The mission of OVP is simple. If a progressive candidate does not represent the Democratic Party in the 2024 presidential election, then we will encourage progressive voters to vote for a progressive third party candidate. 

Why go this route?

The Democratic Party is not doing what the vast majority of their supporters want, nor is the party doing what the majority of Americans want. Most Americans today are in favor of many “progressive” policies, including:

• Tuition-free public colleges and trade schools 

• Student loan forgiveness

• Medicare for All

• Elimination of medical debt

• Guaranteed paid sick & family leave 

• Universal childcare 

• Child tax credits

• Raising taxes on corporations

• Higher taxes on the wealthy

• Legalization of Cannabis

Today, more than 80 million Americans are underinsured, and 44% of Americans don’t even make a living wage. The U.S. is the only wealthy country that does not provide guaranteed paid maternity leave and guaranteed paid sick leave. The U.S. is also the only wealthy industrialized country that does not provide universal healthcare. 

We've had a Democrat in the White House 10 of the last 14 years (since 2009). Yet each year, during this time between 230,000 and 500,000 Americans have gone bankrupt due to medical expenses, and 26,000 - 45,000 Americans have died because they couldn't afford medical care.

Voters today tend to see a given election as a one-off contest, where the main objective is to beat the Republican Party and put (or keep) a democrat in the White House. 

While progressives may initially vote for a left-leaning candidate, it’s the moderate who’s left standing after the primary elections.

Progressives are then prompted to settle for a lesser democratic candidate, under the pressure of the desired democratic “win”.

Perhaps it’s best to illustrate with a few examples. Let’s look at some of the more recent legislative letdowns under the Biden administration:

The Build Back Better Act: It began as a joint bill prioritizing investment in both physical and “human” infrastructure. The former emphasized tangible infrastructures like roads, bridges, and broadband; the latter included a wide variety of proposals to improve conditions for families universal prekindergarten and subsidized child care, paid family and medical leave, free community college and expanded tax credits. Progressives had been pushing for this type of bundled approach, wanting to pass both through the filibuster-proof reconciliation process to avoid having to compromise with Senate Republicans. But Democratic leaders decided to pursue a bipartisan bill for physical infrastructure. So Biden went to the leader of the progressive caucus (Pramila Jayapal) and asked for her support in splitting the bill. This arrangement guaranteed that the physical infrastructure legislation would pass, but meant that, for the time being, the proposed family programs would be set aside. Though Biden assured Jayapal that he would get the votes needed to pass this legislation thereafter, he failed to see it through.

Student Loan Forgiveness: under Biden’s legislation, millions of borrowers would potentially receive up to $20,000 in federal student debt relief. Biden had announced the program last August, and federal loan recipients rushed to submit applications to determine eligibility in preparation for the new policy rollout. It couldn't have come at a better time: just months before student loan payments were set to restart after a year-long pause. But the program never took effect. After months tied up in the courts, it was finally rejected by the Supreme Court last June. 

What can we do to create the lasting change that’s needed within our party to achieve truly progressive policy reform?

We need to recognize that there is power in numbers. So many of us are unhappy with the current state of our party and want to demand more from our representatives. For too long, we’ve been pressed to vote moderate, as a means to keep a democrat in the White House. But we do not owe our votes to just any party candidate. It’s time we make moderates lean in our direction, in order to implement the policies that the majority of Americans support.

Neither Biden nor any other Democrat can win the election without support from the left flank of the Democratic Party. In the coming election, surely moderates will want to vote their way, and that’s ok, but we reserve the right to vote ours. They need to know we mean business!

If progressives split the vote, then Biden won’t be making it back in the White House for a second term, and we will likely end up with a Republican president.

What would seem like a major (short-term) loss could be exactly what we need in order to be heard within our own party. With a split vote - progressives have an invaluable opportunity to call attention to widespread voter discontent, and get to the root of this divide. 

How do we go about this?

Marianne Williamson is the only progressive running in the Democratic Party in the upcoming election. If she is the Democratic nominee, then OVP will support her in the general election. If not, then we will support the third party candidacies of Cornel West or 

Jill Stein.

If the vote is split within the Democratic Party, then let’s use this opportunity to:

• Demand that voters take a hard look within our own party to understand why the actions of these representatives are not aligned with the preferences of the voters.

• With a critical lens, examine voting records of individual politicians to reveal what policies they actually stand for. We want to know: are there certain politicians that have been swayed (by large campaign donations) to do the bidding of large corporations? If so, they need to be called out! Meanwhile, we’ll promote politicians who make a point not to be bought. 

• Maximize exposure of progressive candidates, and ultimately elect more into office.

POPULAR POLLS SHOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS ARE IN FAVOR OF MANY PROGRESSIVE POLICIES. SO WHY, THEN, AREN'T OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS LISTENING?