Two viral political ads have propelled Kimberly Klacik to a possible contender for a seat in the Congress representing a deep-blue Maryland district. She is black, a woman, and a Republican with fresh new ideas. Does she represent a new type of conservative in the wake of President Donald Trump?
In her first campaign ad video, she showed something that no one had done before: a visual walk-through showing the devastating consequences of decades of Democratic rule in Baltimore. However, many say that her second campaign ad is even more impressive.
Again, she does the walk-through in blighted neighborhoods but adds a visualization of building, renovating, and refurbishing the area with new schools, businesses, and attractive homes. She does all this while explaining her plan for reducing crime and bringing back jobs.
The Platinum Plan
Klacik echoes and fleshes out many of the talking points of Trump’s Platinum Plan for Black Economic Empowerment recently unveiled in Atlanta. For years, the president has spoken about opportunity zones for blighted inner cities, often coinciding with black communities. With the unveiling of the plan, which involves a $500 billion investment, Trump has started to concretize how he intends to bring prosperity and opportunities to troubled areas.
Klacik was one of the speakers in Atlanta, where she said that “as we saw during the Coronavirus lockdown, we had to rely on other countries for PPE. We’re supposed to be the best country in the world. All our manufacturing jobs went overseas thanks to NAFTA under Bill Clinton. After I am elected, I hope to work with Trump to bring that billion-dollar biotech industry right back to Baltimore City’s port.”
Homeownership
That bold and lofty goal has been presented with a step-by-step plan. Klacik has proposed a way to get locals invested in the local community through homeownership.
Many of the buildings and houses in the inner city are abandoned and in decline. She wants the residents to be allowed to buy these properties at a low price and refurbish the buildings, possibly with cheap government loans.
Many in the area have obtained money from illicit activities such as drug sales. Klacik proposes a one-year amnesty for these people, allowing them to invest their “gains” in properties and become part of the legal economy. That solves two problems: First, it incentivizes youth who have gone down a criminal path to get a second chance at rehabilitation. Second, it creates local investors with an incentive to keep the streets clean and the neighborhoods safe.
Because a disturbingly high percentage of black youth in these neighborhoods have a criminal record, this plan could infuse hope into a community that has long since lost it.
First Step
In the long run, school choice and bringing back manufacturing jobs from overseas will propel economic empowerment, but without first steps, such promises remain pie-in-the-sky. Klacik has shown she can think big while acting small, with realistic, detailed plans to advance to more ambitious goals.
Such clarity of vision — combined with practicality and an incredible ability to communicate her plan — had been absent in both the Republican and the Democratic parties before Trump.
A Winning Strategy
She faces an uphill battle, but in the special election 2020, after the death of incumbent Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), she received 25.1% of the votes, the best result for a Republican in decades.
She will most likely improve that result in the general election and hold a winning strategy even if she does not win this time. She is changing minds and hearts and likely has a bright future in the Republican Party.
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