Cheri Bustos' Anti-Primary Rule-- A Complete Farce

Last year Dan Lipinski won his general election with 163,053 votes, Cheri Bustos won hers with  142,659 and Ilham Omar? She won hers with 267,703 votes. Now THAT'S enthusiasm

The execrable Cheri Bustos still claims her rule blackballing anyone and everyone who works with any Democratic candidate who challenges an incumbent in a primary is based on a desire to save the freshmen. She's lying. The decision to ban primaries against incumbents was decided on after AOC beat Joe "the next Speaker" Crowley and after Marie Newman came within a tiny handful of votes of beating Bustos Blue Dog crony Dan Lipinski. The freshmen they care about have no challengers.

So far the vast majority of Blue Dog and New Dem freshmen have "F" ProgressivePunch ratings and might be vulnerable from primaries-- but almost none of them have challengers. Here's a list of garbage freshmen with "F" scores who deserve strong primary challenges but don't have one:

• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- F
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- F
• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)- F
• Andy Kim (D-NJ)- F
• Tom Malinowski (New Dem-NJ)- F
• Jared Golden (D-ME)- F
• Antonio Delgado (D-NY)- F
• Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem-PA)- F
• Susan Wild (New Dem-PA)- F
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- F
• Jennifer Wexton (New Dem-VA)- F
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)- F
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)- F
• Sean Casten (New Dem-IL)- F
• Lauren Underwood (D-IL)- F
• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)- F
• Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)- F
• Abby Finkenauer (D-IA)- F
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- F
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)- F
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- F
• Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem-TX)- F
• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)- F
• Jason Crow (New Dem-CO)- F
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- F
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- F
• Steven Horsford (New Dem-NV)- F
• Josh Harder (D-CA)- F
• TJ Cox (New Dem-CA)- F
• Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)- F
• Katie Porter (D-CA)- F
• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)- F
• Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)- F

What about freshmen with "F" scores who do have primaries? Joe Morelle (D-NY) is being challenged by Robin Wilt, who ran against him last year and raised no money. This year Wilt has raised the same amount. Same story for New Jersey Blue Dog Mikie Sherrill. Mark Washburne raised zero to run against her in 2018 and zero so far in their 2020 rematch. In 2018 Maryland New Dem David Trone spent an astronomical $17,913,172 of his own money to win a blue seat (MD-06, which has a PVI of D+6). His primary challenger this cycle, Preeti Panchal, hasn't raised enough money to file and FEC report so far. Last cycle New Dem Elaine Luria (VA) raised $4,241,169 and saw the DCCC and their allies spend another $3.8 helping her defeat Scott Taylor. Her primary opponent this cycle, Joe Mota, hasn't raised enough money to file an FEC report yet. Meanwhile, Luria, who has no announced GOP opponent yet, has raised $858,378 and spent $161,359. In 2018, Blue Dog Joe Cunningham pulled off a real coup by winning a red South Carolina seat-- which he uses to vote like a Republican. His primary opponent this cycle is Ben Frasier, who has raised... you guessed it: not enough to file an FEC report. (Cunningham has already raised $1,245,355 and spent $323,873.) Last cycle New Dem Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ) spent $4,460,335 to win a tough swing district-- and the DCCC and its allies chipped in another $2.4 million. This cycle she has 2 primary opponent, Nevin Kohler and Andres Portela who have together raised no money, while she's already $525,320 raised and spent $359,818. And two more New Dems have primaries Susie Lee (NV) and Katie Hill (CA)-- neither serious, like all the rest of the New Dems and Blue Dogs. In 2018 Richard Hart raised zero against Susie Lee (who spent $5,036,154) and he wants a rematch and has raised the same amount this year that he raised in 2018. Katie Hill, who spent $8,342,521 to beat Republican Steve Knight in 2018, has a primary opponent, David Rudnick, this cycle. She's already raised $1,321,484 and spent $263,168. Rudnick has not only not raised any money, it doesn't look like he's even registered as a candidate yet.

