A Big Unknown: How Will California's Central Valley Respond To An Unabashed Progressive Democrat Running For Congress

In 2018, the DCCC timidly and reluctantly got behind a tepid centrist, Andrew Janz, in the Central Valley race to unseat Trump enabler Devin Nunes. On the first day after his announcement, I spoke to Janz and he volunteered that the two issues that were motivating him to run were the death penalty-- he said it needs to be used more frequently-- and the Second Amendment-- he said it needed to be protected. Eventually he hired some skillful consultants and they got him to stop talking that way. But he was a confused communicator who never quite understood what would motivate voters to replace Nunes. That said, national anti-Nunes feelings brought in a whopping $9,086,681. No one was contributing to Janz; everyone was contributing against Nunes. In the end, Nunes nearly lost-- 117,243 (52.7%) to 105,136 (47.3%). A better candidate might have won. Nunes beat Janz in both Fresno and Tulare counties-- on the same day progressive warrior Kevin de Leon smashed conservative Democrat Dianne Feinstein 60.1% to 39.9% in Tulare County and 52.3% to 47.7% in Fresno County.

Fortunately, Janz isn't running this cycle. But, almost needless to say, the DCCC called him and asked him to pick someone to run in his stead. He came up with a failing candidate for Fresno city council, financial advisor Phil Arballo. A DCCC operative called Arballo and persuaded him to end his city council race and run for Congress instead. The two grassroots progressives already running, Bobby Bliatout and Dary Rezvani, are not the kinds of candidates the button-down, corporately-oriented DCCC embraces. Garbage in/garbage out.

The DCCC then contacted the most pathetic of the tools at Politico too do a puff piece on Arballo under the guess of Democrats line up for chance to take down Devin Nunes. The absurd Carla Marinucci mention of the crowded field from the headline in paragraph #20 of 20 paragraphs:

Already, the race against Nunes is getting crowded. Bobby Bliatout-- the third place Democratic candidate in 2016-- has announced he’s making a second run at the seat, and another Democrat, Dary Rezvani, has also filed.

We'll never know how much of the story was written by Jared Smith at the DCCC but one thing that's clear is that the story itself came straight from the DCCC, who claims-- as they always do-- that they're "neutral."

“Phil Arballo is our best chance to defeat Devin Nunes, hands down,’’ said Janz, in a statement to Politico. “I’m proud to support Phil and know that he’ll be the champion the Valley needs."

...Arballo told Politico in his first campaign interview Wednesday that he plans to stress how the Central Valley has been cheated by Nunes in its congressional representation. The GOP congressman, he said, has been more interested in pushing his national profile as a Fox News regular and defender of President Trump on issues like the Russia probe and impeachment than in addressing issues in his district with his own constituents.

Last October, Trump suggested that Nunes deserves the Medal of Freedom-- the nation's highest civilian honor-- for his controversial efforts to push back against the Russia investigation.

"I don’t believe impeachment is going to be a topic" that is top of mind to Democratic voters, said Arballo, an active member of the Fresno Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “What is going to matter here in the Valley is everyday things” that will affect local pocketbooks and livelihoods, he said. With GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy calling on Republicans to back the tariffs, "that’s going to be a hot topic" in the race ahead, as will health care issues and the concerns about the viability of the Affordable Care Act, he said.

Arballo, who is Mexican-American and the son of a single mother, says his personal background-- he was raised in Fresno and is a graduate of Fresno State, is married to a linguistics teacher, and is the father of two-- gives him a much closer understanding of the lives of Central Valley voters. Latinos outnumber white voters by 46-40 percent in the district, and could represent a key advantage in the next race if Democrats succeed in boosting their turnout, campaign insiders say.

"With the national turnout what it was last time around, we’re excited to see more Latinos and more people of color in the district. There’s a hunger out there from the base...and people will be knocking on doors and excited to engage in the race with Nunes and with [Duncan] Hunter," the embattled San Diego congressman who has also been named as a target by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said one Democratic Party insider who spoke not for publication.

Arballo acknowledges that, while many voters in the district are conservative and supported Trump, an increasing number are disenchanted "that [Nunes] is using them for a political game...he chooses to be in Washington," instead of returning back home to his district to hear their concerns.

Arballo criticized Nunes, who has limited his public appearances in recent years, saying. "Pete Buttigieg has done more town halls here than Devin has"-- a reference to the South Bend, Indiana, Democratic presidential candidate who held a town hall meeting last week in Fresno.

Apparently, neither the DCCC nor their pet "journalist at Politico has bothered to, but I reached out to Dary Rezvani to get a sense of what he's all about. (I talked with Bobby Bliatout in 2016) Rezvani was super-impressive and I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more from him. But I asked him to introduce himself to DWT readers. One take-away, Dary Rezvani stands for something; he is no wishy-washy centrist who will focus-group test issues before taking a stand. I asked him how he can hope to win, when Janz, with all those millions of dollars last year, lost.


The Forgotten Vote
-by Dary Rezvani

From the Muslim community to the Latino community (especially the ‘Dreamers’); from women to Black Americans-- your party has abandoned you. They give us soundbites to instill the bare minimum amount of comfort that, time and again, ultimately ends in disappointment.

