 Lee Carter is a socialist who sent shockwaves through the country and chills down the spines of any Establishment hack when he actually ran for the House of Delegates in Virginia in 2017 and managed to win and Now he is running to be the governor of Virginia And he's kind of doing the same thing that he did when he ran for the House of Delegates He is pulling no punches and he's being completely upfront about what he believes and the message that he's espousing is Resonating with people because he's speaking specifically to their needs He's speaking to the needs of the working class and he recently made headlines and was subsequently attacked for it because he came out and Endors something that you never see gubernatorial candidates indoors BDS So during a debate slash panel that him and his opponents were having they were asked about BDS and the answers here Weren't too bad. I didn't think anyone did a terrible job at answering this question. However Watch how Lee Carter clearly stands apart from the rest Order's in 32 states discourage or criminalize the boycott divestment Sanctions campaigns BDS and those who participated in them BDS is a form of peaceful protest to secure Palestinian rights and pressure Israel to comply with international law attempts to criminalize BDS the BDS movement in Virginia in 2016 and 2017 failed in the general assembly If you are asked to issue a gubernatorial directive against BDS, would you agree to do so? Why or why not? We will start with senator McClellan. 60 seconds, please You know as a child of parents who participated in the civil rights movement I understand that boycotts and protests are critically important to advancing civil rights And I will not do anything Anything that will criminalize that behavior and that movement because we I wouldn't be where I am today But for the ability to boycott and protest And so I will be a brick wall against any efforts to criminalize that activity Thank you senator McClellan next delegate Carter. Please 60 seconds hard to get this into 60 seconds But no, I will never do that. I'm a supporter of the BDS movement I believe that The the human rights abuses that are being inflicted upon the Palestinian people Are among the worst currently ongoing in the world And there is only one state in america that has an agency dedicated to increasing its trade deficit With a foreign country and that agency is the virginia israel advisory board I don't think that we should have an agency like that on our books for any country But specifically for a country that has a military occupation over a captive population like the israeli government does over the palestinian people Thank you delegate Carter uh delegate carol fort 60 seconds, please Thank you for this question And so I have to tell you that as a practicing attorney As a former magistrate Judicial officer otherwise known as a magistrate judge, you know, I am an officer of the court And so I have a strict adherence to the constitution and I have to tell you that criminalizing The bds is you know unconstitutional the courts have ruled on this issue It chills free speech. And so therefore Anything that will you know prohibit people being able to express their discontent or to Ask for banning or sanctions or chills first amendment rights, you know, it's something that I cannot support Thank you so much delegate carol foy uh lieutenant governor fair facts 60 seconds, please Thank you. Uh, and I think as governor and as constitutional officers It really is our role and responsibility to Adhere to the constitution both the commonwealth of virginia and of the united states of america and also to ensure Uh, that all of our citizens have the opportunity to express themselves and their opinions Uh, to exercise their free speech rights about a whole range of issues. And so, uh, I think that uh, particularly here in virginia where we attempt to model Not only our declaration of rights, which Serve as a model for the bill of rights But we have got to ensure that we're allowing people to participate fully In their government and to exercise their rights. And I think that's something that I would Surely do as governor and would certainly do in my role as a constitutional officer So it is encouraging to see the other gubernatorial candidates Not want to criminalize BDS and political speech because that actually is A common phenomenon even with democrats and it's extremely troubling if you actually care about the first amendment and free speech But they just committed to not criminalize free speech Which is the bare minimum that we should expect from anyone who's running for congress In a democracy or running for any elected office in a democracy in this case to be the governor But notice how he just goes above and beyond and says not only will I not criminalize bds. I actually support bds Someone running for governor explicitly endorsed bds this is huge Because immediately you already know what happened the account stop anti semites Quote tweeted a right wing journalist who attacked the candidates for refusing to commit to criminalizing freedom of speech I mean that's just insane But they added anti-semitic bigot quarter for va took it even further Saying virginia should not be a home to the virginia israel advisory board a small local group that fosters investments in israel Now usually when a candidate running for public office even so much as tacitly endorses the idea of bds They get attacked for it. I mean you saw how they didn't even like the other People who were in that panel. They didn't even say they support bds. They they just said they wouldn't criminalize Political speech rightfully so and they were attacked. They were attacked and the implication is that they're anti-semitic So to actually explicitly endorse bds. I mean you would expect lee quarter to back down right as other former bds supporters have in his position because it really is a political death sentence in a lot of cases But he didn't do that. He doubled down and he stated say whatever you want about me I will never stop defending the human rights of the palestinian people which are being systematically violated each and every day I'm not afraid of your smears You know who's thrilled every time someone pretends that the israeli state is synonymous with jewish people as a whole actual anti-semites Who know that the actions of the state are indefensible and gleefully tore jewish people with them That's who this rhetoric empowers and that right there is exactly how it's done If you are on the right side of history And you know That you're correct and you are committed to human rights and the furthering of the human race You don't back down. It doesn't matter what they say about you. It doesn't matter how they try to smear you You remain committed because you're right even if it's unpopular to support bds Or trans rights right now You know 20 years from now 30 years from now You're going to be on the right side of history So you fight for what's real you fight to make that a reality even if right now Socially it's unacceptable Now there's another individual who's in this race that that I did not mention Terry mccaldiff former governor of virginia who is a political behemoth. He's allied with the clintons He has a lot of name recognition in the state of virginia. So this isn't going to be an easy race So if you want to see lee carter win, you have to get involved You have to help him. I'll link you to his campaign down below donate if you can This is an individual who if he were able to win and become the governor This would be a monumental for the left. I can't stress that enough He is running on an unapologetically progressive anti corporate anti elitist anti capitalist agenda And if he were to get elected, this would be a game changer for the progressive movement So we absolutely have to have his back and defend him because he is going to get smeared because he's not going to lie About his positions and he shouldn't but we have to make sure that we support him And we help him get elected in any way that we can monetarily or you knock on doors for him Get him elected do what it takes because We're not going to win by sitting down, you know the establishment. They're going to back terry mccaldiff I think that that's that's obvious, right But we have to make sure that we fight for leak harder Because this isn't just about leak harder and virginia. This is about the progressive movement more broadly speaking