Rep. Keith Ellison (R., Minn.) told an audience at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) that progressives have a moral imperative to defeat Republicans at the polls, saying "women are dying" because they're losing.
Ellison, who is the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, spoke at the political action committee’s candidate training event Friday and said women’s lives depend on progressives being elected, in a clip posted by IJR. He cited mortality rates among expectant mothers as a reason for enacting more progressive policies.
"Did you know that in Missouri and in Texas, and maybe other places, maternal mortality has risen?" Ellison said.
"Women are dying because we are losing elections," he added. "We don't have the right to lose a damn election. We have to win. We have to win."
PCCC is closely associated with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), who is also on the Democratic Party’s left wing. The group seeks to nominate and elect "bold progressives," and Ellison himself was the progressive choice to head the DNC, although former Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez was ultimately chosen.