Kathy Castor says the voters in Florida’sĀ 14th Congressional District re-elected her to get things done in Washington and, when she can, she’ll work with the Donald Trump administration and GOP Congress. But she’ll also resist them, depending on what policies they propose.
“People elected me to solve problems and if thereās any opportunity to do that with President Trump and a Republican Congress, thatās what I’m going to do,” she said Monday. “But Iām not going to compromise the values thatĀ this community holds dear. Whether thatās taking our Dream Act students and not deporting them, or fighting for higher wages, the Democratic Party is the party of working people and Iām going to continue to stand up for their interests against the system.”
Yet despite that perception, Hillary Clinton’s failure to winĀ rust-belt states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, and MichiganĀ in the election has led to the accepted perception the Democrats have lost their way with working people.
In Boston on Sunday night, Bernie Sanders saidĀ the party has to return its focus to the working class.
“The working class of this country is being decimated ā that’s why Donald Trump won,” Sanders said. “And what we need now are candidates who stand with those working people, who understand that real median family income has gone down.”
“All I know is that every week when Iām in Washington D.C. weāre standing up to moneyed special interests and for some reason thatās not being communicated,” Castor says. “For example, they want to give massive tax breaks to big corporations and the top one percent. Thatās not going to help working class people or working people, and what Iām afraid is that the Congress that has passed draconian budgets and tried to keep all the benefits for the wealthiest in the country, that they kind of play on Trump and take advantage of him and the people who elected him. Weāre going to be pointing these things out.”
Next week Castor and her Democratic colleagues will vote on whether to retain Nancy Pelosi as their leader, or go in a different direction. Ohio Rep.Ā Tim Ryan has announced his candidacy to challenge Pelosi, the 76-year-old San Francisco congresswoman who leadsĀ the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Castor said she is undecided, but said there’s value in having a female leader.
“The party needs different leaders,” she acknowledges. “It’s time for a younger generation of leaders to run for local office, to get involved in local issues and state issues. But there is one consideration about who is going to be in leadership in Washington.Ā President Trump, Chuck Schumer, Sen. McConnell, Paul Ryan. What do they have all have in common?”
She then answered her own question.Ā “There is a lot of value in having a female leader,” before insisting that she hasn’t made a final decision on who should lead the caucus.
Speaking in Peru Sunday, President Obama said he was reticent to “meddle” in party votes while still in office, but went on to say that he “cannot speak highly enough” of the woman who a decade ago became the first female House speaker. “She combines strong progressive values with just extraordinary political skill, and she does stuff thatās tough, not just stuff thatās easy,ā Obama said of Pelosi.
