AP Photo/Noah Berger
The results of a recent poll, if accurate, demonstrate that 2020 has gotten even dumber. Residents of Portland, Oregon, might end up having a pro-Antifa mayor next year, according to a local survey of voters.
The poll, commissioned by the Portland Business Alliance, revealed that Antifa supporter Sarah Iannarone has taken the lead in the city’s mayoral race. She leads the incumbent Democrat, Mayor Ted Wheeler, 41% to 30%. This gap is well outside of the poll’s four-percentage-point margin of error.
The Daily Caller reported that these numbers are a “stark departure from the results of the first round of voting in May when Wheeler won just under 50% of the vote.” Since the beginning of the nationwide unrest over the death of George Floyd, the current mayor’s popularity has collapsed.
Iannarone has openly identified herself with Antifa, praising the decentralized far-leftist movement on social media. “To those who say Antifa are violent thugs: I am not a violent thug and I am Antifa,” she insisted in a January 2019 tweet. “I am Antifa because the Red Hats are coming after brown & black people, after Jews, after queer & trans people, and more. They are coming after our democracy.”
The candidate’s campaign manager, Gregory McKelvey, a left-wing activist, led a group of protesters to shut down a highway after the 2016 election. Iannarone has also openly supported the protests in the city, many of which have resulted in violence. “My daughter was in the streets last night driven by anti-racist conviction. She is not an agitator nor an opportunist and she should not fear for her safety at the hands of Portland police,” she wrote in a May 31 tweet.
She continued, predicting that “Protests will continue in our city and across the country until our leaders address the problems racism, police brutality, and white supremacy undergirding our society.”
The candidate hasn’t only expressed support for peaceful protests; She has also seemed to argue that the rioting and looting are warranted. In an interview with KGW8, a local news station, she said: “We need to understand these protests are part of a healthy democracy. Peaceful protests, in my opinion, might not necessarily be moving the conversation forward,”
Her campaign later released a statement saying that she does “not condone” criminal activity.
Portland has been devolving into a Marxist morass over the past few years. But the recent faux furor over George Floyd’s death has provided an opportunity for the far-left to accelerate the process. Indeed, if racial tensions were not at a fever pitch, someone like Iannorone would likely not be close to securing the office of mayor.
But this is yet another way that the far left pushes its agenda while the public is distracted by the chaos and the presidential election. It is important to remember that progressives are not only trying to seize power at the federal level; They are also seeking to control local governments as well. Local politics is arguably more important than national.
Portland’s mayor will have more of an influence on the city’s fate than Donald Trump or Joe Biden ever will. Either way, this story serves as a warning to residents of other major cities. Failing to focus on local politics might allow the Marxist crowd to usher in their socialist ideas much faster than if they control the presidency.
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