FLASH: Incumbent Democrats Who Have Drifted Right HATE Primaries

I think primaries are really important and really democratic-- especially in one of the scores of districts where the only realistic accountability is through a primary challenge. Obviously, many incumbents hate them. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about being accountable to the constituents! I might go for the idea, if "none of the above" was an option in every election. But, no incumbent is ever going to vote for that one!

Yesterday, defeated long-time-- and out-of-touch-- incumbent Eliot Engel (New Dem-NY), who was handily defeated by progressive reformer Jamaal Bowman, warned his House Democratic colleagues that primary opponents are the boogie man. He was furious that some of his colleagues supported Bowman against him. "I think that it's a very dangerous thing for party unity if members are going to start putting up primary challenges to other members in the same caucus. I think it's not something that should be done... Who is going to (be able to serve) in a caucus if there are people sitting right in there who want to get you defeated? I would be reluctant and other people would be reluctant to say what they feel. I just think it's not something I would do."

Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Ayanna Pressley, Katie Porter were among the Dems who backed Bowman. Bowman beat him 30,709 (60.7%) to 18,012 (35.6%), although Engel raised $3,198,520 to Bowman's $2,315,175. As for independent outside spending, most of it was on behalf of Engel. By far, the biggest spender was AIPAC-related scumbags Democratic Majority for Israel financed by a few very rich, very right-wing conservatives-- Stacy Osterman of Sampson Energy in Tulsa, Gary Lauder of the Bay Area, lowlife Long Island real estate developer Milton Cooper. The group, which had earlier spent $1.4 million smearing Bernie, spent $646,155 smearing Bowman (and another $927,187 advertising in favor of Engel)-- $1,566,532 for Engel in all. The total amount spend on behalf of Engel by outside groups (conservatives including Republicans) was $2,213,885 and the total amount from outside groups (progressives) backing Bowman was $1,382,967.

In 1988, Engel himself was victorious in a Democratic primary against an incumbent congressman, Mario Biaggi, who had been convicted on racketeering charges a month before the primary.

I asked Alan Grayson, who has both primaries an incumbent and been primaries as an incumbent. "Well," he said, look at what the article said [about Engel primarying Biaggi in 1988]. "And before that, Charlie Rangel and Adam Clayton Powell.  And before that, Elizabeth Holtzman and Emanuel Celler.  And before that, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The 'ins' want to stay in, and the 'outs' want them out.  Sometimes there’s more to it than that, and sometimes there isn’t. If you want to know what happened in Engel vs. Bowman, see the map:

Of course this doesn't happen just at the congressional level. Angie Nixon is running for a Jacksonville state legislative seat held by a fake Democrat. Kim Daniels, a notorious anti-Semite and right-winger who once famously gave a speech about the joys of slavery. Many people are shocked that the Florida Democratic Party supports Daniels... but those people aren't acquainted with the rot that afflicts the Florida Democratic Party. This morning Angie told me that "It’s important to challenge incumbents, especially when they aren’t doing their jobs. Over the past few years I have watched my community’s regression and it’s due to the lack of accountability of our current State Representative. The only time we’ve seen her was during campaign season when she’s giving away free stuff, basically buying votes. It’s time out for bandaids and it’s time for us to elect people that will work year round to produce systemic change." (Blue America has endorsed Angie and you can contribute to her campaign here.)

This cycle, on her second attempt, progressive reformer Marie Newman ousted reactionary Republican-lite Blue Dog Dan Lipinski, who was heavily backed by the Democratic establishment, while many of the same people who backed Bowman had backed her. "Primaries," she told me, "allow districts to always ensure their representative is in alignment on issues. It also allows for constituents to have options and select the best possible fit. Districts are like people they evolve and change. The representative in any district should do the same."

In California, where there are jungle primaries, several progressive Democrats will be facing Democratic incumbents in November. One is David Kim in Los Angeles, who is up against Jimmy Gomez. "When community-oriented, progressive challengers run for office in all-blue districts," David told me this morning, "it forces do-the-bare-minimum corporate incumbents like Jimmy Gomez to make good on the promises they made during their campaigns, or face losing their job when voters choose a new leader who does represent their interests. For example, when I started hosting town hall live streams after the first stay at home order, my opponent started doing the same. When my campaign started text banking to alert constituents to their options if they couldn't pay rent, my opponent once again followed suit. It's important that our elected officials be kept accountable and put on notice that they can be replaced if they don't do their jobs. If incumbents like Jimmy were working for a company, they would be fired in the first 90 days."

Blue America has just 2 House primaries against Blue Dogs left-- one in Nashville and one in Arizona's humongous 1st district. There are two truly awful GOP-lite Blue Dogs, Jim Cooper and Tom O'Halleran, trying to fight off, respectively, progressives Keeda Haynes and Eva Putzova. No big name Dems have jumped in to support either challenger. Blue America is trying to do what we can. Please use the 2020 Primary A Blue Dog thermometer above to give their campaigns a hand. Meanwhile, here's the new ad Blue America just started running in Nashville last night: