Latest news with #Acevero
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic socialist in Maryland legislature ready to ‘fight like hell,' says party moving in his direction
BALTIMORE — As self-described 'Democratic socialist' candidates are seeing greater success in races around the country, one Maryland lawmaker who embraces the label believes Democratic Party voters are shifting in his direction. Del. Gabe Acevero, a 34-year-old member of the Democratic Socialists of America, represents Montgomery County in the Maryland General Assembly. He was first elected in 2018 — long before Zohran Mamdani and Omar Fateh gained national attention for winning the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City and an endorsement from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minneapolis' mayoral race, respectively. As the electorate becomes younger and more progressive, Acevero said that establishment Democrats should 'be cognizant' of what that constituency wants if it plans to win elections. 'If you look at where our base, where our constituency and where America is trending, we have to focus on working-class issues — from housing to socioeconomic, gender, environmental, justice — and we can't just continue to provide lip service as a party,' he said. 'We have to fight like hell, not just for the policies, but for workers and the working class. And that's what I've been committed to in the legislature and will continue to do so.' Del. Matt Morgan, a Republican from St. Mary's County, said he knows Acevero well and considers him 'a nice guy.' He said it's 'undeniable' that the Democratic Party is shifting in Acevero's direction. And, in fact, 'it's already there,' Morgan said. He thinks the push into socialism is ultimately a losing proposition for Maryland voters. 'Socialism has a 100% failure rate. The more it's implemented in Maryland, the more people are going to leave,' Morgan said. Recent elections in New York and Minnesota are perhaps indications that the word 'socialism' does not carry the same negative connotation among voters today — especially among Generation Z and younger millennials born after the Cold War, according to Flavio Hickel, an associate professor of political science at Washington College. These voters, and others who increasingly identify as 'working class,' believe Democrats 'need to offer a more ambitious, aggressive, and left-leaning' policy vision, Hickel told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday. 'I don't think mainstream Democrats would regard what [Acevero] said as probably all that offensive or problematic,' Hickel said. 'They just might differ in sort of, the tactics — how far, how quick and how aggressively do we pursue progressive change?' A staff member for the Maryland Democratic Party did not immediately respond to The Sun's request for comment on Acevero's claims that Democrats are moving in his direction. What a Democratic socialist wants in Maryland Acevero's campaign platform has often leaned progressive: police and criminal justice reform, a $15-per-hour minimum wage, single-payer Medicare For All, universal basic income, higher taxes for the wealthy, and support for kids aging out of the foster care system. 'I think, at the time, a lot of people were trying to, essentially, discourage Democratic voters in District 39 from voting for me, because [they thought], 'these are like radical socialist policies,'' said Acevero. 'In actuality, what they are are popular policies that working people in our state want to see enacted, and so we ran a — similar to Zohran [Mamdani] — a people-powered campaign.' Like Mamdani, Acevero has been vocal in his support of Palestinians in the Gaza war against Israel during his time in the state legislature. In 2025, he introduced the Not On Our Dime Act, which would have required the Maryland Secretary of State to remove nonprofit organizations from the state's Registry of Charitable Solicitation if they knowingly engage in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity. That bill was heard in the House Judiciary Committee, but not debated on the floor. Acevero also sponsored a joint resolution in 2024 that would have conveyed to Maryland's congressional delegation that the General Assembly supports a long-term ceasefire in Israel and Palestine. The joint resolution was heard in the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee, but did not advance further. 'I've been very unapologetic' Acevero told The Sun that Democrats 'weren't particularly fond of' him because, prior to his election in 2018, he was an activist with a penchant for holding politicians in both parties accountable. 'I wasn't the darling of the establishment, and I certainly wasn't embraced by the establishment Democrats in District 39,' he said. 'I unseated a two-term incumbent, and I ran on a working-class, progressive agenda that some folks tried to weaponize … using the whole 'Red Scare Socialism' scare tactic.' Acevero alleges establishment figures later hand-picked a candidate to beat him in the 2022 primary, calling his policies 'pie in the sky' or 'radical.' Still, he won. Though he's rounding out his second term, Acevero still isn't necessarily 'embraced' by other Democrats in the General Assembly. Often when he participates in floor debates, he is jeered and his comments — occasionally incendiary — are often called into question. In 2021, he offered amendments to a package of major police reform bills because he felt the settled policy didn't go far enough. Acevero voted against the Democratic redistricting plan later that year because he says he doesn't believe in gerrymandering. He's publicly critical of criminal justice bills that establish mandatory minimum sentences, of which he said: 'Time and again, civil rights organizations have pointed out … it ties judges' hands, but it also disproportionately impacts, you know, Black and Latino people.' 'I've been very unapologetic about the policies that I advocate for and who I am, because I think it's important,' he said, adding that efforts to 'delegitimize Democratic Socialists and their policies [have] never worked.' -----------------
