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For progressives, this is a familiar feeling. A candidate who whips up a fervor of interest, who speaks about issues that are pressing, that are dire, that rarely get mentioned on the national stage. 

The candidate that we voted for is not viable. We have days to find another. I say “we.” What I mean to say is the Democratic Party leadership. 

These people have had this opportunity before. They have shown us time and again that their attention is elsewhere. The status quo can hold while they sort out the trans athlete thing. Housing was just as expensive back in their day. The dam won’t burst in the meantime. 

That leaves us, the progressives, in the lurch. We wait with bated breath to see if party leadership will honor the policies we voted for in droves. They can pick a candidate who believes in dismantling our status quo and building something that works for all of us. Or they can do what they think is best, as they have been wont to do.

Sen. Susan Collins, a woman who has trudged this nation into fascism, a woman who has cheated women of their bodily autonomy, a woman who has made it abundantly clear she has no conscience to declare, is the only winner here.

Danielle May Steinman
Topsham