Pelosi And Her DCCC Won't, But Hillary Hit The Campaign Trail In Pennsylvania To Help Mary Ellen Balchunis Win A House Seat

As we've explained before, political science professor Mary Ellen Balchunis is just too progressive for Steve Israel (Blue Dog-NY), Denny Heck (New Dem-WA), Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL), Ben Ray Lujan (DCCC chair) and crazy old lady Nancy Pelosi who used to be from San Francisco and now represents some alternative universe. Mary Ellen isn't, however, too progressive for the Democrats who live in the Philly suburbs in Delaware, Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties. They laughed when the DCCC tried to insert some Wall Street outsider, Bill Golderer, as "their" candidate and Mary Ellen beat him in the primary-- in fact, beat him quite decisively, 51,525 (73.8%) to 18,276 (26.2%). And this despite an aggressive sabotage campaign against her by the DCCC! While telling institutional donors to not contribute to Mary Ellen's campaign, they helped Golderer raise the $351,551 he spent against her in the primary (and even added in another $14,500 against her-- $14,500 that contributors gave the DCCC to be used against Republicans, not against progressives).

As soon as the votes were counted showing Mary Ellen's stupendous win, the DCCC packed up its tents and decided PA-07 was no longer one of the top 10 congressional targets in the country-- and started investing money in deep, deep red districts in Utah, Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, where they have right-wing Blue Dogs and New Dems running, Blue Dogs and New Dems with virtually no chance of winning. Their hatred for progressives and progressive ideas is so overwhelming that they have adamantly refused to help her campaign and are determined to see her lose to sad sack GOP backbencher incumbent Pat Meehan.

Hillary and Bernie split the counties that make up PA-07. They also split the affections of Mary Ellen, who is an old friend of Hillary's and a supporter of the same progressive agenda that made Bernie so beloved to the Democratic Party grassroots, much of which Hillary has now embraced as well, she says. This past Monday, Hillary was back in the Philly suburbs, campaigning with Mary Ellen in her hometown, Haverford... despite Pelosi and her conservative DCCC henchmen still purposefully ignoring the PA-07 race.

Mary Ellen first met Hillary in 1992 when she was a Pennsylvania Bill Clinton delegate to the national convention. They struck up a friendship and Hillary went to La Salle University to give a lecture to Mary Ellen's students. Later Mary Ellen worked hard for the "Baby Bill, legislation meant to increase maternity stays from 24 hours to a minimum of 48 hours and which Hillary adopted into her own efforts as early as 1996. "When Pres. Clinton was signing the bill," Mary Ellen told us, "I got an invitation from the First Lady's Office to the Rose Garden signing ceremony. Since 1992, I have watched, studied and lectured to my Women in Politics class about her. I am so impressed with her work, especially on women and children, and honored to be on the ballot with Secretary Clinton."

Hillary seems to get it-- she needs progressives in Congress to help her pass the ambitious agenda Bernie and Elizabeth Warren helped her put together and run on. It's heartening to see her backing good candidates and not just the garbage the DCCC insists on running. Mary Ellen is a values-driven fighter, not some kind of careerist hack. Hillary needs people like her in Congress if she's going to get anything worthwhile done.

This is the kind of crucial race where the progressive grassroots can pick up the slack from a corrupted and conservative DCCC refusing to do it's job. Please consider joining Blue America in supporting Mary Ellen Balchunis's race against Paul Ryan rubber-stamp, Pat Meehan in a district where Hillary is leading Trump by over 20 points! Let's use that opportunity to win back Joe Sestak's old House seat while the DCCC wastes their resources on a pack of Blue Dogs in districts far out of grasp. Just hit the thermometer below for a page dedicated to progressives in winnable districts that Pelosi's DCCC refuses to help: