SAN FRANCISCO, April 03, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Shahid Buttar, a Pakistani-American advocate with strong ties to Bay Area technology and art communities, is challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat representing California's 12th congressional district in the March 2020 primary and November 2020 general election. Buttar's entry into the race follows his emergence from the 2018 primary as Pelosi's leading challenger from the Left.
Buttar will challenge Speaker Pelosi's refusal to address crucial issues facing the United States, including the increasingly dire climate crisis; our broken and barbaric for-profit healthcare system; mounting wealth & income inequality; and our failed and racist criminal "justice" system. Buttar advocates for clear solutions supported by a super majority of Americans across political parties, which must be addressed by new voices in Congress.
"I'm running to represent San Francisco in the House because on many of the most pressing needs confronting our country, today's House leadership marches in lockstep with our corrupt and criminal president, rather than demonstrating real resistance or promoting meaningful alternatives," said Buttar. "The challenges facing working Americans have never been more daunting. Income inequality, crushing student debt, the untenable cost of for-profit healthcare, and San Francisco's exorbitant housing market place have combined to force even middle class San Franciscans into precarity. Mass prison slavery has turned back the clock on civil rights. And climate change threatens human life on Earth. Yet House leaders have done almost nothing to address any of these critical issues."
A detailed description and outline of Shahid Buttar's platform, as well as his background, can be found here.
An official launch event for Shahid's candidacy will be held this Wednesday, April 3 from 6-8 pm at 1114 Folsom in San Francisco. Details for this event can be found here.
Shahid wields substantial experience on issues including civil rights, civil liberties, campaign finance reform, tech policy, and foreign policy, in addition to constitutional law, antitrust law, and judicial nominations. He also wields an extensive background in grassroots organizing and non-profit management, reflected in his work at the Electronic Frontier Foundation as Director of Grassroots Advocacy, and at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (now Defending Rights and Dissent), which he led for six years as the organization's Executive Director. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of the Center for Media Justice, the Fund for Constitutional Government, and Defending Rights and Dissent.
Buttar's 2018 candidacy was endorsed by the San Francisco Berniecrats; Progressive Democrats of America (both locally and nationally); the SF Bay Guardian; the SF Tenants Union; Vets for Bernie; and the Brownie Mary Democratic Club, in addition to Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink; Jason West, who helped launch the movement for marriage equality onto the national stage; State Department whistleblower and retired state judge Arthur Brennan; Trevor Timm, Executive Director of Freedom of the Press Foundation*; author Cory Doctorow; and UC-Hastings law professor and labor advocate Veena Dubal.*
44 years old, Shahid has lived in the Bay Area and Washington, DC since 2000. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 2003, where he served as Executive Editor of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and a teaching assistant for Constitutional Law. His writing has appeared in TechCrunch, Truthout, the Huffington Post, EFF's Deeplinks blog, Project Censored, and various legal academic journals, and he has been quoted as an authority by outlets including the New York Times, CNN, the Nation, al-Jazeera, Wired, Democracy Now!, the Intercept, and the Guardian US.
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