In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley made history by unseating their white male incumbents not in the general election but rather the Democratic primaries. The two now-Congresswomen belong to a greater movement of progressives forcing the Democratic Party to the left through primary challenges. Already, progressives are announcing their candidacies for 2020, putting pressure on Democratic incumbents to truly oppose the Trump agenda. One such progressive is Eva Putzova, who is primarying Tom O’Halleran in Arizona’s 1st congressional district.

Congressman O’Halleran is one of the most conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently co-chairs the Blue Dog Caucus, which represents the rightmost members of the Democratic Party. According to FiveThirtyEight, in the 115th Congress, Tom O’Halleran voted with Donald Trump 54.2% of the time – more than Republicans Justin Amash and Walter Jones. Congressman O’Halleran is undoubtedly an enemy to the progressive agenda, siding with Trump when it comes to criminalizing migration, dismantling environmental protections, crushing labor rights, restricting reproductive freedom, and rolling back bank regulations established in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Congressman O’Halleran has gone out of his way to reject progressivism, being one of just 18 Democrats to support the GOP resolution to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in light of increased calls to abolish the agency during the height of media attention on the family separation crisis.

Eva Putzova, on the other hand, is a proud progressive unabashedly dedicated to everything from Medicare-for-all to abolishing ICE to reparations for slavery to opposing U.S. meddling in Venezuela. Elected to the Flagstaff City Council in 2014, she has a record of pushing bold reform such as a $15.50 minimum wage, initiating the City’s first Climate Action Plan, and approving Arizona’s first paid parental leave policy. Now, she is prepared to bring her progressive passion to Congress.

Former Flagstaff City Councilmember Eva Putzova joined us on the podcast to discuss her primary challenge to Congressman O’Halleran and the issues that matter to the people of Arizona’s 1st. Listen on iTunes or in your browser below:

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