Brent Welder, Randy Bryce, and other Democrats rally against the Trump agenda.

A PPP poll released last week shows a progressive Democrat beating the incumbent Republican congressman by seven points – the largest margin of any Democratic challenger in America. Not in California or New York. Welcome to Kansas.

I’m Brent Welder, labor lawyer and workers’ rights advocate. I’m running for Congress in Kansas’ Third District because billionaires and giant corporations have too much control over our government. From the outset of our campaign, we’ve had the goal of building the largest grassroots organization of any congressional campaign in the country. This is a real goal – not hyperbole – and I’ve helped achieve it for other campaigns that have defeated incumbent Republicans. The only way to do it is to run on a bold, progressive message that energizes our base of volunteers and voters, and unites the divides within the Democratic party to build a winning coalition.

Conor Lamb’s historic win in Pennsylvania’s 18 was in a district far redder than the Kansas 3rd. Like Lamb, we’re strongly backed by labor unions. We’re uniting blue collar working families, progressives, independent and infrequent voters, racial and religious minorities, and all of us who aren't being heard by Wall Street-owned politicians.

The Kansas Third is one of the most flippable districts in the nation. When we take back the House, our path is through this district. My Republican opponent, Congressman Kevin Yoder, is nothing short of a corporate bootlicker. Yoder has taken more money from the payday loan sharks than any other member of Congress (House or Senate!) and is one of the top ten House members in money from the corporate gun lobby. His popularity has plummeted in recent years, and has been in free fall since he signed on with Trump and his agenda.

In 2016, Yoder received only 51% of the vote. Polling data shows that Donald Trump is seen more negatively by voters in KS-03 than in almost any other swing district in America. And this is one of only 5 Republican-held congressional districts that was won by Bernie Sanders in the primary and Hillary Clinton in the general. Voters are ready for a change.

I’ve helped organize some of the best grassroots campaigns in history – from helping elect the first Iraq War veteran to Congress, to being among the first grassroots organizers for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders. As National Field Director for the Teamsters union, I organized over a million union members nationwide to vote for Teamsters-endorsed Democratic candidates.

We’ve already built the largest volunteer base that our district has seen in the last decade. We’re also getting help from heavy-hitter organizations and leaders that have endorsed our campaign, including members of Congress, national labor unions, Jason Kander, Our Revolution, PCCC, Justice Democrats, Brand New Congress, Dr. Cornel West, Shailene Woodley, and party leaders here in Kansas. We’re building a strong, winning campaign and fighting for Medicare for all, $15 minimum wage, women’s equality, racial and economic justice, DACA, and LGBTQ rights.

My Republican opponent is desperately raking in a warchest from his corporate cronies. He raised $500k last quarter – a majority from PAC’s – and get this: only $489 came from small dollar donations! Unlike him, I’m refusing corporate PAC money and building our movement on small dollar donations from people like you. Last year, we broke the record for the most individual donations by a challenger in the history of our district! And together, we’ll build the biggest grassroots organization in the country and bring the blue wave to Kansas.

Our early seven point lead is fantastic. Yet it’s meaningless unless we have the resources to compete. We’ve already been breaking fundraising records in our district, but we have a lot of ground to cover to take on our right-wing opponent.

The Democratic Wave isn’t destiny, and we all have to fight to make it a reality. Can you donate $5 to help us flip this seat?