From left, Representative Brenda Lawrence, Representative Raul Grijalva, Representative Keith Ellison, and Representative Barbara Lee, of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.(AP Photo / Bill Clark)
A massive people’s uprising is driving the opposition to President Trump. In Congress, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is an emerging center of that resistance.
Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the CPC. Its first and founding director was an independent socialist from Vermont named Bernie Sanders. Now, co-chaired by Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), the CPC is the largest Democratic House caucus, with 73 dues-paying members. Each election in recent years has provided it with dynamic new leaders—Wisconsin’s Mark Pocan, New York’s Yvette Clarke, Pennsylvania’s Matthew Cartwright, and now Washington’s Pramila Jayapal and Mayland’s Jamie B. Raskin.
Last weekend more than 30 of those members joined with activists from across the progressive landscape to share ideas and plot strategy at the annual summit of Progressive Congress. CPC members individually are already mobilizing against Trump. The challenge is whether the CPC can collectively begin to define the forward-looking agenda of the resistance.
Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.
Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.