Karen Bass Announces for Diane Watson’s Congressional Seat

I am very excited today to announce that I will be launching a campaign to fill the congressional seat being vacated by my dear friend and mentor, Congresswoman Diane Watson. Today the Congresswoman, City Controller Wendy Greuel, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and a group of grassroots leaders will join me at a press conference announcing my campaign, and I hope you can support me as well.

Throughout the coming weeks and months as I ask voters for their support I will also offer my commitment:  To fight as hard as I can – and as hard as I always have – to change what isn’t working; to continue bringing people together and delivering results.

Working as a physician’s assistant in the 1980’s, I saw emergency rooms filled by the devastation caused by crack cocaine. My workplace then was the emergency room filled with working families who had no place else to go for the most basic of health care. 
 
In 1990 I founded the Community Coalition, and began organizing block by block alongside grassroots leaders to improve neighborhoods by forcing out problem liquor stores and bringing in grocery stores, clinics and new housing.  We carried on to wage campaigns on a range of issues, and built a community institution that continues the legacy of the civil rights movement. 
 
And as Speaker of the Assembly, I’ve worked effectively with colleagues across the aisle to meet the needs of constituents. We brought in $600 million of badly needed dollars for local neighborhood schools. We kept thousands of construction projects – and jobs – from being lost in this recession and kept hundreds of thousands of children from losing health insurance because their families are facing tough times.
 
That’s the kind of problem solving and bridge building I tried to do in Sacramento and it’s the kind of problem solving and bridge building I will work to do in Washington.
 
But I need your support to get there.  

Please make a campaign contribution or RSVP for my grassroots campaign kick-off to learn about volunteer opportunities today!   

Maybe what they need is one more community organizer in Washington to tip the balance toward real progress. 

With your help, we can make it happen. Click to get involved now! 

Thank you for making it possible, 

Karen Bass