This is the first of a series by Aimee Allison on top political strategists who are leading America toward a new progressive political and cultural era.
Tram Nguyen knows what it takes to win in swing state Virginia, and that Tuesday’s primary was a litmus test for Democrats in the state and the nation. Two progressive women of color won hotly contested primaries. Defense attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, promising to bring racial justice to the state’s criminal justice system, won her primary against incumbent Theo Stamos for commonwealth attorney. And progressive Ghazala Hashmi won her primary against Eileen Bedell and is poised to become the first Muslim American in Virginia’s state senate.
The victories are thanks in part to a strategy Tram has perfected over a decade as co-executive director of New Virginia Majority, an organization that builds a multiracial coalition of voters to contest districts held by the Right. Her work makes it possible for Democrats to win key seats, and enables a new set of Democratic leaders in the wake of scandals of racism and sexual violence that engulfed statewide leaders in the past year.
Tram sees an opportunity to reshape the political landscape in Virginia for good. She’s the grand architect of a new Virginia politics that will hold Democrats accountable, elevate a politics of justice, and win the state in 2019 and 2020. She shows us a path to turn the state legislature blue under a slew of threats, including Republican Delegate Bob Thomas’s vow to pass an abortion ban in Virginia should Republicans hold the state House majority.
As leader of New Virginia Majority, Tram is doubling down on stronger political power for women of color and driving organizing year round to register and turn out communities of color at the polls. She’s transforming leadership and politics in Virginia along with its fast diversifying population. In 2017, her organizing was successful in winning the governor’s mansion. And as a member of the newly elected governor’s transition team, she oversaw a Medicare expansion that brought health care to millions of Virginians. It was a tremendous victory for the people of Virginia.