Lakesha D. Rogers (born December 9, 1976) is an American political activist in the Lyndon LaRouche Youth Movement, a former candidate in the Democratic primary for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and a two-time Democratic Party nominee for

Texas's 22nd congressional district Texas's 22nd congressional district of the United States House of Representatives covers a largely suburban southwestern portion of the metropolitan area. The district includes most of Fort Bend County, including most of the cities of Sugar ...

. Rogers, an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, is a follower of

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...

and his

LaRouche movement The LaRouche movement is a political and cultural network promoting the late Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included many organizations and companies around the world, which campaign, gather information and publish books and periodicals. ...

. She called for the

impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Personal life

According to her campaign biography, Kesha Rogers was born to a "

lower middle class In developed nations around the world, the lower middle class is a subdivision of the greater middle class. Universally, the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the middle or u ...

family", with her father being a minister and construction worker and her mother working for the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest Public school (government funded), public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the ci ...

. She graduated from

Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...

in 2001 with a degree in Political Science and Speech Communications. She has criticized "the standard institutions of higher education" as "the biggest barrier towards students wanting a real classical education", and has expressed an interest in recruiting young people to the LaRouche Youth Movement. On November 5, 2011, Rogers married her campaign manager, Ian Overton.

LaRouche movement

Rogers is an active supporter of the LaRouche Youth Movement, and has been photographed holding a LaRouche campaign sign depicting President Obama with a

Hitler mustache Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Rogers attacked President Obama for allegedly trying to dismantle

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

(a big employer in the Houston area), and supported impeaching him. She has also criticized Obama for supporting health care reform proposals that she argued are

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

and will kill Americans. Rogers supports "a global Glass-Steagall", a reference to a banking reform law that was passed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and repealed in 1999.

2006 Texas Democratic Party Chairman election

Rogers ran unsuccessfully for chair of the

Texas Democratic Party The Texas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Texas and one of the two major political parties in the state. The party's headquarters are in Austin, Texas. President Lyndon B. Johnson was a Texas Democ ...

in 2006.

2010 United States House of Representatives election

On March 2, 2010, Rogers ran in the Democratic primary election for the US House Texas 22nd District against two opponents, Doug Blatt and Freddy John Wieder, Jr., winning the nomination with 7,467 of 14,281 votes. The win was compared to that of surprise Senate candidate Alvin Greene. Following Rogers' primary victory, state and national Democratic leaders kept her at arm's length. A Texas Democratic Party spokesperson assured the Houston Press that " ogers'scampaign will not receive a single dollar from anyone on our staff," stating that Lyndon LaRouche followers are "not Democrats." The Chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party said, "One of the things the LaRouchites are able to do is to engage young people. If she can turn out young people to vote for Democrats, all the better." He voiced the opinion that Rogers' policies would appear more mainstream were it not for her association with LaRouche, stating with Rogers that LaRouche's support for "investment in

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

, separating commercial from investment banking and opposition to

corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...

" were similar to the programs of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

. Subsequently, the Texas Democratic Party's state executive committee passed a resolution cutting ties with Rogers. Members were not required to support her, nor was she to be recognized at party meetings or mentioned on the party website's list of candidates. The resolution cited the "illegal activities, discriminatory proclamations and thuggish behavior" of the LaRouche movement. Rogers called the decision "arrogant". Rogers' opponent in the general election was incumbent Pete Olson, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary. A spokesman for Olson's campaign said, "You never take an election for granted, but you, perhaps, wonder whether the Democrats in this district have profoundly changed their views on the president. She didn't hide her position." Rogers lost to Olson, 29.8% to 67.5%. During her 2010 primary campaign for U.S. Representative, Rogers accused President Obama of "pissing on John F. Kennedy's legacy" by proposing to end

Constellation program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a " ...

. She argues that

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

banking interests are trying to ruin America's economy. Her campaign slogan was "Help send me to Congress, and we can send our grandchildren to Mars!", a reference to the LaRouche movement's strong support of space travel.

2012 United States House of Representatives election

Rogers continued to work on behalf of LaRouchePAC through 2011 and 2012. She once again won the congressional primary election on May 29, 2012, campaigning on a platform of impeaching Barack Obama "for gross violations of the Constitution in the service of Wall Street imperialism," restoring the Glass-Steagall Act, and reviving

. Rogers received 50.7% of the vote. After Rogers announced her candidacy for the 2012 election, on 9 February the Democratic leadership in TX-22 started a "Stop Kesha Rogers" campaign. Meetings were held on February 18, 25, and 27, and March 3. The stated reason was because Rogers still wished to have Obama impeached (both Rogers and the Democrats assumed that Obama would win the 2012 election, which assumption proved accurate). The leadership and the local Democratic blogger Charles Kuffner endorsed instead KP George. Doug Blatt was also on the ballot. Despite this, Rogers won the Democratic nomination by 103 votes. As in 2010, she was disavowed by state and national Democratic leaders. She was frequently seen on the campaign trail singing, " Twenty-fifth Amendment now--he is nuts! Obama is nuts!" She was referring to LaRouche's call to have Obama removed from office on the grounds of insanity. She lost to Olson again, taking 32% of the vote to Olson's 64%.

2014 United States Senate election

In December 2013, Rogers filed as a candidate in the Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate in Texas. In the March 4, 2014 primary election, she came in second in a field of five candidates, advancing to the May 27 run-off election where she lost to multimillionaire dentist David Alameel. Among the items on her campaign platform were opposition to

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...

, support for

single-payer health care Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...

, restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, and other familiar themes from her earlier campaigns.Diaz, Kevin
U.S. Senate race puts Texas Democrats in a bind
''Houston Chronicle'', May 2, 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Kesha 1976 births African-American people in Texas politics 21st-century African-American women politicians African-American activists LaRouche movement Living people Texas Democrats Texas independents Texas State University alumni Women in Texas politics Candidates in the 2018 United States elections 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century American women politicians