Talking to Joe Sestak: Progressive Fighter Who Took out Arlen Specter, and Won't Stop 'Til He Wins the Senate Race

On May 27, 2009 Joe Sestak announced his intent to challenge Arlen Specter for his Senate seat. Specter had recently switched parties, from Republican to Democrat, ostensibly because he no longer identified with the GOP, but his party jump was best explained by polls which showed he wouldn't sustain a Republican primary challenge. When Sestak, a congressman representing Pennsylvania's seventh district since 2007, declared his senate candidacy, he took the wind out of Specter's opportunistic Democratic sails.

Except the Democratic establishment didn't really take heed. Up until voters cast their ballots on May 18, Democratic big-wigs like Vice-President Biden were out gunning for Specter's campaign, which had turned to low-shot ads that questioned Sestak's 31-year military career. (A three-star admiral in the Navy, Sestak is the highest-ranking military veteran to ever serve in Congress.) On the inside, however, it's clear Democrats were worried. Rahm Emanuel -- with Bill Clinton's help -- even offered Sestak a position in the administration if he dropped his challenge to Specter. Sestak stayed in the race.

Beating Specter, though, is even better than miscalculating Emanuel could have imagined. In Sestak, Democrats have a candidate who can ride the wave of anti-incumbent fervor which ultimately brought Specter down. And matching up against the Republican candidate in November will be much easier for Sestak than it would have been for Specter. Former congressman Pat Toomey is an ex-derivatives trader who voted to deregulate Wall Street. How can he stand up to the image of a three-star admiral who wants to put Main Street over Wall Street?

Sestak will very likely help Democrats keep their slim majority in the Senate, and progressives can take heart, too. He wants to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, was against Iraq from the start (though he supports Afghanistan, albeit cautiously), and -- believe it! -- wants to cut down on military spending. I caught up with him recently, fresh from his primary win.

Daniela Perdomo: During your 31-year military career I've read that you were publicly non-partisan. You're now a Democrat. But you were somewhat written off by the Democratic establishment in your race against Arlen Specter. Were you surprised at the outpouring of support from progressives who clearly had a big impact on your primary win?

Rep. Joe Sestak: No, I wasn't. And I think that the strength of my beliefs and convictions in democratic principles, which land me on the progressive wing of the Democratic Party -- I think they felt a kindred soul in that. But I often tell people, that you know, really, if you look at how I ended up where I am it's because of a very pragmatic approach. Think about my 31 years in the military -- everybody has health care. The dividends that accrue to the nation from healthy, productive service-members whose families are also all covered are incredible. And then when you join the military today, we don't even promote you above a certain level unless you've earned at least an associate's degree. We want educated, knowledgeable service-members -- learn a skill. And then we give everyone economic security with a pension afterwards. I say that everybody in the military is a Democrat, they just don't realize it..

Now that I've come back [from the military] I feel the same way about a workforce. Invest in your people. And hold our investments accountable. You'll really have the working families as the engine for the economy, not Wall Street. Because I learned that militaries may make you safe, but they don't make you strong. What makes you strong is investment in health care, education, and economic security with an accountable approach to that.