We Need Trevor Thomas In Congress And Trevor Thomas Needs Your Help Now

I like Trevor Thomas. Trevor first came on my radar when he was working for SLDN, working to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Remember all those “Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” we published in 2010? Thank Trevor for making that happen. Trevor worked tirelessly for SLDN, providing so much information and advocating day and night to repeal DADT. But even before I knew Trevor, he had worked for the LGBT community at HRC, since 2007. And when DADT repeal was sewn up, in January of 2011, Trevor went to work for a group I admire greatly, Equality Matters, part of the Media Matters family. He’s had five years of successful campaigning for our issues. Now he’s campaigning for us again — this time, hopefully, his campaign will lead him into Congress.

Trevor Thomas, who happens to be openly gay, is running for Congress, for Michigan’s third district in Western Michigan, the Grand Rapids area. Here’s his website.

You should vote for him if you can. You should support him in every wary that you can.

You can support Trevor Thomas by clicking here now. Please do!

Here are a few words from Trevor’s campaign about why he’s running and about the multi-millionaire Tea Party Republicans he’s facing.

Trevor Thomas, 28, filed in February to challenge tea-party freshmen U.S. Rep. Justin Amash in Michigan’s 3rd district — the seat of President Jerry Ford.  As the only person not self-funding in the race, Trevor comes from a working class family — his mom and dad met on the lines of General Motors where they worked together for more than 30 years.  According to campaign pollster Mark Mellman, Justin Amash is unpopular with a re-elect of 33 percent. Trevor is in the margin-of-error, but first he must win the democratic primary against local establishment pick Steve Pestka, 60.

Pestka is socially conservative and does not support a woman’s right to choose and does not allow exceptions for rape and incest. Trevor, who helped repeal the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, spoke out at Netroots Nation for the DREAM Act and is pro-choice.  Trevor was just endorsed by Governor Jennifer Granholm and Lt. Gov. John Cherry.  Knowing the district leans red, his campaign slogan, “A campaign for us all”, was unveiled as Trevor was introduced at his kick off by former Kent County/Grand Rapids GOP party chair Bob Eleveld.

Today, The New Civil Rights Movement is joining other prominent blogs, listed below, and coming together to say we don’t want Tea Party politicians in Congress, and we don’t want Republican politicians in Congress, and we don’t want so-called “moderate Democrats” who aren’t progressive Democrats in Congress.

Remember the 14 months of war in Congress over “Obamacare”? If Congress had been filled with more real Democrats, more real progressives, we could have had a single payer system and not faced the threat –a very real threat, as we’ve learned this week — of the Supreme Court striking down the most important Democratic achievement in 50 years.

Here’s more about Trevor, from his campaign:

Trevor Thomas is running for Congress against a Tea-Party Republican in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and he needs help.  Trevor, who is openly gay and helped repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ by working with the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is at a critical fundraising deadline in the next 24 hours.

Trevor’s up against a lot.  Both his opponents are self-funding millionaires. Trevor is a member of the 99%, coming from a working class family — his mom and dad met on the factory lines of General Motors where they worked together for more than 30 years.  He filed in February to challenge freshmen U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, but now also has a Democratic primary opponent who doesn’t support a woman’s right to choose and called Trevor’s work on LGBT issues “extreme.”

This is the seat once held by President Jerry Ford.  Trevor’s message centers on the values of Jerry Ford – a man who believed in clean water, the Civil Rights Act, LGBT equality, and a woman’s right to make her own personal health care decisions. To this day, the district still leans red, which is why Trevor has already started reaching across the aisle even as he maintains solidly progressive stances. His inclusive slogan, “A Campaign For Us All,” was unveiled at a campaign kickoff where Trevor was introduced by longtime Republican and former Kent County GOP Party Chair Bob Eleveld.

After working as a reporter in the community, Trevor went on to work for Governor Jennifer Granholm who has now endorsed him in the race.  You can watch Trevor’s interview with her on The War Room with Jennifer Granholm, aired last Friday night and focused on his race being one of the youngest in the country.

Trevor needs our help so he is not outpaced by two multi-millionaires.  Let’s stand with him now.

The New Civil Rights Movement is proud to support Trevor Thomas, who is openly-gay, and has done battle for the LGBT community. Now, he wants to help all Americans.

Here’s the list of other blogs that today are participating in a “blogswarm” to help elect Trevor Thomas:

–Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel

I hope you’ll consider contributing to Trevor’s campaign if you possibly can. If you can’t, please share this with all your friends and family.