Could Candi Cdebaca become Colo.’s next AOC?»
The West is experiencing a reawakening of nationalism, from Brexit to the election of a troublemaking U.S. president. This era of political upheaval is producing a new generation of disruptors at all levels of government and Denver’s political sphere is no exception.
The youngest new provocateur, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-cortez, aka AOC, has infiltrated the traditionally white male-dominated congressional house and her successful playbook is being remastered by young democratic women leaders throughout the U.S.
By tapping into the public’s frustration with politics as usual both Trump and AOC have shaken the core of their parties’ establishments. Our political traditions and party lines are being reshaped by outlying wingnuts acting in response to the extremism of the other.
The bigotry and elitism spewing out of the White House has spawned demands from the left for extreme socialist reform.
AOC and Trump are both brash New Yorkers with very different stories. Trump relied on his endless
supply of wealthy friends and personal capital to win his campaign, while AOC began her campaign waiting tables and tending bar. She stunned political observers by defeating Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley, a 10-term incumbent, in the biggest primary upset victory of the 2018 midterm election.
At 29, she is the youngest woman to serve in Congress.
As Trump has done with the right, AOC has used social media to challenge the status quo and energize the left. With over 5 million twitter followers, AOC dominates the news cycles espousing her progressive politics that include Medicare for all, a sweeping Green New Deal, free public college and trade school, and a federal jobs guarantee.
Newswhip reported that for the week ending on July 14th, AOC attracted 4.8 million social media interactions. By comparison, all of the Democrats running for president combined reached 6.5 million interactions.
The ripples of this new era of disruption and reaction have found its way into Denver politics.
In the June municipal run-off election, three popular city council members were defeated by newcomers.
Beating incumbents is never easy. Especially when that incumbent is a popular fixture in local politics.
Yet 33-year old Candi Cdebaca tore a page out of the AOC campaign playbook and engineered a stunning upset win over Albus Brooks in District 9. She even modeled her campaign flyer after AOC’S logo so people would realize that her campaign is part of a movement, not just a small race in Denver.
Cdebaca is ambitious and calculated. She is a fifth-generation Denverite, a graduate of Manual High School where she was valedictorian, class president and one of the first students to be appointed to the Denver Mayor’s Latino Advisory Council. She was the recipient of the Daniels Fund Scholarship and received a masters of social work from the University of Denver.
Prior to her election, Cdebaca was a community organizer and the executive director of Project VOYCE, a youth development and civic engagement organization she co-founded.
Cdebaca enjoys the comparisons to AOC. She said in a recent interview: “I think she’s activated a lot of the same people I have. Younger people, different racial and ethnic groups that have been left behind historically. I think that this is a movement, and I hope to be able to create some of the impact that she’s had on the federal level, locally.”
Like AOC, Cdebaca describes herself as a democratic socialist. In an April candidates’ forum, Cdebaca said, “I don’t believe that our current economic system actually works. Capitalism, by design, is extractive, and in order to generate profit in a capitalist system, something has to be exploited. I believe in community ownership of land, labor, resources, and distribution of those resources.”
AOC and Cdebaca’s calls to end capitalism would strip away the American dream and fly in the face of the economic values that our country was founded on. Their energy would be better spent on fixing what’s not working.
While it will be fascinating to see how things play out at the City and County Building, the real intrigue could come as early as 2020.
Since she is not up for re-election until 2023, Cdebaca could run for the Congressional District 1 seat while holding onto her city council seat. Rep. Diana Degette is already being challenged by former Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran, and the entry of Cdebaca could shake up the race in a dramatic fashion. Cdebaca has demonstrated that she knows how to tap into voters’ disdain for politics as usual and kick out a popular establishment candidate.
Denver has shown a propensity to make revolutionary decisions. From being the first major city to legalize marijuana to decriminalizing magic mushrooms, Denver voters have never hesitated to stun people.
With the shift of citywide demographics and the changing face of local politics, that could pose big problems for Degette should Cdebaca take a serious look at the race.