This week’s podcast takes us to Virginia, where we talk to Lee Carter, Marine Corps veteran, Democratic Socialist, Lyft driver, and member of the Virginia House of Delegates. When Carter was elected in 2017, as part of a Democratic wave that transformed the legislature and Virginia politics, he celebrated by leading his supporters in a rousing rendition of the labor anthem “Solidarity Forever.” That was just one of many signals that Carter planned to shake things up in Richmond. And so he has! 

We talk with this rabble-rousing legislator about tangling with the Democratic establishment and reactionary Republicans, about his fight to upend Virginia’s anti-union “Right-to-Work” law and power up organized labor in the south, about how he has made himself one of the most transparent political figures in the country, and about the genius of  Billy Bragg’s version of "The Internationale." “So comrades, come rally... for this is the time and place!”

SHOW NOTES

Since Trump’s Victory, Democratic Socialists of America Has Become a Budding Political Force, The Nation, Anna Heyward

The 7,282-Seat Strategy, The Nation, Joan Walsh

Lee Carter’s Campaign for Labor Rights in Virginia Is Important for All Working Americans, The Nation, John Nichols

The Racist Roots of Right to Work, AFSCME Now

A Virginia politician’s novel approach to personal scandal: Tell all before opponents do, Washington Post, Paul Schwartzman

GOP delegate Miller’s mailer compares Democratic opponent to Stalin, communists, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Patrick Wilson

Carter Singing Solidarity Forever on His Election Night, from YouTube

The Internationale, Billy Bragg

This episode of Next Left was produced and edited by Sophia Steinert-Evoy. Our executive producers are Frank Reynolds, Erin O’Mara, and Katrina vanden Heuvel. Big thank you this week to Nation engagement editor Annie Shields. Recording help this week from Angelo Bautista and Tom Bernath. Our theme song is “Deli Run” by Ava Luna.