title:  Exclusive: Interview With Progressive Superstar Running For Congress, Zephyr Teachout
text: Before Senator Bernie Sanders popularized stepping up to the Democratic establishment, which has been overrun by corporate and big money influences, Zephyr Teachout made waves in New York State by challenging Democratic incumbent, Governor Andrew Cuomo, to a primary race in 2014. Despite being heavily out funded by Governor Cuomo, who received millions of dollars in campaign contributions from corporations and wealthy interests, Ms. Teachout received 34 percent of the vote, including winning many counties in the state, including Albany County, home of the state s capital. Although she lost, her campaign, the first she ever ran, was a blow to the myth that elected officials, particularly incumbents, are invincible in elections from their own political party.In January 2016, Ms. Teachout, currently as Associate Law Professor at Fordham University, announced she is running for New York s 19th Congressional District seat. I m running to raise up the voice that people have been shut out of politics. I think you can see across the political spectrum people are really frustrated by congress, and by politics that are increasingly driven by big money,  said Ms. Teachout in a phone interview.Ms. Teachout cited as one of the broad issues she plans to tackle in congress, is campaign finance reform, especially in regards to overturning the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling in 2010. I ve already been working in the last several years to promote Congressman John Sarbanes  (D-MD) bill, which is basically modeled off of the public financing system in New York City,  she said.  Congress unfortunately is trapped by congress members having to spend 50 percent of their time raising money. A public financing system like what Congressman Sarbanes has proposed, The Government by The People Act, would allow congress members to raise money from small donors and still have enough to reach all the voters. I think shutting down the revolving door between lobbyists and government is essential. In tandem to the issue of campaign financing being overhauled by corporations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership has received a lot of criticism from Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, including Ms. Teachout, for heavily favoring corporations and handing to them unprecedented leverage over governments. The TPP is a continuation of NAFTA ad even worse than NAFTA,  said Ms. Teachout.  Instead of changing direction and building towards a 21st century trade policy, the TPP doubles down on failed trade policy. Negotiations over Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 other countries began during the Bush administration, and has been pushed by the Obama administration. Both Democratic Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders have opposed the agreement, while Republican Presidential Candidates have expressed mixed feelings over it, with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz against it, but Governor Kasich in favor. Ms. Teachout added: I m actually quite hopeful we are going to stop it. I think a year ago you would have said  the big guns have this locked down , but there has been a truly extraordinary swelling of grassroots energy from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all across the board against it. People are saying this is the wrong direction, we actually want more made in America, we want to buy locally owned goods and we want to be making law through a democratic process. One of the real problems of the TPP for me is it shuts you out of the process, and that is fundamental. Instead of making policy through congress which has its own problems, its making policy in the backroom, and that s no way to make international or basic economic policy in our country. New York s 19th Congressional District includes Sullivan, Ulster, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Greene and Columbia Counties and parts of Montgomery, Rensselaer and Dutchess Counties. Current Representative of the district, Republican Chris Gibson announced he is retiring, leaving the seat wide open. Ms. Teachout is currently a favorite to win, she won almost every county in the district against Governor Cuomo in 2014. In the Democratic Primaries, she faces challenges from John Kehoe, a 29-year-old self-described moderate Democrat who runs a recording studio in the Hudson Valley, and Will Yandik, a town councilman from Columbia County, though popular consensus in the district s local Democratic Parties favor Ms. Teachout, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.The Democratic Primaries take place on June 28th, 2016. On the Republican side, it will be a toss-up mainly between Andrew Heaney, a small businessman and graduate from Harvard Business School, and John Faso, a former New York State Assemblyman. Mr. Faso, who has hired Bill O Reilly as a communications consultant, has criticized Heaney for donating to President Obama s 2008 campaign. Mr. Heaney has also been accused of illegally coordinating with a Super-Pac he created, the New York Jobs Council.As progressivism has made its mark on the 2016 presidential election from the popularity of Senator Bernie Sanders  campaign, it has inspired progressive candidates across the country to run for office on similar platforms. Ms. Teachout s advice for those progressive candidates who are standing up to make their mark in a primary against an establishment backed candidate, as she did in 2014 against Governor Andrew Cuomo; spend as much time as you can on the ground listening to people, not in a closed room listening to donors. There s an extraordinary strength in the deep American grassroots and it s pretty exciting to see what could happen if you put a lot more trust in people. Featured image via Flickr