Democrats try to tap into 'resistance' [View all]

DES MOINES — A daylong conference last weekend to build independent political power in Iowa attracted a wide swath of the “resistance” that emerged in the wake of President Donald Trump’s victory, but also many mainline Democrats chaffing at their minority status.

“We’ve seen fierce resistance” since the election, “and now people need to know what to do next,” said Adam Mason, state policy director of Iowans Citizens for Community Improvement.

With speakers including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza along with workshops on finding a place in the resistance, doing politics differently, Medicare for all and challenging corporate agriculture, ICCI was trying “to give people direction and help them take action,” Mason said.

There’s always going to be resistance, said ICCI Executive Director Hugh Espy, “but at some point we have to move beyond that and figure out how we build governing power.”

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