Category: Election 2018

Mika for Stonewall Vice Chair

On By mikacovingtonIn Democrats, Election 2018, Gender IdentityLeave a comment

I am a candidate for Stonewall Vice Chair and I would like to earn the privilege of serving you and lifting up your voices.

I am a student at the University of Iowa studying psychology and German. I have served on the Pottawattamie County Democrats Central Committee and as Affirmative Action Chair.

I grew up in Nebraska and six years ago I moved to Iowa to work for President Barack Obama, to attend college and to get a kidney transplant at the University of Iowa Hospitals.

I experienced significant discrimination and oppression growing up in Nebraska which is where my passion for politics and equality comes from. This past taught me that if you want to see change you must step up and create that change.

Since 2009 to 2014, I was involved with the Iowa Pride Network and from 2010 to 2013 I was on the College Leadership team, organizing and leading the Southwest Iowa GSA Network, fighting anti-LGBTQIA+ bias on campus and helping fill the education gap in Iowa and Eastern Nebraska on LGBTQIA+ issues and history.

Additionally, in Nebraska, I worked with State Senator Sara Howard to pass her bill LB 380, which would have allowed all couples to adopt regardless of marital status, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

I firmly believe that we must consider and include ideas from everyone, not just those who have been involved in the Party for years. We must face the fact that a greater number of young people – the next generation of voters – are independents and therefore, we must ask ourselves why that is. Then, we must create an action plan to either bring them into the Party or open it up to them in other ways.

As a transgender person, I know that the Democratic Party has room to grow to become fully inclusive and welcoming of gender non-binary and transgender people.  Therefore, making the Party more inclusive and welcoming is a major priority of mine, second only to electing Democrats and ensuring that Democrats take back Iowa.

I know that I will be a powerful addition to the Stonewall Caucus and the Iowa Democratic Party because I have experience within my life, as well as through the work I have done on issue, advocacy, and political campaigns.

I would be honored to have your support and represent you as Vice-Chair of the Stonewall Caucus. I will be a strong, compassionate and dedicated voice for LGBTQIA+ Iowans.

Advertisements

Iowa Democrats State Convention & Transgender Equality

On By mikacovingtonIn Democrats, Election 2018, Gender Identity, Sexual OrientationLeave a comment

Iowa has a long history of leading the nation on social issues and civil rights including interracial marriage, admitting women to the University of Iowa, the right to free speech (e.g., John and Mary Beth Tinker in their protest of the Vietnam War resulting in Tinker v. Des Moines), Senator Tom Harkin fighting for the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Democratic Majority General Assembly amending the Iowa Civil Rights Code to ban discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruling that civil marriage is a right regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation.

In Iowa, we have made great progress on civil rights FOR ALL, including for transgender and gender non-binary people. It is illegal here in Iowa to discriminate against transgender and gender non-binary people in the areas of employment, housing, education, public accommodations and services, and credit practices. This is in addition to civil marriage.

Nevertheless, and unfortunately, we (transgender and gender non-binary people) still face serious discrimination and stigma in our daily lives. Especially when it comes to accessing health care and updating our identity documents. Frequently we are denied appropriate gender transition-related medical and mental health care despite evidence that appropriately evaluated individuals benefit from gender transition treatments.

Additionally, we face harassment and discrimination when it comes to using a restroom. However, contrary to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) which has consistently held that people must be permitted to use the facilities in accordance with gender identity, a judge here in Iowa ruled that the Iowa Civil Rights Code does not require allowing a transgender person to use the facilities that match their gender identity.

Therefore, we have work to do and Iowa Democrats are in a position once again to lead the nation.

We must stand firm in our commitment to equality and justice for all by passing the resolution at the Iowa Democratic Party State Convention on June 16th on gender identity and gender expression nondiscrimination.

We as Iowa Democrats must state that we support

  • the passage of laws and policies protecting the rights of people of all gender identities and expressions,
  • full access to medical and mental health care and full access to restrooms regardless of gender identity and expression,
  • legal and social recognition of transgender and gender non-binary individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression, and
  • full access to identity documents consistent with their gender identity and expression that do not involuntarily disclose their status as transgender or gender non-binary.

Furthermore, that we support amending the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party of the United States to ensure the full inclusion and non-discrimination of gender nonbinary and transgender people so that we (gender non-binary and transgender people) are not forced to choose between a binary gender of man or woman to run for Party offices such as State Central Committeeperson or Democratic National Committeeperson.

