Congressman Heck should listen to the people

I am writing to you all the way from Syracuse, New York. Last week a story ran in the Syracuse Post Standard about how Congressman Denny Heck in his role at the DCCC is trying to recruit someone with “name recognition” to run for congress in our district. We happen to live in one of the most competitive districts in the country.

For the past year, ordinary people have been working hard on the ground here, organizing and agitating. We have poured blood, sweat and tears into our community trying to protect ourselves from the worst abuses of the Trump administration. One of our neighbors, a tireless grassroots organizer named Dana Balter, has stepped up to run for Congress. She has never run for office before, but she has the support of the people because she has been working with us and listening to us.

Congressman Heck and the DCCC should listen to the people as well and put their support behind Balter. Instead Heck and the DCCC seem to think they know what is best for us, and that is another corporate Democrat with connections to money but not the people who live here. This is frustrating and it represents everything that is wrong about the Democratic Party. I was heartened to learn that Congressman Heck himself has drawn a primary challenge from Tamborine Borrelli. Congress could use more people like Dana Balter and Tamborine Borrelli and fewer like Denny Heck.

This story was originally published January 12, 2018 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Congressman Heck should listen to the people."