DFA backs James Thompson in bid for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District

Today, Democracy for America (DFA) announced that it had re-upped its support for civil rights attorney James Thompson in his race for Congress in Kansas’ 4th Congressional District.  

This is DFA’s second time supporting Thompson for this congressional seat.  The group proudly supported him during his exceedingly strong performance in the April 2017 special election in Kansas’ 4th Congressional District.  

DFA has 12,755 members in Kansas and one million members nationwide.

DFA Chair Jim Dean on the organization’s endorsement of Thompson:

“In April, James Thompson showed that, even with very little help from Democrats in Washington DC, a civil rights attorney and military veteran who is committed to run core populist progressive principles can do what many insiders might think is impossible.

“We’re proud to support James Thompson for Congress because we know his smart, people-powered campaign can not only can win in Kansas’ 4th District, but show leaders in the rest of the country how to beat back  Donald Trump’s agenda of bigotry, hate, and division by standing up for bold, progressive ideas and refusing to cave on core values of racial, gender, and economic justice.  -- Jim Dean, Chair, Democracy for America

Thompson on receiving DFA’s endorsement:

"This endorsement from Democracy for America is an important milestone for my 2018 campaign. My special election campaign could not have gotten as close to victory as we did without the help of groups like DFA. Since the national Democratic Party had written off our special election, we had to rely on outside groups like DFA to accomplish what we did in April—and we got results. We did better than any Democrat has done here in the past 20 years and moved the needle more to the left than any of the special elections campaigns for Congress in 2017.

With this endorsement, we are once again working together to promote the progressive values we know people in Kansas, and the nation, hold dear. We believe in things like preserving the Affordable Care Act, protecting our DREAMERs, promoting education, and empowering women. With his very first vote in Congress, my opponent, Ron Estes, voted in favor of the House GOP’s healthcare bill. He voted with a smile on his face for a bill which would have decimated Kansas and its rural communities and kicked more than 23 million Americans off of healthcare. I knew then that I had to continue the fight for my fellow Kansans and working Americans everywhere; because a government of the people, should also be a government for the people." -- James Thompson

A proud U.S. army veteran who went on to fight for civil rights after earning college and law degree with the help of the G.I. Bill, Thompson is a passionate progressive who understands America thrives when everyone succeeds.  Thompson’s strong performance in April’s special election with little help from the national party showed that a progressive with his focus on jobs, education, and veterans can put this deep red district in play and show Democrats across the country how to win.

Democracy for America is a member-driven, people-powered progressive PAC with more than one million members nationwide committed to taking on income inequality, money in politics, and structural racism.

Since its 2004 founding, DFA members have raised and contributed more than $40 million and made more than 11.1 million volunteer calls to help successfully elect 915 progressive candidates nationwide.