Go here to view the resolution: Click here

Mika for State Central Committee

On By mikacovingtonIn 2016 Election, Cystinosis, Democrats, Election 20181 Comment

I am running for the Iowa Democratic Party State Central Committee (SCC).

I am running because I have seen that the party still has many areas where we can improve. For example, the party treats those with money differently than those without money. We have fundraisers and events that exclude people who don’t have $50 to $75 to give to the party to participate in these events. Additionally, we seem to favor our incumbents and claim that primaries and open discussion of the issues are somehow divisive. Frequently, I hear party officials discourage the discussion and challenge to status quo.

I firmly believe that if we want change to occur we must step up to the challenge and create the change.

I believe that we need to consider and include ideas from everyone, not just those who have been involved in the party for years. As we know we must make our party more open and inclusive and we must face the fact that a greater number of young people and the next generation of voters are independents. Therefore, we need to listen to those voters especially since we rely on them to win general elections.

I know we need to reach out and bring back the 4.4 million Obama voters who voted in 2012 but stayed home in 2016. Of these 4.4 million, 43 percent were not contacted by any candidate in 2016 because it was believed they would be reliable Democratic voters.

I understand that we must update and modernize the way we are campaigning. We must put more emphasis on digital advertising and social media. We must follow the example of those already using social media and live streaming technologies to reach people. As Senator Bernie Sanders has done with live broadcasting his town halls. We are able to reach millions more than conventional online videos. We could use this tool to live broadcast many of our events and especially our fundraisers which in turn would include more people.

I believe that I am uniquely qualified to be on the SCC because of my work on issue and advocacy organizations such as the Cystinosis Research Foundation and the Cystinosis Research Network. And because of living with cystinosis I learned at an early age to be organized, to advocate for myself, and to be responsible especially when it came to managing my health and navigating health care coverage.

I hope I can count on your support at the Iowa Congressional District 2 Democratic Party Convention.

If you have any questions or concerns contact me at mika.j.covington@gmail.com

Jon Neiderbach & Cathy Glasson for Iowa Governor

On By mikacovingtonIn Affordable Care Act, College Debt, Democrats, Election 2018, Gender Identity

I support both Cathy Glasson and Jon Neiderbach for Iowa Governor. I believe that both are great candidates and both have bold progressive agendas.

I support Jon Neiderbach because he believes in education and ensuring everyone has an equal chance to get ahead.

My budget will include $100 million dedicated to make post-secondary education and training available and accessible. Students who agree to stay and work in Iowa after graduation and are enrolled at any of Iowa’s community colleges and public universities will qualify for this new program. My budget will also include funding to reduce debt owed by students. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he understands that every Iowan must have affordable high-quality health care.

I support keeping the ACA – with needed “fixing” legislation – until there are enough votes to replace it with single-payer universal coverage. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he believes that Iowans need lower drug prices right now.

I believe Iowa should in cooperation with other states negotiate drug prices for our residents, and press hard for the Secretary of HHS to do the same for all Americans. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he believes that every Iowa regardless of gender identity must have access to high-quality comprehensive health care.

I will work with the Board of Medicine and the relevant professional societies to educate providers and stamp out discrimination and bias toward transgender and intersex individuals. Iowa should require health insurance policies written in the state to cover medical and mental health services in association with gender identity issues. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he wants to combat bullying and harassment in Iowa and especially against LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) students.

Every principal should be required to attend training, with follow up training for the teachers in their building. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he knows that discrimination against LGBTQIA people continues to happen in Iowa even with marriage equality and the amended Iowa Civil Rights Code.

I will propose additional funding for the Iowa Civil Rights [Commission] for timely investigations and enforcement actions, and I will embrace the Governor’s Conference on LGBTQIA Youth. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he supports common sense gun reform.

I support applying universal background checks to all sales including those at gun shows, and I favor using technology to make it easier for law enforcement to link bullets to specific weapons. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he supports comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.

Iowa needs more people in our workforce, and welcoming immigrants including a path to citizenship for undocumented individuals is an excellent way to increase our population. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he supports a living wage.

I support increasing the state minimum wage to $15 an hour immediately, with a provision that it will increase indexed to inflation. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he supports “too-big-to-fail-to-big-to-exist” legislation.

