Every 2020 Democratic candidate vowed to boycott the December Democratic debates scheduled for Thursday to stand in solidarity with a union planning to strike outside the event.
The December debate is set to take place at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Unite Here Local 11, a union of food service workers, penned a letter saying they would be picketing during the Democratic debates on campus.
“We’ve had several negotiations since March, where we can’t reach an agreement, and just recently abruptly the company cancelled all the negotiating sessions we’ve had. So this morning, we had no choice but to let the candidates know that we will be picketing the DNC debate,” read the letter.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was the first to announce she would boycott the DNC debates to “stand in solidarity” with the union workers.
“Unite Here 11 is fighting for better wages and benefits — and I stand with them. The DNC should find a solution that lives up to our party’s commitment to fight for working people. I will not cross the union’s picket line even if it means missing the debate,” Warren tweeted.
.@UniteHere11 is fighting for better wages and benefits—and I stand with them. The DNC should find a solution that lives up to our party's commitment to fight for working people. I will not cross the union's picket line even if it means missing the debate.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 13, 2019
The rest of the qualifying candidates for the December debate stage also vowed not to cross the picket line. This includes: Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Not only are the candidates protesting the debate, Tom Perez, chairman of the DNC, is also protesting his own debate.
“Tom Perez would absolutely not cross a picket line and would never expect our candidates to either. We are working with all stakeholders to find an acceptable resolution,” read a DNC statement.
New DNC statement. "Tom Perez would absolutely not cross a picket line and would never expect our candidates to either. We are working with all stakeholders to find an acceptable resolution."
given that Perez was Labor Secretary, will be interesting to see how this plays out. pic.twitter.com/IO9QKwwGE3— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) December 13, 2019
What better way to sum up the 2020 Democratic field than to have all the candidates forgo a primetime event debating policy to virtue signal. It’s a classic leftist strategy to avoid debating substance and to out “woke” each other instead.