The real question in this congressional race is why the Central Valley hasn’t gone blue. The answer is we’ve never had a Democrat run a platform that resonates with the real constituents who make up this valley. What we have are Republicans who hide behind a parenthesized “D.”

I believe the party wants all Americans to feel and be treated equal in our society. But I do not believe they would fight tooth and nail for true equity if it meant risking a vote. Centrists will sink the world, both literally and figuratively. The time for swift action and accountability starts now.

Being a Democrat means you are in an endless cycle of constantly fighting for positive change. We desperately need government leaders calling the shots who will actually be around for the climate crisis and the impending disasters unforeseen in any of our time on earth. That way we’ll know their policies will have a direct impact on their lives just as much as they have on ours. Many of them stand behind platforms and exclaim we can’t afford an overhaul of the systems that have perpetuated this problem. But the fact of the matter is, we can't afford not to.

Why not immediately stop the creation of new plastic and require all companies to use recycled plastic? We have appeased corporations for my entire life (and longer) just so they could save on the bottom line. It’s time to pay up on those savings and reinvest in the Earth. We have 134 months to fix this man-made problem. I repeat: fix, not “start” fixing. Will a Centrist representative fight for you or will they just fight to get re-elected? They are going to sink this earth and the generations to come will be left with its uninhabitable remains.

This kind of behavior is an incredulous testament to the corruption of our political system the Democratic party has been able to get away with for so long. Some members are further along than others, but messages of systemic change are scary to them-- especially when it comes to the pocketbooks of corporations because it impacts donations at the national level. It isn't easy being a party of change for this very reason.

So what does this mean? It means the party sells its soul for the dollar bill. It receives and ultimately abandons messages that once meant something, just to win a seat. What can be said of an organization that would rather have a Republican masked behind a (D) than refuse to allow primary challengers a chance to inspire change? This does not sound like a democracy to me. We have a government for the people, by the people, with no exceptions. Congress isn't an opportunity, it is a call to duty.

Furthermore, Democrats seek the approval (or vote) of a broad, diverse and remarkable spectrum of people that make up America by talking at them during their campaign, but do nothing to fight for them once elected. Below are a list of conundrums the mainstream Democratic party is tasked with every election cycle.

How can they engage the Latinx community if they are not willing to say, we need to abolish ICE.

How can they speak to the hearts of our service members if they are not willing to say, Veterans should be honored and protected the same way they protect us overseas.

How can they reach the Boomer generation if they are not willing to say, we must fight to protect social security.

How can they bolster Millennials if they are not willing to say, student debt should be wiped clean and de-privatized.

How can they stand up for the Black community if they are not willing to say, Black lives matter.

How can they catch the attention of Generation Z if they are not willing to say, fix the climate crisis now or our children will have no place to live.

How can they protect the Muslim community if they are not willing to say, you are welcome no matter your religious practices.

How can they advocate for women’s rights when they are not willing to say, the government has no right to interfere with your bodily autonomy.

How can they secure trust with parents in our community if they are not willing to say, your children should not have to practice live shooter drills in their school.

How can they embolden the LGBTQ community if they are not willing to say, they should be able to use the bathroom that they feel most comfortable using?

Lastly, how can the people be expected to cast their ballot when they have lost hope?

Despite the lack of accountability Democrats have to the true melting pot of their base, it is possible to radically transform the world. The Central Valley could be a model for the rest of the country; an impetus for progress, unification, and change. I hope to challenge this conversation, if anything, by helping other Democrats turn words into action; and action into the humanity this party wants us to believe it’s capable of having. We are the Americans of the future, and it’s time to start acting like it.

Is There A Case To Be Made In 2018 For A Very Conservative Democrat? The Fresno Bee Gives It A Shot For Andrew Janz

This blog hasn't exactly been Andrew Janz campaign headquarters. He's way too conservative for us and I can't see him being a good member of Congress... no matter how hard I try. And I do try. He's running against-- arguably-- the worst member of Congress, worse than just a Trump rubber stamp; Devin Nunes has been an active participant in Trump's machinations and criminal behavior from the campaign right up 'til now. Ever since Randy Bryce drove Paul Ryan into a sudden retirement, it's hard to think of anyone who deserves defeat more than Nunes. And at this point, that means Andrew Janz winning. The 538 forecaster gives him virtually no chance-- 1 in 30. Those are pretty steep odds.

But Nunes-haters have filled Janz's campaign coffers to the brim. He was one of only 3 Democrats who brought in over $3 million this quarter-- and that with no help whatsoever from the DCCC, which is largely ignoring his race and, as usual, ignoring Nunes and CA-22. Nunes is also a big money raiser, having raised $7,379,614 as of the June 30 FEC reporting deadline to Janz's $2,847,975.

I wish I could say it will be a game-changer-- it won't be-- but over the weekend, the biggest newspaper in the Central Valley, the Fresno Bee, endorsed Janz. Sensing what was coming, Nunes has been attacking The Bee as though he was running against them. Which seems odd. As the editors wrote, "Today the Fresno Bee takes a step it has not made since before 2002: It is recommending a candidate for the 22nd congressional district who is not Devin Nunes."

