Now that Joe Biden is the presumptive candidate running against the President, our battle to secure a more equitable and democratic future just got more uphill. In that spirit, I’m focusing on helping candidates committed to progressive policies—universal health care, social justice for all, and fighting income inequality, among others—get elected to Congress. This is the second in a series. 

Betsy Sweet is a political activist and single mother running for a U.S. Senate seat in Maine. If she wins the July primary election, she’ll be going up against Susan Collins, the GOP Senator who made a deciding vote on allowing Brett Kavanaugh to sit on the Supreme Court for life.

Sweet is committed to the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and the DREAM Act. She’s made protecting tribal lands and water rights a priority. I like that her positions on policies like Gun Control and Education Access take Mainers and their needs into account. Which is to say she’s able to mediate pressing national policy needs to suit her constituency without sacrificing her progressive vision for the future.

For now, Sweet is running in Maine’s Democratic primary against Sara Gideon, a State Rep who, on the one hand, has committed to receiving no corporate PAC money but, on the other hand, doesn’t support Medicare for All and has no official positions or policies on improving the lives of queer people or people of color. (She’s got ideas for seniors and veterans, though.)

Gideon is the current frontrunner in terms of money raised.

If you’re reading this, your politics might be different from mine, and you might think that Maine’s Senate seat is winnable if the Right Political Steps are made—in this case, electing a centrist Democrat to run against a weak Republican. I personally don’t agree, but many other news outlets seem to.

My candidate in this race is Sweet, the way my candidate in the presidential race was Sanders. I don’t think you make a better future by playing politics, I think you make a better future by supporting policies, and the people who are most committed to them.

But I know the good fight when I see it. So regardless of who wins Maine’s July Democratic primary, I’ll be supporting whoever’s up against Collins. I hope it’s Betsy Sweet, but either way, the Maine Senate race is worth keeping our eyes (and our donations) on.

And don’t forget there’s more than $4 million waiting for whoever runs against Collins. That crowdfund is still accepting donations.