The House’s leading progressive political arm is throwing its weight behind a candidate who signed onto a “Black New Deal” that contained radical demands such as reparations, eliminating school officers and stopping criminal enforcement during the pandemic, Fox News Digital has found.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, whose House counterpart is guided by Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, wired $5,000 to California Democrat candidate Lateefah Simon’s campaign in early August, according to recently released filings.
Simon is the first 2024 candidate the group endorsed. She’s attempting to fill Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee’s seat, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
“With more than a quarter century of work organizing for civil rights and social justice, Lateefah Simon is a proven leader and the best candidate to represent California’s 12th congressional district,” the PAC’s co-chairs, including Jayapal, wrote in their endorsement. “Lateefah’s track record speaks for itself – she has effected material change in her community, championing critical progressive priorities like transit justice, economic equality, and women’s rights.”
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Lateefah Simon, a longtime progressive activist, is running for Congress in California’s 12th District. (Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images / File)
Simon, who Vice President Harris tapped to lead an initiative to reduce youth recidivism rates as San Francisco’s district attorney, is a longtime Oakland and Bay Area political activist and organizer.
The Democrat hopeful joined a cadre of liberal activists who used the pandemic to make extreme requests on public officials.
According to a letter on Justice Teams Network, which seeks to eradicate all forms of “State violence” and “criminal acts” against prisoners, the far-left coalition sought to implement dozens of radical initiatives.
In May 2020, Simon signed the letter alongside the likes of former Black Lives Matter leader Patrisse Cullors, which they had sent to elected and appointed officials with regard to concerns about how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted “Black people inequitably in Oakland and what the long-term consequences will be.”
It contained a link to its “Black New Deal,” which Simon had also co-signed, and stated that they remained committed to implementing those demands. The deal includes its most extensive list of orders, including “reparations for Black people,” which it categorizes as a long-term demand.
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Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal acts as a co-chair of their PAC. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)
To the group, reparations include a laundry list of items such as “debt forgiveness, free education, free healthcare, enforcement of CA Slavery Era Insurance Registry & similar local slavery era disclosure ordinances including mandatory reporting, imposition of maximum fines & penalties, mandatory fund contribution from companies that have disclosed already, and distribution of funds to Black-led organizations serving Black populations.”
“Possibly even expand law to include profiteers from the housing/financial crisis and carceral systems,” the group wrote.
The Black New Deal also pushed for the likes of removing police from schools and ending cash bail. During the pandemic, specifically, the group wanted the “decarceration” of prisons, “ceasing police use of pandemic to conduct raids” and no National Guard or military enforcement, among other radical requests.
The Community Ready Corps and The Anti Police-Terror Project convened “a range of Black leaders” to develop the letter and its vast list of far-left demands.
Rep. Ilhan Omar co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)
Simon currently serves on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors and is one of three candidates that the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC has endorsed for the 2024 election cycle, according to its website.
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During the 2022 election cycle, the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC raised more than $4 million and helped elect 17 people to Congress, the group says.
Simon’s campaign and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC did not respond to a request for comment.
