The Democratic candidate taking on Washington state’s Republican incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said she worked in “opposition to U.S. policy in Central America” during her time teaching at the University of Central America.
“I started on the activist side of politics. I worked in opposition to U.S. policy in Central America, which I felt was supporting governments that were not supporting the human rights of the people in the countries and creating war and refugees,” Lisa Brown said during the spring in previously unreported comments.
Video was taken during an event at Washington State University on March 29, 2018. The event was hosted by a group called Camaradas at WSU and was described as an being “geared to student of color at WSU who want to meet candidate Lisa Brown.”
Brown is running against McMorris in November’s midterm election for her House seat in the 5th Congressional District of Washington. There was a difference of 7,951 votes between the two in their respective primary elections in August, according to the latest tally on the secretary of state website.
Brown worked and taught in Nicaragua in 1990, and while there she expressed concern when Daniel Ortega did not become president. Ortega, who is now the president of Nicaragua, is part of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a democratic socialist political party in Nicaragua.
McMorris’s campaign took a shot at Brown when asked for comment.
“America is a beacon of hope and the greatest experiment in self-governance the world has ever known because we fight for every person’s unalienable human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” a spokesperson for McMorris’ campaign said Thursday. “Our nation is the paramount defender of these principles, especially for strangers in faraway places who are oppressed and suffering under socialist tyrants like Daniel Ortega.”
Brown’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment on her time in Nicaragua and her pro-Ortega stance.
When Ortega was defeated in 1990, the now-Democratic candidate said the U.S. was to blame for the economic woes that led him to lose the presidency, and claims she misjudged his popularity because so many college students and university community members supported him.
Meanwhile, the democratic socialist movement has gained traction among college-aged individuals in the U.S.
Former presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had a huge outpouring of support from college students when he ran against Hillary Clinton in the primaries for the 2016 Democratic nomination. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young, self-described “democratic socialist,” beat out 10-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in New York’s primary elections earlier this summer.
Ortega finally became president of Nicaragua in 2007, 17 years after being defeated by Violeta Chamorro, who, Brown said, would tamper with the state-controlled economy. Under Ortega’s presidency, Nicaragua is experiencing a devastated economy that has led to calls for him to step down from his post as president, Reuters reported.
Nicaragua’s economic activity declined 12.1 percent in June compared to a year before, and the unrest caused by economic problems has led to the death of more than 300 people.
Brown has also aligned her beliefs with those of communist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who said capitalism with incompatible with human welfare, and called on people to “hail to” and “work for” a “Socialist America.”
