Khalil endorsed by progressive group

Peter Khalil, a Democrat running to represent Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in 2020, earned an endorsement from the Washington State Progressive Caucus this week.

“27 of our endorsed campaigns are still contending and it’s time to meet our most recent endorsed candidate: Peter Khalil,” the group posted on its Facebook page.

Khalil, an Ivy league-educated mediator and former Wall Street lawyer, is running on the left flank of more moderate Democrat Carolyn Long.

In their endorsement, the Washington State Progressive Caucus linked to an interview Khalil did with The Young Turks, a left-wing American news and commentary program on YouTube.

In the interview, Khalil touched on corruption, healthcare, broadband, and why he thinks a progressive can win in a purple district.

“We are just about a 50/50 district with a little bit of a tip toward the red,” Khalil said. “But everyone there wants the same things. They want healthcare, they want to drink clean water and breathe clean air, and they want a government for them and that’s not for the corporations.”

“Within the Democratic party there is a split between the progressives and I guess what you would call the moderates. I’m not interested in being in that fray. I’m interested in being above that fray,” Khalil continued. “Ultimately, it’s the people who are going to decide. It’s not going to be the party here.”

Long, a political science professor at Washington State University Vancouver, ran for the seat in last year’s midterm. She came closer to winning the seat, held by Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, than any Democrat in nearly a decade.

So far, Long has foregone any major progressive talking points like impeachment (a statement from her campaign last week on the Trump-Ukraine affair skirted around the “I” word). She’s favored topics that won Democrats purple districts in 2018: healthcare and prescription drug costs.