3 Progressive Candidates to Watch

Tahanie Aboushi in April 2021. [Reuters / Jonathan Drake]

By Samantha Grasso

In electoral politics, the work never stops.

While the 2020 election may feel like yesterday, races are heating up across the country. Here are three progressive candidates we’re keeping an eye on, as they attack from the left.

Tahanie Aboushi for Manhattan DA

Tahanie Aboushi is running in the Democratic primary for district attorney of Manhattan, joining a growing movement to elect progressive prosecutors. In her decade of practice as a civil rights attorney, she’s argued cases against the New York City Department of Education in defense of child victims of sexual abuse, and has challenged discriminatory practices in local police and fire departments. Aboushi’s campaign proposals include creating two independent units to investigate police and prosecutors for excessive force and abuse of power, and creating an early release program for older and health-compromised incarcerated people. She also says she wants to incarcerate fewer people in Manhattan by not trying crimes that result from inequality (she’s defined this as all Appendix A crimes, which “includes charges related to poverty, mental illness, substance use, or sex work”), and referring people to community resources instead.

Kina Collins for IL-07

A community organizer from Chicago, 30-year-old Kina Collins is challenging U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), an incumbent of 24 years, for the second time. Collins’ campaign emphasizes gun violence prevention and improving health care through monthly COVID-19 financial relief and Medicare for All. In 2018, Collins co-wrote Illinois’ Council on Women and Girls Act, and served as the council’s first chairperson. In 2019, she helped launch Brand New Council, a coalition of community groups that worked to endorse and elect progressive candidates in Chicago. She was also invited to work on President-elect Joe Biden’s gun violence transition task force.

[Odessa Kelly]

Odessa Kelly for TN-05

A former Nashville Metro Parks department worker of 14 years, Odessa Kelly is primarying Blue Dog Democrat U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), who has been in office for most of Kelly’s life. In 2016, she co-founded Stand Up Nashville, which has made local gains through leveraging community benefits agreements with companies looking to develop the city, requiring them to financially support the people and workers of Nashville, and by creating a training program to get people from underrepresented communities elected to Nashville Metro’s boards and commissions. Kelly also supports the Green New Deal; Medicare for All; ending for-profit prisons, detention centers, and cash bail; and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If elected, Kelly would become the first Black and openly gay woman in Congress.

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