We need aggressive federal oversight to financial institutions to ensure that none get so large their failure would jeopardize the banking system. Banks want capitalism when they are profitable and socialism when they are in danger: unacceptable. – Jon

I support Jon Neiderbach because he believes that we need a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.

The bottom line is we need legislation to ensure the stability of the financial system, limit the power of the financial system and any individual institution, and make sure the financial system works to help hardworking American families. – Jon

I also support Cathy Glasson for Iowa Governor. Cathy has been an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for over 20 years, she is the president of Iowa SEIU 199 and lives in Coralville Iowa.

I am supporting Cathy because she believes as do I, that the primary job of a Governor is to raise peoples’ standard of living.

As Cathy says, 381,000 Iowa households are struggling to pay their bills because two-thirds of the jobs in our state pay less than $20 an hour. Parents working two and three low-wage jobs are still scrambling to come up with $900 each month for childcare, to pay the rent or mortgage, to put food on the table and gas in the car.

Cathy understands that we must provide for those who have the least. She understands that Iowa must increase the minimum wage to a living wage and that Iowa must do more to make childcare affordable for all families.

I support Cathy because she believes workers must have collective bargaining rights. She believes that it should be easy to form unions not harder.

As a nurse, I believe healthcare is a right and holding Iowans’ care hostage is wrong. – Cathy

As she says, healthcare is a right, it is not a privilege for a few.

I support Cathy because she understands that education is a right and Iowa must fully fund our public schools, make community college free, and freeze tuition at Iowa’s public universities.

It is time for a bold progressive, please support Cathy Glasson and Jon Neiderbach for Iowa Governor and join the campaign.

Go here to join Jon Neiderbach’s campaign: click here
Go here to join Cathy Glasson’s campaign: click here
Not endorsed by any candidate, candidate’s committee, or political party.

Henry Gaff for Congress

On By mikacovingtonIn Election 2018

Today I am endorsing Mr. Gaff for Congressional District 1. I had a great interview with Mr. Gaff. Below is that interview:

