Clinton on Monday announced the launch of Onward Together, a political action organization that is dedicated to supporting progressive causes, ending months of speculation about whether the vanquished presidential nominee would return to political life.
“From the Women’s March to airports where communities are welcoming immigrants and refugees to town hall meetings in every community, Americans are speaking up and speaking out like never before,” Clinton wrote in an email to supporters.
“The challenges we face as a country are real. But there’s no telling what we can achieve if we approach the fights ahead with the passion and determination we feel today, and bring that energy into 2017, 2018, 2020, and beyond. Onward!”
Clinton made the announcement in a series of tweets on Monday afternoon, starting with a playful reference to her post-election, meditative hikes in the woods near her Chappaqua home.
“The last few months, I’ve been reflecting, spending time with family – and, yes, taking walks in the woods,” she wrote. Next she tweeted: “We’re launching Onward Together to encourage people to get involved, organize, and even run for office.”
Clinton said in the email that the organization is “dedicated to advancing the vision that earned nearly 66 million votes in the last election”. The figure is a reference to her popular vote victory over Trump, a fact that apparently continues to irritate the president.
On Twitter, Clinton said Onward Together would start by supporting a handful of liberal organizations, including the prominent Swing Left and Indivisible, which are Democratic groups focused on winning the House in the 2018 midterms. She also cited Color of Change, which is focused on criminal justice reform, Emerge America, which trains Democratic women to run for office, and Run for Something, which helps recruit and support millennials running in down-ballot races.
In its mission statement, Onward Together, which is an iteration of her campaign slogan, Stronger Together, said it will help fundraise for the organizations as well as amplify their political message.
Clinton’s loss shattered the Democrats, who have sought to move past the divisions sewed during a bruising election. But Trump’s victory set of a wave of liberal activism that party leaders are scrambling to harness this energy into electoral victories in 2017 and 2018.
Activists are divided on whether Clinton, who has sat at the helm of Democratic politics for decades, should have a say in the party’s future. But with the launch of this political organization, Clinton has made clear that she will remain an active leader in the party at least for the foreseeable future.
The verdict to her announcement Monday from the Republican National Committee was withering.
The announcement on Monday wasn’t entirely a surprise. Clinton has been hinting at a return to politics for months. In March, she told a roomful of women in Scranton, Pennsylvania, that she was “ready to come out of the woods”.
(TheGuardian US)
