nearly $200,000 from over a thousand donors – critical against one of the biggest fundraisers in state politics – without taking money from special interests like the lobbyists and big developers who support the incumbent.

I’ve spoken more about gun violence here because that’s my direct experience, but on another issue of “supreme” importance to me, I know Max will fight like hell. As a former abortion clinic escort, he understands that a woman’s right to choose is as personal and fundamental as it gets. On the other hand, I was disturbed to learn that Sen. Waldstreicher was among those responsible for a failed effort to enshrine abortion rights into our state constitution ahead of the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade. Citing Waldstreicher’s “failure to lead,” Pro-Choice Maryland has endorsed Max’s campaign. They know this is no time for weak allies.

LIVES ARE ON THE LINE & I’M DONE BEING PATIENT.

 While states giving more rights to guns than women are critical election battlegrounds, even those of us in the bluest part of blue Maryland have work to do to elect real champions. We don’t just need to defeat pro-gun and pro-life extremists, we need to vote out politicians who undermine our work and later ask to pose with us for a picture (or don’t ask, just take photos – including at a vigil - and use them for political gain).

 I’m done standing by politicians who aren’t standing strong when our children’s lives and their future are on the line. If we continue to settle for incumbents like Jeff Waldstreicher who have nothing to show for their time in office, nothing will change. It’s time to demand more and elect progressive champions – not politicians offering weak-kneed, tepid support, but those who will fight alongside activists like me for real change. I know Max will fight for my values, including gun violence prevention and a woman’s right to choose. In this election, we need to be bold if we want real change.

 There’s one thing the “nothing will change” cynics are right about: the change we’ve seen, it’s not enough and it’s happening too slowly. We have to do better. We have to stop being patient. When it takes five years to pass the most modest reforms, we’re failing. We’re failing our children. We’re failing the most vulnerable, impacted communities, where families are caught in a cycle of violence, losing person after person. Lives are on the line – our children’s lives. On their behalf, we're asking for too little and getting even less.

To support Max’s campaign, you can donate to my fundraiser here. I’ve already matched almost $800 in donations (including one from Shannon Watts, who’s not feeling very patient either!) and I’m only $425 from reaching my goal!

Disclaimer: I write this in my personal capacity and not to reflect the views of any organization.