By Tim Canova — Candidate for Florida’s 23rd Congressional District

DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison (left) stands with DNC Chair Tom Perez.

We must demand a progressive agenda that helps all of us, not just the special interests.

For the past two years, our campaign for Congress has been pushing a progressive agenda for our country — demanding election integrity and campaign finance reform, Medicare For All, a genuine full employment Jobs For All program that provides a living wage, protection of our water and food quality, tuition-free public education, labor union organizing rights, fair trade policies, renewable energy, and ending the war on drugs and mass incarceration.

We have also joined so many others fighting back against the corruption at the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Whether you or I personally are inside the Democratic party — or remain inside the party in the future — I hope you will agree on the importance of reclaiming the party from predatory corporate interests and restoring its New Deal progressive values and programs.

One way to reform and build the party is to support the recommendations proposed by the DNC’s Unity Reform Commission (URC) — created at the 2016 DNC Convention in response to the rigged presidential primaries that exposed unethical and illegal suppression of voters.

For over a year, the Unity Reform Commission held public hearings and online conversations culminating in several proposed reforms that will be front and center at the DNC’s Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. on March 8–10th. Some of the proposed reforms would reverse the corrupt practices that were adopted by our opponent Debbie Wasserman Schultz when she ran the DNC into the ground.

Some key proposals of the Unity Reform Commission include:

Reducing the number of unpledged superdelegates by 60 percent;

Expanding voter participation in primaries and caucuses by allowing same-day registration and same-day party switching;

Supporting and growing state parties to increase grassroots voter engagement; and

Making DNC spending more transparent and enhancing oversight of DNC operations.

Add your name to the petition calling on DNC members to pass the Unity Reform Commission recommendations now by clicking here.

I’m sure you’ll agree that even those proposals are not enough. Debbie Wasserman Schultz did so much damage, not just to the Democratic Party, but to our country. She reversed President Obama’s ban on corporate lobbyist donations to the DNC, defended the superdelegate system, and undermined the presidential candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders.

While pushing for DNC reforms, we say loud and clear: “Without justice and fairness, there will be no unity! Without transparency and election integrity, there will be no unity! We demand real reform now!”

Our campaign represents a new kind of politics. We take no money from corporate interests. Through thick and thin, we rely on small donations from the grassroots, and we represent the people, not the corporate machine. Our fight is your fight. Let’s not accept the politics of a corrupt corporate machine. Join our campaign at TimCanova.com.