Will The Beltway Establishment Be Able To Deliver Maryland For Van Hollen?

Donna Edwards has had to fight her own party's entrenched Establishment before. In fact... every step of the way. When Beltway special interests got behind The corrupt conservative Democrat Edwards was primarying, Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi didn't beat around the bush. Each went into high gear raising money and collecting endorsements for Al Wynn. K Street was all in for Wynn. Meanwhile Donna forged together a coalition of local and national progressive groups including Blue America, SEIU, UFCW Local 400, UNITE HERE, the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, the League of Conservation Voters, Friends of the Earth Action PAC, Progressive Maryland, Progressive Democrats of America, Democracy for America, the National Organization for Women, MoveOn.org, Feminist Majority Foundation, the Women's Campaign Forum and People for the American Way. On Tuesday, Donna is expected to announce that she is running for the Senate.

Once again Donna will be facing an Establishment fave-- this time centrist Chris Van Hollen. And, once again, signals are being sent from the top of the pyramid that they want Van Hollen, not Donna Edwards. Harry Reid was the first to jump into action for Van Hollen. Reid: “Not only would Chris Van Hollen be the best and most effective person for the job, I have no doubt that he is in the best and strongest position to make sure that this Senate seat remains in Democratic hands in a state that just elected a Republican governor." Reid served notice on Democratic groups that the Establishment has made its choice-- and that they expect major donors, unions, state and local organizations, other elected, etc to get on board. Even though, technically, the DSCC is claiming neutrality, you can expect them to be directing major donors towards Van Hollen-- and sharing whatever non-financial resources they can with his campaign.

Blue America, DFA, PCCC and MoveOn are all involved in Draft Donna efforts. You can contribute to her campaign here.

Despite all the Establishment forces lined up against her in 2006, she actually got more votes and Wynn only retained his seat because of the sudden appearance of stuffed ballot boxes at the last minute. He claimed a 49.7- 46.4% win. Two years later, she kicked his ass in the primary, 59-37%. Wynn then resigned from Congress to take a lobbying job on K Street and Donna won a snap special election, 81-18%. She's won reelection every two years with gargantuan margins. And Pelosi has embraced her and appointed her to several important House caucus roles. I'm sure Harry Reid will do the same in 2017-- if he manages to win reelection in 2016.