Orange to Blue: Daily Kos endorses Manan Trivedi in Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District

Please contribute $3 to Manan Trivedi on Orange to Blue.

Some diaries, I don't mind writing twice.

Friends, this is the second time I get to announce the addition of my friend, Dr. Manan Trivedi, to the Orange to Blue fundraising list. Manan is running again in Pennsylvania's Sixth Congressional District, and he needs and deserves your personal support in this rematch in a winnable swing district.  

So let me tell you about my friend, what he believes, and why he can win.

Manan grew up in Berks County, where his Indian immigrant parents worked at the Red Cheek apple juice factory. He attended college and med school at Boston University, then joined the United States Navy, where served as the battalion surgeon for a Marine Corps infantry battalion from 2001-03, commanding a medical team that cared for over 1,200 of our troops and hundreds of Iraqi civilians as part of the first ground forces entering Iraq.

For his service, Lt. Commander Trivedi earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Commendation Medal, and his unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

After his service in Iraq, Manan earned a Masters in health policy at UCLA. He drew on his experience with combat medicine to become one of the early researchers to investigate the unique mental health issues affecting our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Trivedi went on to serve as health policy advisor to the Navy Surgeon General and was an assistant professor of medicine at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He also served as a health policy advisor to the Obama for America campaign. Manan is now back home in Reading, where he's a board-certified internal medicine doctor at Reading Hospital.

He believes the right things. Look below the fold at his Orange to Blue questionnaire responses. He supports Medicare-for-All, comprehensive immigration reform, and stated flatly that "I support the right of all Americans to organize and bargain collectively without intimidation or fear of retribution." And I can tell you, as a friend of his, that he is a wonk. He cares about getting policy right, and will work hard to do so.

Manan ran for the first time in the 2009-10 cycle. He didn't win. Wasn't our year, anywhere. But as this March 2010 article from The Hill reminds us, he ran with rare courage, even for progressive Democrats, as the only major House candidate last cycle willing to stand up for the Affordable Care Act when its legislative fate was iffy:

Hardly any Democrat running for Congress seems to want to talk about healthcare.

Of the 26 leading Democratic House candidates contacted by The Hill, only one would commit to voting for the Senate healthcare bill if and when it comes to the House floor.

Out of the more than two dozen Democratic challengers and open-seat House candidates, only 10 commented for this story. Eight outright declined to comment.
Eight more didn't respond to several days' worth of requests via phone and e-mail.

The only candidate to say unequivocally that he would support the Senate bill, which could be voted on in the House next week, is a primary-care physician running to face Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.).

Dr. Manan Trivedi said it's important to get the ball rolling on reconciliation.

'The answer is yes,' he said flatly.

One more thing: The Sixth District is different now. It's a few ticks more Republican, thanks to its shifting towards the west out Route 422, but around 50 percent of the district is new to both men, and in an anti-incumbent cycle, Rep. Jim Gerlach's 10 years of unmemorable service carries negative, not positive weight. He's part of the problem, prone to race- and religion-based attacks, and Manan Trivedi will be a solid voice for a better agenda.  

Please, contribute $3 to Manan Trivedi on Orange to Blue.