Progressives Revolt Against Ann Kirkpatrick
Hopes were high among Democrats in Arizona’s 1st congressional district last year. Longtime incumbent Republican Rick Renzi had announced his intention to retire. Finally, Democrats there believed, they had a change for progressive representation in the House of Representatives.
The Democrats did succeed in electing one of their own: Ann Kirkpatrick, a former member of the state House of Representatives. However, this year, first district Democrats have learned that they did not at all succeed in electing a progressive to Congress.
Ann Kirkpatrick has turned out to be as regressive in her political ideology as would be expected of any Republican. As a member of the House of Representatives, she has supported many of the same right wing issues that the Democrats denounced Rick Renzi for.
Kirkpatrick voted against a bipartisan compromise climate change and clean energy bill. She voted in favor of building bases with missile defense technology that has yet to be proven to work reliably. She voted to block efforts to hold government torturers accountable. She voted to protect excessive compensation for corporate executives that endangers the survival of the companies they run.
She’s even declared support for a constitutional amendment to outlaw the burning of the flag. Really, these days, does anyone really think that flag burning is one of the top problems in the USA? Apparently, Ann Kirkpatrick does.
Disappointment has been growing all year, and finally progressive Arizonans are beginning to agitate against the politician they helped to elect. Will their anti-Kirkpatrick activism be enough to trigger a challenge from within the Democratic Party, or will Kirkpatrick’s betrayal of her political base merely lead her to limp toward her first attempt at re-election?
