University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) law professor and self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist” Antonia Eliason has announced that she is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Mississippi’s first congressional district.
Ole Miss law professor Antonia Eliason is challenging Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS) in the 2020 election, according to a report by the Daily Journal, which added that the professor is the only Democrat candidate who filed for the district’s primary race, and therefore will presumably be the Party’s nominee to run against the incumbent Republican.
Eliason, who is reportedly running as a “Democratic Socialist,” says that she wants to bring “new energy to the political landscape of Northeast Mississippi.”
According to Campus Reform, some of her stances can be found on Twitter, such as her endorsement of far-left policy proposals like Medicare for All, “environmental justice,” and a Green New Deal.
I’m Antonia Eliason. Today, we’re launching the very first congressional Democratic Socialist campaign in Mississippi (MS-01). We are 100% people powered and refuse all corporate money. Join us in fighting for a new leaf for Mississippi! #Antonia4MS pic.twitter.com/fbGZIX64cM
— Antonia for Congress MS-01 (@Antonia4MS1) January 13, 2020
“It’s time to elect progressives in Mississippi,” said Eliason said last week in a statement, according to Jackson Free Press, “As a Democratic socialist, I intend to bring new energy to the political landscape of Northeast Mississippi and to our Democratic Party.”
The professor claims that her campaign will focus on “environmental justice, universal health care, and workers’ rights.”
“We must confront poverty, inequality and racial discrimination at their source,” she added. “With the right policies at the national and state level and with the engagement of grassroots social movements, Mississippi could become a hub for sustainable development thanks to our abundant resources.”
It appears that Eliason has decided to take a different approach to politics when compared to some of her colleagues in academia, such as Ole Miss professor James Thomas, who in October 2018 said that simply harassing Republicans in restaurants isn’t enough, and that leftists should put their “whole damn fingers” in senators’ meals, because they “don’t deserve civility.”
Eliason joined Ole Miss faculty in 2013, teaching subjects such as International Trade Law, International Investment Law, Contracts, EU Law, the Law of Armed Conflict, as well as Law and Science Fiction, according to the university’s website.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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