Why Are Voters So Unenthusiastic About Reelecting Run Of The Mill, Garden Variety Democrats?

You mean Crowley rocking out with Huckabee doesn't get Queens & Bronx voters out to the polls?

Turnout for the midterms in California was a dismal 42% this year. Barbara Lee (CA-13- Oakland) didn't have a real race, but her constituents turned out for her in greater numbers than any other congressional candidate in the whole state, more than any other Democrat and more than any Republican. 166,182 went to the polls to voice their gratitude for a congresswoman who stands up for working families. (In 2012 she was reelected with 250,436 votes and Obama won the district with 268,093 in 2012 and 283,183 in 2008.)

The upper Midwest seems like an especially civic-minded area and Minnesota and Wisconsin always get good turnout. In Minnesota, for example, all the Democratic incumbents scored over 100,000 votes-- a very different story than in most of the country. Keith Ellison led the way with 167,076 votes,a nice healthy midterm vote-- although he had won reelection in 2012 with 262,102 votes. Similar story in Wisconsin, The Democratic incumbents all scored over 100,000, with Mark Pocan leading the way with 224,548, the biggest turnout anywhere in the whole country for any Democrat running for the House. His level of support was hardly down at all from 2012 when he won with 265,422 votes.

What do these three Democrats have in common aside from loyal constituents? Pocan has the single most progressive voting record in the entire Congress. Ellison and Lee are two courageous, stalwart progressives who never hesitate to stand up loud and clear on behalf of the ordinary people who don't hire lobbyists. These are their ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote scores:

• Mark Pocan 98.71
• Keith Ellison 95.49
• Barbara Lee 94.87

At least as important is their willingness to lead on tough issues that send other Members of Congress fleeing under the bed. And Democratic and independent voters appreciate it. Compare their resulting to results in two other states' Democratic delegations, Texas and New York. Voters were competency uninspired and stayed away from the election in droves, catastrophic in New York swing districts and most just embarrassing in Texas' obscenely gerrymandered Democratic ghettos districts. Keep in mind, all districts have approximately the same number of people.

• TX-09- Al Green- 77,979
• TX-15- Rubén Hinojosa- 48,561
• TX-16- Beto O'Rourke- 49,257
• TX-18- Sheila Jackson Lee- 75,963
• TX-20- Joaquin Castro- 66,538
• TX-23- Pete Gallego- 55,436 (lost the seat to a CIA agent)
• TX-28- Henry Cuellar- 62,471
• TX-29- Gene Green- 41,229
• TX-30- Eddie Bernice Johnson- 92,971
• TX-33- Mark Veasey- 43,729
• TX-34- Filemon Vela- 47,457
• TX-35- Lloyd Doggett- 60,027

Don't get me wrong; some of these Democratic incumbents won with stupendous margins-- Mark Veasey with 86.5%, Gene Green with 89.5%, Al Green with 90.8%... but that's because of gerrymandering, not because these legislators are inspiring anyone to get out and work for them and vote for them the way Barbara Lee, Keith Ellison and Mark Pocan do. And New York is in even worse shape than Texas. Texas Democrats lost one mangey, worthless Blue Dog, Pete Gallego. New York Democrats crashed and burned:

• NY-01- Tim Bishop- 73,860 (lost the seat to a teabagger)
• NY-03- Steve Israel- 85,310 (likely GOP target in 2016)
• NY-04- Kathleen Rice- 85,294
• NY-05- Gregory Meeks- 72,454
• NY-07- Nydia Velázquez- 53,283
• NY-08- Hakeem Jeffries- 71,280
• NY-09- Yvette Clarke- 78,157
• NY-10- Jerry Nadler- 82,880
• NY-12- Carolyn Maloney- 83,870
• NY-13- Charlie Rangel- 64,142
• NY-14- Joe Crowley- 47,370
• NY-15- Jose Serrano- 51,665
• NY-17- Nita Lowey- 93,001
• NY-18- Sean Patrick Maloney- 93,001
• NY-20- Paul Tonko- 118,993
• NY-24- Dan Maffei- 75,690 (lost the seat... again)
• NY-25- Louise Slaughter- 93,053
• NY-26- Brian Higgins- 79,344

Again, there were some huge wins by percentage but no voter enthusiasm whatsoever. Take Joe Crowley for example, the Queens County Democratic Party boss and a member of the House Leadership with millions of Wall Street dollars in his campaign kitty. He won with a gigantic 88.2%... but with a disgraceful 47,370 votes. He didn't even try too engage the voters, neither on policy nor even in a competent get out the vote effort.

Is there not a problem when Democratic congressmen can't inspire the people back home to get out and vote for them. Why can Mark Pocan get 224,548 voters while Joe Crowley only gets 47,370? And why is Joe Crowley on a leadership track? Isn't that exactly what is wrong with the Beltweay Democratic Party?