LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County community organizer Nils Palsson has filed as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Fifth Congressional District.
The district includes all of Napa County and parts of Lake, Sonoma, Solano and Contra Costa counties.
Running as a “Berniecrat” – a progressive Democrat aligned with the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders – Palsson, 30, represents a platform of social, racial, environmental and economic justice for all, with an emphasis on getting money out of politics and restoring our democracy.
“Big money has taken over politics,” he said. “I am running for this office because we, the people, deserve a voice in government.”
Palsson takes no campaign contributions from corporations or lobbyists.
“As an outsider to the political establishment, I bring a much-needed fresh outlook. I take no Super-PAC contributions. My clear allegiance is to our people and planet: to Main Street, not Wall Street,” he said.
Palsson, 30, was recently elected to be a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July. Palsson was second overall vote-getter at the district-wide Democratic Caucus held in Napa on May 1.
Endorsements for Palsson’s campaign include the national group Elect Bernie Thinkers, along with a growing list of community members and working people from around the district.
When he filed his declaration of candidacy on March 11, Palsson was the only candidate to turn in more than the bare minimum of 40-50 nomination signatures. He gathered hundreds from around the district, showing grassroots support for his campaign.
Running in a four-way primary on June 7, in which the top two candidates advance to the November election regardless of party, Palsson hopes to be the one to challenge the nine-term, 18-year incumbent Mike Thompson, also a Democrat.
“We live in a progressive district,” Palsson said. “I believe the people here are ready to see our true values and needs represented in Congress.”
He added that, if voters were to follow the money and see where Thompson’s campaign contributions actually come from, voters would overwhelmingly support a challenger to the status quo.
Palsson supports a constitutional amendment to end what he refers to as “the disastrous Citizens United ruling” and establish that corporations are not people, and that campaign contributions do not constitute free speech.
“The reason we’re not getting so many of our needs met – from education and health care, to a fair economy and a real response to global warming – is because there is a corrupt system of money in politics that we urgently need to address if we truly want to thrive,” he said.
Father to a 3-year-old, Palsson said parental concerns are a driving force behind his run for Congress. “The climate crisis is very real, and harmful practices like fracking are polluting our groundwater. The status quo is failing our children and grandchildren, failing future generations.”
He added, “Unlike most of the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, including our incumbent, I do not accept money from the fossil fuel industry. I will work to ensure that all our children inherit a healthy planet, a strong economy, and a just society.”
Born in San Francisco and educated at New York University, Palsson moved to Lake County in 2010. He has served as a high school history teacher, a radio host at KPFZ Lake County Community Radio, and a community organizer for local resilience and social justice.
After five years of grassroots organizing as co-founder of the Transition Lake County, Palsson was hired in 2015 to be communications and special projects coordinator at the Sonoma-based nonprofit Transition US, national hub of a global “transition movement” toward healthier, more sustainable and empowered communities.
He was displaced during the Valley fire last September. Although the fire didn’t consume his home, Palsson was ultimately displaced by the fire this April, when his landlords chose to sell the home he was renting in the burn zone.
“I am just like the rest of the people in my district,” Palsson said. “I’m dealing directly with challenges like student debt and the housing crisis. I know how it feels to be a working-class parent – and I am ready to represent the working-class people of this district in Congress.”
More information about his campaign is available at www.NilsforCongress.com .
Palsson running for U.S. House of Representatives
- Lake County News reports
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