Local Republicans have taken to referring to Jennifer Lewis, the two-time Sixth District Democratic Party congressional nominee, as “the activist,” using the term as a pejorative.
How clever.
You know, like it’s a bad thing that she’s run for Congress twice, that she delivers food to shut-ins, takes the overnight shift once a week for a group that advocates for rape victims.
“The activist.”
She’s not on social media all day long taking potshots at people who are actually doing things.
She’s too busy actually doing things.
We need more people like this in the world, not less.
Not knocking the guy who beat her twice, Ben Cline, in those runs for the congressional seat, but can you imagine him doing even one of the things that you see Jennifer Lewis doing on a daily basis if the voters had gone in the other direction?
Ben Cline is barely here as it is, and his district almost touches D.C.
The only time you see Ben Cline doing anything publicly is for a couple months before the next Election Day, and even then, he’s like a TV star doing a cameo appearance.
The model for Ben Cline there was his predecessor and mentor, Bob Goodlatte, who did precisely nothing of consequence in Congress for 26 years before retiring in 2019 a lot wealthier than when he showed up in D.C. in 1993.
“The activist.”
You don’t have to agree with her politics, but you do have to have respect for Jennifer Lewis putting her time into what she believes in.
She’s had an order of magnitude more meaningful impact on the Sixth District being “the activist” than Ben Cline can ever hope to make hiding on the back bench in Congress, hoping that no one notices that he’s done nothing other than collect a paycheck, until it’s time for him to retire and hand the seat off to the next guy who does nothing.
But yeah, sure, pick on Jennifer Lewis for being “the activist.”
I’d much rather be her than the guy in the empty suit in D.C.