So are there any freshmen with serious primary challenges that DCCC is actually worried about? Maybe Donna Shalala (FL-27), whose represents a safe blue district and has two Democratic challengers, Michael Hepburn and Donald Summeralls. Last year Shalala spent over half a million of her own and another $3.5 million to win the open Miami-Date seat. Progressive Michael Hepburn, who is running against her again this cycle, raised $37,529 in 2018. This year neither Hepburn nor the other Democrat challenging her, Donald Summeralls II, has filed an FEC report yet. She's raised $633,924 so far.

One thing I know for sure, the DCCC certainly doesn't care about the super-progressive freshmen like AOC, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and their primaries. AOC has two declared primary opponents so far James Dillon and Badrun Khan, neither of whom has raised any money. But Elizabeth Crowley, Joe Crowley's cousin, lost her city council reelection bid and is being encouraged by establishment conservatives to run against AOC (who has already raised $1,946,325.) Rashida Tlaib (MI) has a similar situation. Last cycle, the Democratic establishment conservative who ran against her was Detroit City Council president Brenda Jones, who spent $261,976. This time the Detroit establishment is threatening to run Jones against her again.

Ilhan Omar is the freshman with a possible real threat-- and the DCCC hasn't done a thing to help her. In 2018 5 Democrats ran against her in the primary, including former Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Kelliher, who raised $503,004 against her and came in second, and state Senator Bobby Joe Champion who raised basically nothing and came in 5th.

The Democratic establishment has been trying to get Champion or Kelliher to run again, though neither has committed yet. So far Ilhan has raised $1,434,236 and spent $539,316 defending herself against the waves of slime unleashed against her non-stop by Trump, the NRCC and conservative Democrats.

So who was the Bustos ruled really meant to protect? Bustos, Pelosi, Hoyer and other old conservative incumbents who, like Crowley, have lost touch with their constituents and are vulnerable to strong primary attacks. Primaries against incumbent Democrats that Blue America is involved with include Brianna Wu's run against New Dem Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Kim Williams' run against Blue Dog Jim Costa (CA-16), Rachel Ventura's run against New Dem Bill Foster (IL-11), Eva Putzova's run against "ex"-Republican Blue Dog Tom O'Halleran (AZ-01), Michael Owen's run against Blue Dog David Scott (GA-13), Marie Newman's race against Blue Dog Dan Lipinski (IL-03), Mike Gamba's race against Blue Dog Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Jessica Cisernos' race against Blue Dog Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Shaniyat Chowdhury's race against New Dem Gregory Meeks (NY-05) and Jamaal Bowman's race against New Dem Eliot Engel (NY-16). Want to chip in to any of these campaigns? That's what the thermometer on the right is for.

What kind of members of Congress will they be? That's what's most important, right? I asked on-- Shaniyat Chowdhury in southeast Queens-- to tell us why he is campaigning so hard on the Green New Deal. "A huge part of my district is on a peninsula," he explained. "No one ever could imagine that a hurricane would hit NYC so hard--  until it did in 2013. Hurricane Sandy arrived onto the shores of the Rockaways, washing away homes, destroying businesses, and changing the lives of so many residents forever. I went out there as a first responder while still enlisted in the Marine Corps. Families lost everything and strangers were coming together to help each other out. That’s when climate change became a priority for me and the people of NY-05. I began to organize with local high school students to find alternative routines in their daily lives that would help diminish carbon emission. I became a volunteer with the NYCHA South Jamaica Resident Green Committee in 2018 because the community members wanted to grow their own garden and find ways to protect the environment. The members of the organization are advocates for the Green New Deal. Underserved communities are the most prone to climate change and the Green New Deal would drastically help communities like mine from suffering further damages. We have less than 12 years to address the effects. It shouldn’t take 4 or 8 years. It just takes political courage."