If the Bernie Sanders movement is trying to take down the Democratic political establishment, there’s probably no better place to start than Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
Even before Wasserman Schultz was accused of trying to rig the primary process for Hillary Clinton, her perch atop the party apparatus and failure to meet some liberal purity tests made her a target of some on the left.
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Now, Wasserman Schultz is facing her first real primary fight since she was elected to Congress from Florida in 2004. Her challenger is Tim Canova, a progressive law professor fueled by the Sanders movement. It’s a longshot, but Canova has some key actors from the Sanders coalition behind him.
Sanders has long called for a “political revolution” that would sweep ideological allies into office up and down the ballot, and Canova is one of handful of congressional candidates who support the presidential candidate and are running on a similar platform.
“We are part of the same movement,” Canova said of Sanders.
The Vermont senator’s former Florida campaign director, Zack Exley, left the presidential race the day after the state’s primary last month to work on Canova’s campaign, which kicked off with a Q&A on a pro-Sanders Reddit channel. In 2011, Sanders appointed Canova to a Senate advisory panel on the Federal Reserve.
A political neophyte, Canova has raised more than $657,000 so far this year — an astronomical sum for a non-incumbent. Almost all of it came from small online donations, thanks to help from the same digital consulting firm behind Sanders’ money machine, Revolution Messaging.
Wasserman Schultz managed to outraise her challenger by about $60,000 in the first quarter, but Canova supporters note he received more individual contributions.
“I’ve probably never worked a congressional race with this much interest,” said Revolution Messaging strategist Mike Nellis, who is working with the Canova campaign.
The dynamic has led many to view the race in Florida’s 23rd congressional district as a proxy fight between Sanders and the DNC, which his campaign sued in federal court and openly accuses of trying to derail his candidacy.
Both congressional candidates have received most of their money from out of state, and both are drawing on nationalized — but very different — support bases. And Sanders supporters from across the country have donated or offered to volunteer for Canova.
Canova doesn’t back away from the support, but says his campaign is about a lot more than presidential politics or picking a bone with Wasserman Schultz. “People are unhappy with her leadership of the DNC and they express that in many ways. They sign petitions, they protest, and they also donate to her challenger,” Canova said, adding his main issue is with the representative’s record.
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Sanders has so far made few steps to expand his political revolution beyond the top of the ticket.
On Wednesday, his campaign deployed their powerful email fundraising list for the first time to support three candidates who have endorsed the Vermont senator, New York’s Zephyr Teachout, Washington’s Pramila Jayapal and Nevada’s Lucy Flores. While aides would not comment on whether he will help Canova, the Sanders campaign is expected ramp up its help for candidates down-ballot.
Howie Klein, a longtime critic of Democratic congressional leaders who runs the Blue America PAC, said supporting candidates like Canova is the next organic phase of the Sanders movement.
“Bernie has made it real clear that the revolution isn’t about getting him in the White House,” he said. “It’s about galvanizing and inspiring a whole generation of people, and many generations of people, to be a part of a mass movement to make real changes to the status quo.”
Blue America has a project called “Bernie Congress” aimed at bolstering campaigns from candidates who back Sanders and meet a high ideological threshold.
Wasserman Schultz has found herself on the wrong side the left on a range of fronts, from her alleged softness on the payday lending industry, to her opposition of medical marijuana, to her perceived reluctance to back President Obama’s Iran deal, to her support for so-called fast-track trade authority opposed by critics of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Comments she made in January on abortion led a large progressive organization to call for Wasserman Schultz’ resignation.









