Brigham Young had a lot of children. So, it stands to reason that a lot of people walking around today are related to him. For example, Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Steve Young is his great-great-great-grandson. And Claudia Wright is his great-great-granddaughter. But she’s not a Mormon anymore because she’s a lesbian. Yesterday, she garnered enough support from the Democratic delegates in Utah to get herself into a two-way primary with incumbent Blue Dog, Jim Matheson. Matheson needed 60% of the delegates to win outright. He didn’t get it.
On the issues, there’s no question who the real Democrat is. Wright supports Alan Grayson’s proposal of Medicare for all, supports women’s choice, plain and simple. She’s an environmentalist; he voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, promoting clean energy and limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, and he voted against HR2454 (cap and trade). Claudia is a strong advocate of a humane and comprehensive immigration policy; Matheson is all about building a high border fence. Claudia supports public funding for campaigns, and Matheson is another sleazy conservative, taking immense sums of money from the industries and corporations he’s supposed to be overseeing. And of course he’s a vicious homophobe who voted for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. Claudia believes people should have the right to marry whomever they want to. It will probably come as no surprise that Blue America immediately added her to our Bad Dogs page, dedicated to replacing reactionary Blue Dogs with progressive Democrats. I hope you’ll join me in supporting her there.
McCain won 57% of the vote in this most-moderate of Utah congressional districts. So, I don’t know if a lesbian has a chance to hold the seat even if she is a direct descendent of Brigham Young. But, if you want to give it a try, get involved.