Instead, The Bee recommends Andrew Janz, the Democrat who offers the best chance to both lead the district by attending to its issues and then by striving for bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., which is the only answer to the poison of gridlock politics that is stifling debate and action at nearly all levels.

Throughout the fall campaign, the Republican Nunes has focused his ire at The Bee, slamming this newspaper for allegedly supporting Janz and having a supposed “leftist, liberal, socialist” agenda.


The truth is The Bee’s Editorial Board had not arrived at a recommendation pending interviews with the candidates to size them up. The Bee sent two invitations to Nunes to attend such a meeting; not once did he reply. Janz, by contrast, made time to sit down and discuss the issues. For that reason-- and more-- he has earned the recommendation.

Janz, 34, is a moderate Democrat who is campaigning without party support in his first election. The Democratic national committee has not seen his candidacy as a winner, given the 9-percentage-point advantage Nunes has in voter registration over Janz.

While that may seem a negative, it actually is a positive. Janz can act with a degree of independence from party politics and do what he thinks is best for the 22nd District.

Case in point: immigration. Janz veers from party orthodoxy by backing an earned right to citizenship, not amnesty. He wants to work out the details for a work visa program as well, which would supply badly needed labor to agriculture and other industries. When it comes to a wall, he says such a structure “is a giant waste of money” because it would not deter undocumented people from finding other ways to get into California. As he notes, drug and human trafficking already occur through the border’s regular checkpoints. Rather, he supports employing technology to beef up border security-- drones, satellite surveillance, infrared imaging.

When it comes to gun control, Janz understands what it is to be a gun owner, as he is one. Janz is also a deputy district attorney who knows residents, especially those living in the farm and ranch country of the 22nd District, need to have a weapon for protection from wild animals, burglars and worse. Janz believes that people who have no convictions for violent crime should be able to arm themselves.


Janz also wants to change his party’s leadership in the House, meaning he does not back Nancy Pelosi, the San Franciscan who is the minority leader and is anathema to many in the Valley. Rather, he is looking for someone who can be less polarizing and more solution oriented.

As a prosecutor, Janz knows firsthand the impacts of crime on victims. That is also why he has a willingness to help the little guy. For example, Janz wants every American to have access to quality health care. How to make that happen? Janz is open to all ideas, especially town-hall meetings in the district to hear what his constituents think. One thing he says is non-negotiable: Pre-existing conditions must be covered.

Nunes, by contrast, voted along party lines in approving the House version of the American Health Care Act of 2017. It would have shrunk Medicaid by 15 million enrollees nationwide by 2026. Medicaid is the government program that covers low-income children, adults, seniors and people with disabilities, aiding one in five Americans. In Nunes’ district, 313,000 people were enrolled in Medi-Cal as of January. Of those, 74,000 would have immediately lost coverage, and all would have had their coverage impacted through loss of benefits or access to doctors. (Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid).

Nunes did this despite the fact that his district has more people relying on government-paid medical assistance than almost anywhere else in the nation.

Many in law enforcement are registered Republicans, and yet Janz is a Democrat. Why? He says the party under FDR ended the Depression and won World War II. It is a party of big ideas, like Social Security and civil rights. That is what attracted him and motivates him today.


There is also a simple idea that Janz has hitched much of his appeal to: Being accessible and accountable. Nunes has completely avoided town-hall meetings in Visalia, Clovis or Fresno so voters could hear him and ask questions. Janz promises to hold at least four town hall meetings a year and have mobile office hours.

The willingness to listen extends to Republicans who would be his colleagues. Janz wants to work across the aisle to accomplish things like developing a new source of water for Valley farms. Nunes has done much to elevate the water discussion during his tenure, but he has also alienated Democratic representatives with his never-ending name-calling of environmentalists as leftists, socialists, even Communists. With no ground left for compromise, little has been accomplished. Janz will have a better chance of dealing with Democrat peers from elsewhere in the state on the water issue. Nothing will happen without compromise.

Voters in the 22nd District have a chance to become a model for the nation. They can elect a representative who will both help them with their needs, listen to their concerns and invite them into the process, and chart a bipartisan course that the nation must find if it is to meet the challenges of the future. That leader is Andrew Janz.

Voters can also choose Nunes and remain stuck with the damaging partisanship he practices, the party-above-country mode that motivates him to protect President Trump from the investigation into Russian meddling more than meet his constitutional obligations as an independent arm of government. Then there is his lack of regard for the needs of his part of California.

Voters of the 22nd, it is no stretch to say the eyes of the nation are watching to see how this race turns out. For the good of your district, and America at large, choose wisely.

The most recent poll-- Sept 16-23-- was done for the L.A. Times and it showed Nunes leading 53-45%. Can Janz close the gap in a month? Could? Yes. Will he? That's the question no one can answer. It would be more likely if he was giving Democrats more of a reason to vote for him and not just against Nunes. What do Democrats want? This... and Janz isn't campaigning for any of them.