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate, House approve Second Look Act in quick succession, send it to governor
Sen. Joanne C. Benson (D-Prince George's) praises Sen. Charles Sydnor III after his emotional speech before the Senate voted to approve the Second Look Act on Thursday. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) Just hours after the Senate approved the Second Look Act, the House on Thursday quickly accepted Senate amendments to the bill that gives a second chance to long-serving incarcerated individuals and sent the measure to the governor for his signature. It capped months of debate of emotional, and often personal, debate on House Bill 853, which critics said would bring needless new suffering to victims of crime, but supporters said would provide a deserved second chance to those in prison who had turned their lives around. The Senate on Wednesday, by a one-vote margin, approved an amendment that would make the Second Look Act unavailable to anyone convicted of killing a first responder in the line of duty. That cleared the way for the Senate to approve the bill 31-16 and sent it back to the House, which had approved the bill two weeks ago, on an 89-49 vote. House members voted 89-47 for the amended bill Thursday night and sent it to the governor. Del. Cheryl Pasteur (D-Baltimore County), the lead sponsor of the House bill, was not a fan of many of the amendments the bill picked up along the way, but said after Thursday's vote that 'you have to start somewhere.' 'No one is born into this world or wakes up in the morning to think about doing evil or doing wrong to other people,' Pasteur said. 'I am looking forward to these people who are willing to be out in our communities, helping some of these young people who feel alone and abandoned … Now some of these people will be able to make a difference in their lives,' she said. Del. Gabriel Acevero (D-Montgomery) said the bill is about protecting those who are prison, but who are innocent. 'This is about people who languish in our state prisons for decades for a crime they didn't commit,' Acevero said. 'Where is the compassion for them? Where is the justice for those folks? I heard none of that from the minority party in the entirety of the debate on this bill. This is what you call legislating for the innocent.' House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick) responded, telling Acevero, 'I always enjoy when you get up.' 'You just made an assertion on the floor that every single person locked up for killing someone, killing a kid, killing police officers are all innocent, according to your speech … So, I take offense that,' Pippy said looking Acevero's direction. 'We have folks that have done very bad things and they're incarcerated for it, and we don't want those individuals getting out and revictimizing a whole bunch of other people,' Pippy said. Under the bill, some people who have served at least 20 years of a prison sentence could petition the court for a sentence reduction. That option would not be available to someone sentenced to life without the possibility of parole or to a sex offender — and, after the Senate amendment, to someone convicted of killing a first responder, like a police officer, firefighter or paramedic. The bill had already been narrowed once from the version Pasteur had drafted, limiting the second chance in the act to those convicted of a crime they committed between the ages of 18 and 25. An individual who appeals to the court for a reduced sentence and is denied would have to wait three years before filing another petition. Prisoners could file up to three petitions, but 'an individual may not file a fourth motion to reduce the duration of the sentence,' according to the bill. Sen. Jack Bailey (R-Calvert and St. Mary's), who voted against the bill Thursday, sponsored the Senate amendment Wednesday to put the act out of those convicted of killing a first responder 'in the line of duty.' That amendent passed on a slim 24-23 margin. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) said people convicted of violent offenses who had harmed others 'on purpose' could receive a second look under the bill. 'We've done a lot to try to reform the criminal justice system in this state. This body, I think, has gone too far,' Ready said during Thurday's nearly 25-minute debate in the Senate. 'These were people convicted as adults of very serious crimes. They should not get a second look that's really a 17th or 18th look.' The bill's supporter have long said that it is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for what opponents call the worst of the worst, but something for those who have really turned their lives around. Sen. Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County), defended the bill Wednesday, highlighting how courts can assess several factors to determine whether someone incarcerated has earned a reduced sentence. Some factors would include a person's age at the time of offense, demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation and that person's family background. On Thursday, Sydnor stood in the Senate and highlighted that all victims' families 'are not a monolith.' He began to choke up when he recalled the summer of 1991, when his cousin was shot in the head. A few years ago, Sydnor said a session ended to honor another cousin who suddenly died around Sydnor's birthday. 'The story goes in my family he died of a broken heart. His brother was murdered,' Sydnor said while choking up. 'If these people, whoever committed those crimes, showed that they did what they needed to do to reenter society, I'd welcome them with open arms. As I said yesterday, this is about grace. I stand on that.'
