(Pat(left) poses with Randy, a team Murphy volunteer. He goes out in this Iowa winter to help us get supporters signed up to vote by mail. Randy has already collected over 70 VBMs! Help us get Pat to Washington by donating what you can to the campaign today.")

If you can, please chip in to help get Pat to Washington.

In October, Blue America endorsed Pat Murphy, the progressive candidate in the battle for the open Iowa congressional seat Bruce Braley is leaving in the state's northeast corner, IA-01-- Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Marshalltown, Decorah. It's a D+5 district and the winner of the primary will be going to Congress next year.

Murphy was the former Minority leader and then the House Speaker and has proven himself to be a dynamic and capable progressive champion. He managed to raise the minimum wage, block the Republican jihad against LGBT equality and was able to raise the cigarette tax $1 and put it into children's healthcare. He also expanded stem cell research in Iowa, expanded family planning services, and created universal pre-school for 4-year olds in his state.

Pat has been reminding voters there that "the first bill I passed as Speaker of the House was a minimum wage increase, and we are past due for an increase at the federal level." And he was just warming up! He wants to see the minimum wage raised to $10.10/hour.

“I grew up in a proud union household, during a time in America when you could raise a middle class family if you were willing to work hard. Too often now, hard work isn’t enough-- either because the jobs are scarce, or you need two or three of them just to put food on the table.

"I’m running for Congress because I’m tired of Republicans in Washington undermining our middle class while rewarding big corporations that outsource our jobs. Republicans showed that they are willing to shut down the government to score political points, but they aren’t willing invest in America’s workforce. They say we need to create jobs but pull the safety net out from under workers who haven’t found work… [O]n top of that we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. This isn’t a woman’s issue; this is a middle class issue. Middle class families pay the price when women are paid less than men. The wage gap can’t be explained with education level or occupational choices. It’s a systemic problem that impacts American families.

"We need to stop harmful trade policies like the Trans Pacific Partnership from being passed. This is the wrong move for American workers and the wrong move for business. We need fair trade in this country, not free trade."

There's not an issue we've found that we don't agree with Pat on. And, better yet, he's a skilled legislator with an incredible record of accomplishment who knows what it means to work across the aisle without betraying the values and trust of working families. We need strong, smart principled leaders like Pat Murphy in Congress to counterbalance the Wall Street-financed conservatives who keep getting reelected year after year. If you can, please chip in to help get Pat to Washington.

We are all in this together,
Howie, for Digby, John and the Blue America team