Rashida Tlaib is running in a competitive primary in Michigan’s Thirteenth District with serious environmental justice credentials organizing her community to take on -- and win against -- the Koch brothers and other polluters. She’s backed by an astounding 97 percent of all climate hawks in the district.
Rashida has true political courage. As a state legislator, she took on the Koch brothers’ dumping of petcoke piles throughout the city of Detroit — and won. She took on an expansion of Marathon Oil’s refinery — and won. She even took on Matty Moroun, one of the richest men in Detroit, to get his high-polluting trucks off city streets — and won. Now she’s aiming higher.
And Rashida has community support. Before we endorse in primaries, we ask local climate hawks to vote in a survey, and we won’t endorse unless we see strong support for one candidate. Over a hundred climate hawks in Michigan’s Thirteenth District responded to our survey — and 97 percent of them voted for Rashida. That’s the kind of consensus we can’t ignore.
John Conyers is retiring after having represented this district, which includes parts of the city of Detroit, for decades. It’s one of the deepest blue districts in the country, which means that whoever wins the primary effectively wins the general election. Let’s win it with an environmental justice hero.
Oh, and one final reason to support Rashida: Trump can try to ban Muslims all he want, but the best way to infuriate him is this: send one to Congress.
