Video: Tom Perriello Talks to Indivisible About Virginia 2017 and Beyond; “Turn[ing] Resistance Power Into Political Power”

Interesting discussion last night (see video below). One point Tom made that jumped out at me was this: “We actually looked at some data today…suggested that contested primaries actually helped in the general election, not just gubernatorial [but also in] the delegate races. One of the incredible things this year was races where we couldn’t beg someone to run two years ago, four years ago, had three or four people running in a primary. And a lot of the people that emerged, like Elizabeth Guzman, were not the traditional establishment choices. This was an immigrant from Peru, and SEIU worker. And the kind of campaign she could run authentically was much more progressive and populist…so I think that primaries done right can help the party, help force candidates to build a volunteer base and the rest.” I couldn’t agree more. Tom also notes that for anyone who thinks their vote doesn’t matter, we could be within 10 votes, total, “deciding the entire House of Delegates and healthcare for 400,000 people in Virginia.”