Sema Hernandez Is Challenging GOP Sen. John Cornyn In 2020 Election
Sema Hernandez, who challenged Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D) in the Democratic Party primary election in hopes of unseating Sen. Ted Cruz (R), garnered 24% of the vote without any major media coverage or notable endorsements in 2018. Now she has returned to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R), who is up for re-election in 2020.
Sen. Cornyn, who has been endorsed by Cruz, is exemplary of the corporate forces being fought by the progressive movement, and has received only 4.24% of his campaign dollars from small individual contributors, and nearly half from large individual donations (49.38%), according to reporting from the Center for responsive politics. "Energy Transfer Equity", an affiliate of "Energy Transfer Partners" who oversaw the Keystone and Keystone XL pipelines, donated over $90,000 to his campaign in the 2018 election alone, and similarly large contributions from other corporations within the fossil fuel industry, including Chevron(over $62,000), Exxonmobil(over $50,000), Valero Energy(almost $58,000), and Quantum Energy Partners(almost $45,000) according the same source. It would be difficult to imagine therefore that the GOP Senator would supportive of a transfer away from fossil fuels, or support for a Green New Deal; Imagination, however, is not necessary. Cornyn stated, after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, that he "applauded" the decision, claiming that "For eight years the Obama White House waged a war on American energy producers, and they characteristically overstepped their authority by unilaterally entering into this agreement". He was no passive cheerleader, either. He was one of the signatures in an open letter to the President, calling on him to remove the U.S. from the agreement. By contrast, Hernandez, his challenger has not minced words in calling out the desecration of the fossil fuel industry, stating that "Fossil fuel industry has caused decades of pollution, ecological devastation, and environmental racism". She also points out that she has taken a pledge to decline all money from the fossil fuel industry.
Sen. Cornyn, a major recipient of large donor money from Wall St, hedge funds, and financial institutions, has received sizable contributions (translation: bribes) from Goldman Sachs, Apollo Global Management (which recently acquired $1,000,000,000 in assets from GE Capital energy), Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet's hedge fund which held pricey fundraisers for the Clinton campaign in 2016 charging over $33,000 per plate), JP Morgan Chase, and The Blackstone Group. By contrast, Sema Hernandez, the co-chair of The Poor People's Campaign (modeled after its predecessor started by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, holds economic egalitarianism as a staple of her candidacy, and states unequivocally that her campaign is funded "by the people, not giant corporations".
On The Issues That Matter
Hernandez, unlike most Democrats, has a platform page on her campaign website that outlines unambiguously the issues being fought for by the progressive movement, including a $15 minimum wage, the decriminalization of marijuana, single-payer healthcare, criminal justice reform, and other ideas being brought to the forefront of American political discourse. She has likewise called out trade deals such as NAFTA, and unapologetically taken on the military industrial complex, saying "We are long over due for an exit plan to end the wars, bring our troops home, fund transition programs for our veterans form combat to civilian life. Arms sales to nations with corrupt governments should be prohibited. We must work on diplomacy, stop creating conflict and arming terrorists."