As election day approaches, candidate for U.S. Congress Rev. Wendy Hamilton hosted a rally on May 26, next to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with former presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson.
“I would like people to know that my campaign for 2022 is a forward-thinking campaign that has D.C.’s future in mind. I think it is so critical that in this juncture of our history that we begin to look at what our next steps are going to be,” Hamilton said at the “Rally for Hope” event.
Central issues Hamilton is addressing in her campaign include the push for universal healthcare, criminal justice reform, the housing crisis, as well as universal based income (UBI) for D.C. residents and educational reform. The candidate spoke to her vision of the future of the District, sharing that she believes statehood is a priority.
Since D.C. is not a state, the representative of the District is referred to as a delegate, with limited voting privileges in the House of Representatives. The current D.C. member of Congress is Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has served as the representative since Jan. 1991.
Yang attended the rally as a guest speaker and supporter of Hamilton’s campaign.
“Reverend Wendy is exactly the kind of person you hope is in elected office. She’s driven by a spirit of service, and nothing else. She also represents a new generation of leadership that’s very in touch with folks who are living their lives every day and want to enact real change,” Yang said in an interview with Street Sense Media.
Yang shared that he met Hamilton at an earlier campaign event of his in D.C. she attended when she heard about his goals of abolishing poverty. Hamilton then went on to work with Yang in his presidential campaign in 2020.
“A lot of it is around getting people in D.C. energized about a seat that many people don’t realize how potentially influential it can be,” he added.
Jacob Papp, who had attended the event, heard about Hamilton’s campaign through her association with the Forward Party, a political action committee founded by Yang. Papp has since worked as a canvasser of Hamilton, and attended the event to support her campaign and hear from Yang and Williamson.
“A lot of the stuff I’ve been following from Yang, Marianne Williamson and the Forward Party, which is UBI, open primaries, ranked choice voting and health care, are similarities I saw in Hamilton’s campaign,” he said.
Along with Yang, Williamson also spoke highly of Hamilton and the excitement she felt around Hamilton’s campaign, ushering in a “new generation” of leaders.
“With honor and with respect, those who have brought us where we are, even the best of them, need to step aside now. The people need to step in,” she said.