The DCCC's Midterms Problem

Carol Shea-Porter

The DCCC wants you to think Democrats can't win in midterm elections and it isn't their fault. But Democrats can and have won in midterm elections and when they do lose, it is certainly at least in part due to the incompetence and corrupt nature of the DCCC and the basic Republican-lite philosophic underpinnings of the organization itself. Generally, it has been the party that's in power that loses seats during the midterms. There are, of course, exceptions but let's go back ten years and look at how the Democrats captured the House in 2006, a midterm while Bush-Cheney was in the White House.

That year 42,338,795 voters (53.2%) pulled a lever for a Democrat and 35,857,334 (44.4%) pulled a lever for a Republican. The Democrats won a net of 31 seats and won the majority that replaced right-wing child molester Denny Hastert with Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker in history. The 233-202 Democratic majority was fattened in 2008 when Obama won the White House and the Democrats netted another 21 seats, giving them a 236-199 majority, a majority long since dissipated by a DCCC, under Chris Van Hollen and Steve Israel, more concerned with electing corrupt conservatives than with electing Democrats.

But let's look at what happened to the class of 2006 as their 10th anniversary approaches. First a couple of words about the primaries that year. Blue America took on Rahm Emanuel in several and helped defeat his Republican-lite candidates with more progressive, grassroots figures, primarily in California where Jerry McNerney beat Steve Filson and then went on to oust powerful GOP incumbent Richard Pombo, in New Hampshire where we helped Carol Shea-Porter stop the establishment Rahm candidate, Jim Craig, and then go on to defeat Republican incumbent Jeb Bradley, and in New York where John Hall eviscerated Rahm's "ex"-Republican candidate, Judy Aydelott, and then went on to take out GOP incumbent Sue Kelly.

Still most of the candidates the Democrats ran were Rahmish conservatives. Here's the full list of the Democratic challengers who won in 2006... and what happened to them since:

• Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ)- defeated in 2010
• Gabby Giffiords (Blue Dog-AZ)- shot in 2011, retired
• Jeff McNerney (D-CA)- still serving
• Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)- still serving
• Joe Courtney (New Dem-CT)- still serving
• Chris Murphy (New Dem-CT)- serving in the Senate
• Kathy Castor (D-FL)- still serving
• Tim Mahoney (Blue Dog-FL)- defeated in 2008 (sex scandal)
• Ron Klein (D-FL)- defeated in 2010
• Hank Johnson (D-GA)- still serving
• Mazie Hirono (New Dem-HI)- lost 2014 Senate primary
• Phil Hare (D-IL)- defeated in 2010
• Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN)- won Hail Mary pass 2012 Senate bid
• Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN)- defeated in 2010 Senate bid
• Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)- defeated in 2010
• Bruce Braley (D-IA)- defeated in 2014 Senate bid
• Dave Loebsack (D-IA)- still serving
• Nancy Boyda (ex-Republican/Blue Dog reject-KS)- defeated in 2008
• John Yarmuth (D-KY)- still serving
• John Sarbanes (D-MD)- still serving
• Tim Walz (D-MN)- still serving
• Keith Ellison (D-MN)- still serving
• Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)- defeated in 2010, won in 2012, lost in 2014
• Paul Hodes (D-NH)- defeated in 2010 Senate bid
• Albio Sires (D-NJ)- still serving
• Yvette Clarke (D-NY)- still serving
• John Hall (D-NY)- defeated in 2010
• Kirsten Gillibrand (Blue Dog-NY)- appointed senator in 2008
• Mark Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated in 2010
• Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)- avoided certain defeat by retiring in 2012
• Charlie Wilson (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated in 2010
• Betty Sutton (D-OH)- defeated in 2012
• Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated in 2010
• Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in 2012 primary
• Joe Sestak (D-PA)- defeated in 2010 Senate bid
• Patrick Murphy (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in 2010
• Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in 2010
• Steve Cohen (D-TN)- still serving
• Nick Lampson (Blue Dog-TX)- defeated in 2008
• Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX)- defeated in 2010
• Peter Welch (D-VT)- still serving
• Steve Kagen (D-WI)- defeated in 2010

Today not a single one of Rahm's dreadful Blue Dog candidates is still serving in the House, although two managed to get into the Senate. Of the three progressives that Blue America backed and who beat the Rahm conservatives-- McNerney is still in the House, Shea-Porter is about to win her seat back, and in John Hall's old district, Zephyr Teachout is the probable next congresswoman.

Please consider helping progressives running this year, from the aforementioned Teachout to hard-core reformers like Tim Canova, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Eric Kingson, Alex Law, Dave McTeague, Pat Murphy and Lou Vince up against DCCC hacks, who would, if they win on Bernie's or Hillary's coattails, just lose the seats in 2018 anyway.