美国国家公共电台 NPR As More Democrats Embrace 'Progressive' Label, It May Not Mean What It Used To

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Here's a trend. Far more Democrats¹ are describing themselves as progressive these days than they did four years ago. There are strategic reasons candidates are embracing this label. But one major reason, as NPR's Asma Khalid reports, could be that the word is flexible. It can mean different things in different states.

ASMA KHALID, BYLINE²: Tony Evers is not a fiery³ liberal demanding free college for all. He's a soft-spoken bureaucrat⁴, a former teacher and school administrator⁵ now running for governor in Wisconsin trying to prevent the Republican Scott Walker from winning a third term. Evers offers talks a lot about improving basic public services.

TONY EVERS: The people of Wisconsin - they care whether their roads are safe. They care whether they have a good education system. They care about having access to affordable⁶ health care. That is progressivism for me.

KHALID: Evers has a habit of calling himself a progressive. It's even in his Twitter bio.

EVERS: Progressivism means to me solving problems that people have. It's not a Republican issue. It's not a Democratic issue.

KHALID: But Evers was never the most liberal candidate in the Wisconsin primary. And at a recent rally he had with Bernie Sanders, some Democrats in the crowd, like Dylan Fairweather, were not exactly sure if they would put Sanders and Evers in the same bucket.

DYLAN FAIRWEATHER: I don't know if I would call him a progressive. I guess, like, if he's going to call himself that, then, like, go ahead. Do your thing.

KHALID: What Evers is trying to do is tap into a distinct Wisconsin version of progressive politics. The state has had a long tradition of economic populism. And you hear echoes of that when Evers campaigns, talking about Medicaid expansion and a $15 minimum wage.

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EVERS: And we're going to give every middle-class family in the state of Wisconsin a 10 percent break on their income taxes 'cause those are the people that have been struggling all along under Scott Walker.

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KHALID: Evers' vision of progressive politics is about standing⁷ up to big business and ensuring average people get a voice in government. And hundreds of miles to the south in Florida, there's another guy running for governor who shares those concerns about the economy and Medicaid expansion.

ANDREW GILLUM: When we talk about health care and access to health care - to me, there's nothing, you know, out of the mainstream⁸ about folks getting access to lifesaving medicine.

KHALID: Andrew Gillum is the 39-year-old mayor of Tallahassee trying to become Florida's first black governor. His campaign style is nothing like Evers'. His supporters like to say that he is unapologetically black and charismatic. Evers, on the other hand, is described as bland⁹, even by his supporters. Gillum, like Evers, talks a lot about the economy and the need to campaign in red parts of the state where Democrats don't usually go. But where Evers is cautious and careful around culture war issues like immigration or guns, Gillum emphasizes those very same things. He's repeatedly spoken about the need to take on the NRA.

GILLUM: I realize that the status quo of our party, and maybe even the status quo of politics, says that those are, you know, lines by which you have to stay away from if you want to win in a state like mine. But I think our primary race really blew that to shreds¹⁰.

KHALID: Gillum also wants to repeal¹¹ the state's controversial "stand your ground" law. The law gives Floridians the right to act in self-defence even to the point of using deadly force.

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GILLUM: And in my state where I live, the law is such that you can go antagonize, push the bear, start a fight and then hide behind "stand your ground" when somebody responds.

KHALID: Gillum says his own experiences have informed his public policies. What Gillum also does is mix progressive politics with race. Here he is at a recent debate calling out his GOP opponent for accepting money from a donor¹² who falsely described former President Obama as a Muslim and used a racial slur¹³.

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GILLUM: Now, I'm not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist¹⁴. I'm simply saying the racists believe he's a racist.

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KHALID: While research shows that white Democratic voters are increasingly likely to describe their political views as liberal compared to a decade ago, black voters - not so much. What this means is that a progressive candidate of color can build a coalition¹⁵ based on ideology¹⁶ and identity. And that's a strategy Democrats who will run for president in 2020 are going to be watching closely. Asma Khalid, NPR News.

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