National NPR Podcast to Feature Jeff Beals Campaign Before Audience of Millions
(WOODSTOCK, NY – 6/18/2018) – Local teacher and former U.S. diplomat Jeff Beals made national news Monday with his progressive run for Congress when NPR announced it will be profiling his campaign before an audience of millions this Friday on This American Life.
In a promotion for the episode, host Ira Glass announced that the episode will tell the story of Beals’ insurgent progressive campaign against a centrist party establishment. Glass says, “For months, a Congressional candidate for New York State has talked frankly about all the stuff going on behind the scenes in his district as Democrats battle each other: progressives thinking moderates are dooming the party to failure and vice versa.” The title? “It’s My Party and I’ll Try if I Want To.”
The announcement comes as the Beals campaign jumped to the forefront in recent days with endorsments and a confrontation with Republican incumbent John Faso. Faso singled out the Beals campaign for a series of attacks on his support for Medicare for All and Beals responded in kind.
“The fact Faso is even going after Beals weeks before the primary suggests the incumbent detects danger in a potential matchup,” journalist Armen Rosen observed in a recent profile of Beals in Tablet Magazine. “Beals is young, experienced, and totally disconnected from Democratic Party politics….”
Beals is leading a campaign endorsed by the grassroots movements behind Bernie Sanders’ run for the Presidency. Both the Justice Democrats and the People for Bernie have backed his campaign and Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig just offered Beals the only mayoral endorsement in the race.
Beals’ grassroots campaign has already attracted the largest social media following of any campaign in the race, with over 5,200 followers on facebook. It has also been profiled in an ongoing series by renown Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi. The Rolling Stone articles recount Beals’ outspoken call for the Democratic Party to face down corporate influence and stand for a progressive platform that enacts Medicare for All, raises social security benefits, forgives student loan debt.
Beals would be the only former U.S. diplomat in Congress if elected and has said he would use his experience to speak out against endless war and put the money America is squandering to work on a Federal Jobs Guarantee and a Green New Deal.
About Jeff Beals
Jeff Beals is a local high school history teacher and former U.S. diplomat whose campaign has been endorsed the national organization of former Bernie Sanders staffers, the Justice Democrats. He lives and works in Woodstock with his wife, Suhayr, a kindergarten teacher, and their two sons. Jeff was one of the longest-serving diplomats of the Iraq war, decorated by the U.S. Army and State Department for his leadership in bringing all sides together in cease-fire talks and the drafting of Iraq’s constitution. He is a local democratic committee member and an active political organizer in NY-19, where he voted against John Faso.
For more information about Beals’ campaign, visit http://www.bealsforcongress.co