  1. The average student-loan in 2014 was $28,950, representing a 56 percent increase from the 2004 average of $18,550. During that same decade, state funding for public colleges dropped from 62 percent to 51 percent. College is free in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, while in France, public universities are free for students from lower-income families, and those from higher-income families pay about $200 a year. What would you do or support to reduce the cost of going to college or make it tuition free as it is in many nations? Answer: I support the legislation across Europe that creates a path for a necessary education in today’s global economy. Today’s college degree is practically required for most jobs, and everyone should have that access. I will support bills to decrease the cost of a college education and lessen the burden on students, and I believe we should be work to pass tuition-free public college education for all, along with cancelling outstanding student debt that financially cripples millions of Americans.
  2. The Republican-controlled Congress appears to be fighting for corporations, insurance companies, and for-profit hospitals in their effort to repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Repeal would mean that 57 million senior citizens and disabled Americans with Medicare would see higher premiums and deductibles. Repeal would increase Medicare spending by $802 billion over the next ten years, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. Repeal would also take Medicaid away from nearly 17 million people. I am one of the Americans who benefit from the ACA because I live with a pre-existing condition, cystinosis. The disease is a rare orphan disease that causes the amino acid cystine to accumulate in the cells, and it slowly damages my organs including the kidneys, liver, thyroid, eyes, lungs muscles, and brain. Do you support keeping the ACA? Answer: I support the ACA as a step in the right direction, but until every American is covered we still have work to do on America’s healthcare situation.
  3. The ACA is a significant step forward, and we must fight to protect it. However, even with it one of my medications, Procysbi costs over $75,000 for a 30-day supply. That is just one medication not including the 24 other medications I am taking. What do you propose which would correct the errors in the ACA? Right now, millions of Americans still do not have access to healthcare. I propose that Congress pass a single-payer, universal healthcare bill so that every American can get the healthcare they need.
  4. In 2017, many transgender and intersex individuals still do not have access to high-quality comprehensive health care. Even when transgender and intersex individuals do access health care they are often faced with harassment and discrimination. Some of the issues that transgender and intersex  individuals face  include but are not limited to the follow, physicians and medical staff refusing to identify the individual by  their preferred name and pronouns (for many individuals it is difficult and sometimes even impossible for transgender and intersex individuals to correct their government documents to reflect their identities because of the cost and in some states a confusing process), insurance companies (including Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and VA) refuse to cover gender conforming treatments including surgery, sometimes transgender and intersex individuals are even refused care by physicians and medical staff. What would you propose to correct these wrongs? Answer: Discrimination against transgender individuals is a pervasive problem in society today and we must address it not only with government programs to subsidize the costs of gender reassignment therapy but also with public initiatives to educate Americans about discrimination faced by transgender individuals and those who do not fall on one end or the other of the gender binary.
  5. Over eight in 10 (85 percent) LGBTQIA students experienced verbal harassment based on a personal characteristic, and nearly two-thirds (66 percent) experienced LGBTQ-related discrimination at school (GLSEN School Climate Survey 2015). Most LGBTQ students report that they’ve heard homophobic remarks (56 percent) and negative remarks about gender expression (64 percent) from school staff (GLSEN School Climate Survey 2015). LGBTQ students who experienced high levels of anti-LGBTQ victimization were twice as likely to report they do not plan to pursue post-secondary education. Also, LGBTQ students who experienced high levels of anti-LGBTQ victimization and discrimination had lower GPAs, lower self-esteem and higher levels of depression (GLSEN School Climate Survey 2015). What would you do to protect LGBTQIA students? Answer: Protecting LGBTQ+ students is a difficult thing to do because there is not a one-size-fits-all answer, but I believe that with education initiatives in schools across the nation, similar to the programs that led to the fade of things like smoking from younger popular culture, LGBTQ+ students can be protected in our schools.
  6. In 20 states and DC prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In two other states, they include sexual orientation but not gender identity. In 19 states and DC prohibit discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In two other states, they include sexual orientation but not gender identity. In 20 states and DC, they prohibit discrimination in housing based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In two other states, the include sexual orientation but not gender identity. What will you do to ensure full federal civil rights for LGBTQIA individuals? Discrimination based on sexual orientation is inexcusable and I swear to fight against discriminatory legislation around the nation to protect my LGBTQ+ siblings and allies. I seek to outlaw any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
  7. Since 2013, there have been over 200 school shootings in America — an average of nearly one a week (https://everytownresearch.org/school-shootings/). Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that on an average day, 93 Americans are killed with guns. What gun laws and or reforms do you support? Answer: School shootings are a tragedy and we must find a way to end these terrible instances of gun violence without stripping Americans of their second amendment rights. I believe responsible Americans should be able to own firearms, but we must have a system of background checks and rigorous licensing to make sure that dangerous weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.
  8. Do you support comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship? Answer: Absolutely. America is a country founded on immigration and anyone who seeks to start a new life in America should be able to do so. Conservative attacks on immigration reform on the basis of national security are unfounded and only serve to damage the public perception of the wonderful community of those seeking to become Americans.
  9. Do you support the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans), DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), TVDL (Temporary Visitor’s Driver’s License), and UAFA (Uniting American Families Act)? I support measures to make immigration to the US a less arduous process, though I believe the complicated bureaucracy should be lessened and I will support legislation to make the immigration process simple, fast, and effective.
  10. Do you support replacing the minimum wage with a “living wage”? Answer: The current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be immediately increased to $15/hour and set to adjust for inflation annually. I am acquainted with local business owners who do not support the current movement to increase the minimum wage as they cannot afford to pay prospective workers a higher wage, so I am proposing cutting and shifting the subsidies and tax cuts given to large corporations to those who work for local businesses, giving them the wage they deserve while not placing a burden on local entrepreneurs and business owners.
  11. What is your stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Answer: I am against it, as I am all “free trade” agreements that hurt the American job market and abuse foreign workers.
  12. Do you support “too-big-to-fail” legislation? Answer: Banks that are “too big to fail” are too big to exist and must be broken up before leading to another 2008 market crash and ruining the lives of millions in the name of corporate profits.
  13. Do you support a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act? Answer: I support the reintroduction of the Glass-Steagall Act to protect America from another economic blunder like what happened in 2008. It’s time for major reform to our banking system and time to imprison robber barons who made off with our tax dollars that went to the disaster of a bailout to the banks and not the people.

Mr. Gaff is the progressive that we need in Congress. Please consider joining me in supporting Mr. Gaff for Congress! Go here to join his campaign: http://www.henrygaff.com/

This post was not endorsed by any political party, political organization, or candidate