My name is Chris Niehaus and I am seeking a seat as a delegate from the 9th Assembly District. I am a Sacramento native, and have worked as an Organizer for the California School Employees Association for 27 years. I bring decades of experience planning and managing campaigns (union recognition campaigns, contract campaigns, etc), recruiting and training volunteers, and winning.
The time has come to finish enjoying the warm embrace of the November election victories and get to work. We have an excellent opportunity to put our state and our nation right. Taking advantage of and building upon the new outpouring of activism built during the recent elections, we can build a new nation and a new state. The time has come to rebuild the progressive/labor coalitions that pulled America out of the Great Depression 70 years ago.
Now that Democrats have power, we must govern for the benefit of working people. What party activists can and must do is persistently agitate for policies and legislation that will benefit ordinary working people. Delegates have a unique and useful role to play through adoption of party rules, platforms, and endorsement of candidates that will further our goals. Through networking and building alliances, progressives and labor activists can build a program beneficial to people, and support direct-action designed to keep the pressure on elected officials.
Now is not the time to sit back and wait for the fruits of our “election labor.” Now is the time to agitate for policies that favor working Americans: the Employee Free Choice Act, universal single-payer health care, ending the war, ending foreclosures, and fully funding education. We must keep the pressure on our elected leaders as well as give them cover for making the bold and decisive decisions the people need and are demanding.
With your support, I will bring three decades of success and experience to building a party that can win and govern for the benefit of all Californians.