His list of endorsers is impressive-- Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein, Dolores Huerta, lots of organizations-- though, not, glaringly, any of the grassroots organizations like PDA, DFA, PCCC, MoveOn... just fake operations like End Citizens United and Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate (which hasn't even figured out that Janz is a gun nut). Maybe a bullshit ad like this-- about taking on politicians who abuse their power-- will work, though I doubt it.




This is the kind of negative ad the DCCC or Pelosi's PAC should be running for Janz. It's probably effective but this kind of negativity should never come directly from a candidate. Unfortunately the DCCC refuses to help Janz (possibly because their help could be viewed as toxic to independents in the Central Valley). They could certainly finance it through the California Democratic Party. That "I approve this ad" by Janz could do him as much harm as good.

Another Lesser-Of-Two-Evils Race: Janz vs Nunes

Goodball by Chip Proser

Devin Nunes is certainly one of the worst of TrumpWorld's arch-villains. He's up for reelection in 2 months in California. But not in coastal California. He has a pretty safe Republican seat in the Central Valley. Obama lost the district both times he ran, with around 42% of the vote. Hillary lost to Trump two years ago with around 42% of the vote. The PVI is R+8... not impossible in a wave year, but a very steep climb. The district stretches from the mostly white part of Fresno and it's northern and eastern suburbs down through Dinuba, Visalia and Tulare. The district is now a white-minority district. Almost half the people who live there are Latino and there's a large Asian population as well. The Democratic Party has done a poor job in registering Hispanic voters and Nunes has always coasted to victory with huge margins.

No one knew much about him, though-- only that he was the incumbent. Incumbents almost always win. This year, though... many incumbents, Republican incumbents, aren't going to win. Will Nunes? He's certainly made a spectacle of himself on the national stage and the local media has been very harsh in its coverage of his antics. He's been one of Trump's top enablers, going far beyond his wretched voting record (below):

The FiveThirtyEight.com forecaster gives his reelection chances 19 out of 20-- a 94.6% chance to win. Those odds look beyond steep. But I think FiveThirtyEight is being overly generous to Mr. Nunes.

He has a weak opponent in Andrew Janz, weak but improving. Janz is certainly not the kind of candidate to appeal to a Democratic base. He's very, very conservative-- an NRA kind of guy who's top motivation for running is to protect the Second Amendment and to make sure the death penalty gets used more often. That's what he told me in a phone conversation the first week of his campaign. DC consultants have seen scrubbed him up and he never talks that way any longer. When I spoke with him he didn't know what single-payer or Medicare-For-All were. He's improved since then and is more like a garden variety Democrat now. Is it enough? This week, the San Francisco Chronicle focused in on the race-- or at least in on Janz's new strategy (which has been approved by the DCCC) to persuade voters to support him because the evil DCCC doesn't.

Janz, a Fresno County deputy district attorney, has had plenty of success raising money from Democrats across the country. But he says he’s been almost invisible to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which makes the decisions when it comes to doling out party money to House candidates.

Janz, who was in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood the other day for a fundraiser, said he is more concerned than angry.

“I’m worried about their lack of interest in a most compelling contest” against an opponent who “is universally hated in Democratic circles,” Janz said.

The 44-year-old Nunes, R-Tulare, has drawn the scorn of Democrats as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, a perch from which he’s led the effort to quash Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Party leaders decide which campaigns are likely to succeed and make funding decisions accordingly. Janz fears that Democratic officials have put his race in the too-big-a-reach category.

Democrats are looking at a huge midterm battlefield of more than 100 competitive seats, and all their funding decisions are aimed at flipping the 23 GOP-held seats needed to retake control of the House.

Party officials say the right things about Janz and his campaign.

“The DCCC trusts candidates to run campaigns that work best for their individual districts, which is exactly what Andrew Janz is doing,” said Amanda Sherman, a spokeswoman for the committee. “Andrew Janz has built a strong, independent, Central Valley-focused campaign that will make this race competitive.”

The party’s actions, however, haven’t matched those words. When former President Barack Obama visited Orange County this month for a congressional campaign event, Janz wasn’t one of the seven party hopefuls invited. He’s also not one of the eight Californians on the party’s Red to Blue list of “top-tier candidates” slated to receive organizational and fundraising support.

[Note: DCCC regional vice chair Ted Lieu added Nunes to his fundraising efforts despite Washington and has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Janz]

There are plenty of reasons for Democratic officials to conclude that the 34-year-old Janz, making his first run for public office, is an unlikely candidate to unseat Nunes, who has been invincible at the ballot box since he was first elected in 2002.

The 22nd Congressional District, which includes much of Fresno and Tulare counties, tilts strongly right, with registered Republicans outnumbering Democrats, 42 to 32 percent. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton there, 52 to 43 percent, and Nunes was re-elected with 68 percent of the vote.

The June primary didn’t indicate much had changed. Nunes topped Janz easily, 58 to 32 percent.

Of the major political rating services, only one, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, lists the Central Valley race as competitive. And even it figures the contest as “likely Republican.” The $6.1 million that Nunes had in the bank on June 30 also boosts his chances.

But Janz hasn’t backed down, arguing that he will pay more attention to the district’s concerns than Nunes, who has devoted much of his time to his high-profile job in Washington. Janz had $1.1 million in his campaign account at the end of June and has been one of the Democrats’ strongest online fundraisers, pulling in over $1 million in August alone.

In the heavily agricultural district, water is the main concern, whether it’s clean water for drinking, dams for storage or canals to get farmers the irrigation they need. Trump’s tariffs raised the possibility that growers of such local crops as almonds, grapes, raisins and pistachios could lose overseas sales. And immigration reform is on everyone’s list, Janz said, because Central Valley farmers “want a reliable source of labor and are tired of (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids.”

“I’ve been talking to everyone,” he said. Democrats have a special dislike for Nunes for his close ties to Trump, Janz said, and “Republicans are frustrated about Devin Nunes’ inability to get anything done for the district.”

That’s not the way Nunes and his supporters see it. He touts his connections to Trump as a plus for his district. While campaigning for other Republicans, he has warned that a GOP-led House could be the only way to ensure the president’s programs are passed.

In a video spot, Nunes said it’s Janz who ignores his district’s interests by allying with Hollywood and San Francisco Democrats, “the very people who want to cut off the valley’s water supply.” The district supports Trump, Nunes says, but Janz’s main backing comes from “far-left resistance activists.”

An ad on Nunes’ Facebook page talks about how his office helped a family in the Fresno suburb of Clovis with a Veterans Administration problem. His history as a part of a longtime local farming family also plays well.

Democratic officials have no reason to dismiss his chances, Janz says. He points to a survey taken for his campaign this month by Strategies 360 that found Nunes with just a six-point lead, 50 to 44 percent.

“I started out 36 points down, and now the polling shows a continuing trend toward victory,” Janz said.

Janz has also been much more visible in the district than Nunes, who has spent much of the year in Washington.

“We’ve had 130 stops in coffee shops and backyards and 10 town halls,” said Heather Greven, Janz’s campaign manager. “We’re putting boots on the ground, with 250 people in someone’s backyard six nights a week.”

Enthusiasm doesn’t always translate into votes, however, especially in an area where the GOP-- and Nunes-- have held control for so many years.

“We’re under no illusions,” Greven said. “This is a tough district.”

An independent group, the Fight Back California PAC paid for these 3 billboards outside Fresno along Route 99:

Nunes Foe, Andrew Janz Is On The Warpath-- Against The DCCC

Andrew Janz hasn't exactly been one of my favorite candidates this cycle. I spoke with him early in the cycle and he admitted to me that he's really conservative. Some DC consultants have since polished him up a bit and taught him how to talk to Democrats-- and not to talk to people like me. But not amount of polishing is going to change the fact that he told me he wants to be just like Jim Costa, the worst Blue Dog Democrat in Congress, with an "F" voting record for ProgressivePunch. I have no doubt that Janz will also sport an "F" if he ever makes it to Congress. And that's a big "if." The PVI is R+8 and Trump beat Hillary there 52.1% to 42.6%, one of her worst showings in California.

That said, Janz is running against Trumpist arch-villain, Devin Nunes. How could you not be rooting for Janz? And by the way, Janz has raised $2,847,975, probably more than all of Nunes' previous opponents combined-- just guessing. Still, Nunes his a far right favorite and he's amassed $7,379,314. This race, though, unlike so many others across the country, gets plenty of earned media-- so lots of local attention. A new Ipsos poll of likely California voters show Trump far less popular in California than nationally. Only 35% of voters approve of him, while 61% disapprove (49% of them "strongly"). Among independents, 29% approve and 62% disapprove (42% strongly).

Devin Nunes-- A Basketball Fan by Chip Proser

When asked the generic congressional preference question, 54% of likely voters said Democratic and just 35% said Republican. More importantly, 32% of independent voters said they would vote for a Democrat as opposed to just 21% for a Republican.That's important in CA-22, because there aren't enough Democrats to win without big independent support.

Democratic (and Hispanic) turnout has been bad in CA-22. Can Janz give them a reason to vote? This week, Janz is getting some attention by "going after" the DCCC. I'm sure he hates them for not supporting him financially--even though their public support would be a kiss of death in a district like him. This "attack" on them, though, rings hollow, even if all the specifics are true. David Siders at Politico, of course, fell for it, even if it was pre-approved by the DCCC. He claims Janz can't get his calls returned. Maybe not. But DCCC West Coast vice-chair has been raising massive amounts of money for all the DCCC Red-to-Blue candidates PLUS Andrew Janz. At an event recently, Lieu brought in half a million dollars in one night and had it distributed equally to all the candidates, including the one the DCCC is ignoring. It's public information but Politico isn't exactly known for digging behind Establishment press releases, are they?

Napa Nunes by Chip Proser

The 34-year-old prosecutor contends that the Democratic Party’s House campaign arm has cut him out of promised fundraising money and frozen him out in his bid to unseat Nunes, a top ally of President Donald Trump who has worked tirelessly to delegitimize the probe into Russian inteference in the 2016 presidential election.

In an interview with Politico, Janz and his campaign manager, Heather Greven, said the DCCC misled Janz about the support he could expect from the DCCC in the Central Valley-based district. And Janz said he has asked DCCC staff and members of Congress for a five-minute call with DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján, but “he won’t return my calls.”

“I can’t even get him on the phone, and I’m raising more money than any one of their targeted races here in California,” Janz said.

Following the June primary, he said, “A DCCC spokesperson basically told me to my face, ‘Janz, you’re on your own.’” [Probably that asshole staffer Kyle Layman.]

Rifts between candidates and party committees such as the DCCC are not uncommon. The committees have limited resources and must focus attention on the nation’s most competitive House contests. That often requires a form of political triage-- making tough decisions about sidelining races that are deemed too far out of reach.

Yet it’s rare for those disputes to spill into public view. And Janz’s candidacy is unique-- both for his fundraising prowess and the high-profile opponent he faces, a top target of Democrats’ vitriol nationwide.

Janz raked in more than $1 million in July alone through ActBlue, the online Democratic fundraising platform. That’s more than two of the party’s biggest online fundraisers-- Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)-- collected on the platform during the same month.

Janz declined to name the DCCC spokesperson he said told him he was “on your own.” But Greven said DCCC staffers and congressional members assured the campaign last year that if Janz demonstrated an ability to raise money, the DCCC would be helpful.

“If our national party can’t get up and get excited about taking down Devin Nunes, the person that stands closest to Trump, I don’t know who they can get excited to take down,” said Greven. “I’m sure [the DCCC] thought this kid’s never going to raise any money, and this is going to go away.”

The DCCC’s lack of investment in Nunes’ conservative-leaning district was not unexpected. In an agricultural region where “Vote to Make California Great Again” signs are strapped to cotton trailers on the roadsides, Nunes never figured to face a stiff challenge. Trump carried Nunes’ district by nearly 10 percentage points in 2016, and even Democratic polling puts Janz behind.

“There is nothing in the primary that pointed to a sudden Democratic takeover… [of] one of the most challenging districts for Democrats in the state,” said Rob Pyers of the California Target Book, which handicaps races in the state.

...[L]ocal Democrats have long complained that the party’s inability to make inroads in the Central Valley owes, in part, to national Democrats’ lack of attention here. The party has failed in previous elections to flip two nearby Valley districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016.

“The DCCC’s behavior is apathetic,” said Humberto Gomez Jr., the California Democratic Party’s regional director in the area. “Here we have a candidate in [California’s 22nd District] who’s the most viable, who’s raised the most, and who has the most attention. … What does the DCCC do? Screw everything up.”

Greven said the DCCC has given Janz access to a generic database used by Democratic candidates nationally and compiled an opposition research book on Nunes worth $9,000. But she said the DCCC has not provided any substantial assistance, including with voter registration, turnout or other field operations.

The DCCC has not included Janz in its “Red to Blue” program, designed for top-tier candidates in the nation’s most competitive House races. And Janz was not invited to appear with former President Barack Obama at a DCCC event in Anaheim this month. The DCCC said the event was limited to Democrats running in seven Republican-held House districts in California that Clinton carried in 2016.

Following the June primary, Greven said Janz appeared at a DCCC event in Washington with other candidates and was promised a share of the fundraising proceeds, but that “the check never came.” Ever since, Janz said he has been telling donors not to give to the DCCC, but rather to contribute directly to his campaign.

“We don’t need their help… We are fine without them at this point,” said Janz. “I just question sometimes their motives, and I question their competency.”

“Historically, Democrats have not targeted the Central Valley, they have not targeted districts like mine, and have really given up,” Janz said. “And this has allowed people like Devin Nunes to return to Congress year after year after year.”

Janz has drawn some measure of support from Democrats outside the DCCC. Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who has helped Janz raise money, said Janz has never complained about the DCCC to him and that Janz has “raised the money to tell his story.”

“[It’s a district] where we have no business being as close as we are,” said Swalwell. But with Janz, he said, “We’ve got a hell of a shot.”

Janz has done little to ingratiate himself to the DCCC. A gun owner with a moderate [NOTE: when Politico says "moderate" they're routinely describing a right-wing Democrat] profile, he has said publicly that he would not support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for speaker if Democrats retake the House in November.

“Look, we’re one of the few races here in California where the DCCC isn’t pulling the strings behind the scenes, and I think that allows me to go out there and be myself,” Janz said. “I’m not using DCCC talking points, I’m not using their consultants. I’m really being my own person.”

Describing the campaign as an “arms race,” Greven said, “This is the only time we’re ever going to get a hit at this guy. This is our one shot.”

The DCCC, she said, is “blowing it.”

They are blowing. They always blow it. But this is pretty manufactured. I wonder if the DCCC will also give Janz the script for a TV ad saying he won't vote for Pelosi as speaker. Meanwhile, Janz is gaining on Nunes and if the anti-red wave is strong enough, it will sweep detritus like him into office (oh, boy! but at least the next time we hear about Nunes will be in connection to his role in Putin-Gate, hopefully as a defendant.)

And from the Fresno Bee yesterday, this almost reads like a late night comedy skit: Mystery Nunes event requires guests to submit to personal search, no cell phone photos. Nunes, they wrote, "is expected to appear at an invitation-only event at a private residence in the Sanger area on Tuesday." OK, that's pretty mysterious-- cloak-and-daggery. Is he afraid that one of Mueller's prosecutors will serve him with a subpoena if they can pin down his whereabouts? Or that the FBI will arrest him as a Russian operative?

An online RSVP form was apparently sent out to those on the Republican’s mailing lists.

It describes several enhanced security measures, including: “All persons and property entering the facility are subject to search,” and “Photos with personal cell phones will not be allowed. An official photographer will be present and will take photos as requested.”

As with other recent Nunes events, those wishing to RSVP must first supply their name, address, phone number and email before they can find out the exact time and location. The form also requires guests to indicate who exactly invited them to the event.

Other rules include bans on “behavior that ‘materially prevents’ people from hearing speakers or from being heard” and signs, noise makers and amplification devices.

Janz and other Nunes critics have routinely called out the congressman’s secrecy and failure to appear at a public forum during this election cycle.

What a clown!

Why Does Putin Have Two Members Of Congress From California Representing Russian Interests?

Un-American Activities In The House by Chip Proser

Former Texas Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), was appointed U.S. ambassador to NATO by Señor Trumpanzee. Yesterday she was a guest, from Brussels, on both Face the Nation and on Fox News Sunday. On the latter, she told Dana Perino that she thinks "Russia is trying to flip Turkey. They're trying to flip many of our allies. They want to destabilize the strongest defense alliance in the history of the world and that is NATO." On the former she told Margaret Brennan that "we are seeing Russia with malign on so many fronts right now, especially... on social media, where they are sowing discontent and even false information to try to divide our allies." Note in the video below how uncomfortable she is when Brennan asks her for reassurance that Trump won't recognize Putin's swallowing up of Ukraine and how she dodges the question entirely:



This week Trump is expected to slam NATO members (our allies) and then fly off the Helsinki to report back to the man who hated him the presidency. Putin didn't help Trump steal the election because he thinks he would be a great president. Quite the contrary; Putin executed the great coup in the history of Russia because Trump is weak and incompetent idiot who agreed to deliver on all Russia's priorities, destroying NATO being one of them.

Many Republicans in the Senate and House-- for all their rubber stamping and enabling of Trump-- are very uncomfortable with Trump's supine posture towards the Kremlin and worried about what he's going to give away to Putin at their secret meeting in Helsinki next week. But that's not the case with Putin's two congressional puppets, both from California, Orange County's Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48) and the Central Valley's Devin Dunes (CA-22). A few days ago, Rohrabacher and Ted Lieu, also from California, but a patriot, were guests on Fox's The Issue Is. Forget for a moment that Rohrabacher is certifiably insane, Lieu reminded viewers that Rohrabacher was warned by the FBI that Russia was trying to use him as "an agent of influence [and] that he was so close to Russia that they had a code name for him... I don't know why he's that close to Russia but, it is what it is," while Fox showed footage of Rohrabacher alone in an office shaking hands with Putin.



A year ago the Washington Post reported that, after a meeting with the prime minister of Ukraine (one day after Russian spies hacked the DNC for Trump), Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy, Congress' top 2 Republican House Leaders, initiated a conference call with GOP members. On that call, McCarthy told the members that he "guarantees" them that the DNC hack was by the Russians to get the opposition research on Trump. He added, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump... Swear to God." Ryan, nervous, interjected: "This is an off the record. No leaks, right? This is how we know we're a real family here." A crime family? It leaked within hours of course. Ryan and McCarthy denied the conversation ever happened when The Post approached them with the transcript. They called it fiction. After claiming the transcript was "false," once The Post told them one of their "family members" had made a recording of the conversation and turned it over to the paper, Ryan said McCarthy was only joking. No one mentioned at the time that there were three Republicans on Putin's payroll and that McCarthy had left off his close friend and ally, Devin Nunes.

At some point even Nunes' constituents, whose congressman does more for Trump and Putin than he does for them, are going to demand better representation in Washington. Rowan Scarborough wrote, admiringly, about Nunes' latest escapade over the weekend for the very right-wing Washington Times, Devin Nunes calls for House probe of 42 Obama-era anti-Trump activists. "Nunes," he wrote, "is referring 42 Obama administration officials, FBI agents and outside political activists to a House task force for an investigation into how the Obama Justice Department targeted the Donald Trump campaign. If the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Judiciary Committee agree, their task force would conduct the most extensive probe to date on anti-Trump government operations in 2016." He's asking fellow super-partisan crackpots, Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), both of whom are retiring in January, for assistance.

Last year, amid a probe into Russian election interference, Mr. Nunes veered from the Trump collusion narrative. His new inquiry was sparked by indications that a piece of evidence driving the FBI probe-- the Democratic Party-financed dossier-- was unverified and at worst a hoax.

Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who was paid by Democrats to write the dossier and who told a Justice official he was “desperate” to destroy the Trump candidacy, is not one of the Nunes 42.

Fusion GPS hired Steele to investigate his connections to the Russians during the Republican primary and it was the GOP propaganda sheet, the Washington Free Beacon who got the money from Marco Rubio backer Paul Singer to pay for it. After Rubio was crushed by Trump, Singer closed upon his wallet and Mark Elias, an establishment Democratic attorney started paying Fusion GPS for Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The Washington Times is aware this started as a Rubio effort, funded by Singer, but would rather deceive its readers into thinking Hillary Clinton was behind it. Now that's fake news.

I haven't been a big fan of either Nunes' or Rohrabacher's general election opponents, respectively Andrew Janz and Harley Rouda. But both were the legitimate winners of their primaries and... at least neither is a Blue Dog. More important, the Democrats in their districts choose them and there is no one else who can get rid of the two Putin patsies. They both raised plenty of money. Rouda raised $1,939,411 and has $600,203 in cash left, more than Rohrabacher's $433,735. And Janz raised $1,852,763, not as much as corporate whore Nunes, but enough to run a competitive race. I wouldn't hesitate for one moment to urge Orange County voters to replace Rohrabacher with Rouda and I'd only hesitate for a moment before urging voters from Clovis and Fresno down through Dinuba and Visalia to Tulare to replace Nunes with Janz. Putin doesn't deserve to be represented by two members of Congress-- let alone two members from California. Do you know what the word shanda (שאַנדע) means? That what it means.

Nose Holding Time Approacheth

This is hard for me. I've been running my mouth over the past several years that I'm done with the "lesser of two evils politics" the Democrats (and, I guess, the Republicans) thrive on. The Democrats persuade base voters to back their putrid candidates by threatening us all with how bad the Republican is in comparison. In a moment of somewhat ironic truth-- if no self-awareness at all-- the DCCC, actually came up with the proposed bumper sticker above. Yes, that was them, not me. Someone with half a brain prevented them from actually manufacturing it.

But now the Trump situation really is dire enough-- and the need to check him crucial enough-- for me to urge any people who may care what I have to say, to just forget how horrible many most of the DCCC candidates are and vote for them anyway. Not in the primaries, of course, when we still have a chance to put in place sterling candidates like, for example, James Thompson and Brent Welder in Kansas, Kaniela Ing in Hawaii, Randy Bryce in Wisconsin, Ellen Lipton, Rashida Tlaib and Rob Davidson in Michigan, Alan Grayson, Matt Haggman, Sanjay Patel and Chardo Richardson in Florida, Sarah Smith in Washington, Mary Matiela or Matt Heinz in Arizona, Ilhan Omar, Jeff Erdmann and Adam Jennings in Minnesota...

My sister recently moved to south Jersey, a development near Somers Point, in Frank LoBiondo's district, a swingy seat that Obama won both times he ran and that Hillary lost narrowly. The PVI is R+1. LoBiondo is retiring and NJ-02 is considered a top Democratic pick-up opportunity. I urged my sister to forget for this cycle everything I've been saying and just vote for the Democrat. The Democrat is, literally, the single worst member of the New Jersey state Senate, Jeff Van Drew. He has an "A" from the NRA. He's anti-Choice, homophobic (and a closet case), anti-environment and a self-admitted Blue Dog. There is a strong likelihood that he'll be the worst member of Congress next year. He has exactly one good attribute: the "D" next to his name.

I've been writing for the better part of a year about what a disaster Andrew Janz is. Immediately after declaring his candidacy, he told me there are two reasons that motivated him to run: protecting the Second Amendment and trying to make sure there is more use of the death penalty. When I asked him if he's a Democrat, he assured me, condescendingly, that Democrats in the Central Valley are different from coastal Democrats. Janz has two good attributes: the "D" next to his name and his opponent: Devin Nunes. Last week, the Fresno Bee reported that Janz is gaining on Nunes. A PPP survey shows that in the very red 22nd district (PVI is R+8) Nunes is down to 49% and Janz has climbed to 41%. (Trump beat Hillary there 52.1% to 42.6% and Nunes' last Democratic opponent only managed to get 31.8% of the vote.) As of the May 16 FEC reporting deadline, Nunes had raised $4,877,671 and spent $3,021,097, while Janz had raised $1,852,763 and spent $1,254,917.

Blue America isn't ready to endorse candidates like Van Drew of Janz or to raise money for them... but if you really do want to stop Trump from continuing to lead America into outright fascism... there is no choice at this point but to hold your nose and vote for them. Blue Dogs, New Dems, corrupt corporate whores... the whole vile lot of them that are wrecking the Democraps from inside. As sickening as it is for me to say so, November is only about one thing: Trump.

Harley Rouda, an ex-Republican from Ohio, has reinvented himself as an Orange County New Dem with a very good shot to beat one of Putin's top 3 members of Congress, Dana Rohrabacher. Not my cup of tea, but not nearly as bad as Van Drew or Janz. Kamala Harris' endorsement of Rouda this week explained, between the lines, just why she made the move to back someone noticeably to her right: "In these challenging times with so much at stake, it’s more critical now than ever that we elect people to Congress who will bring common sense back to Washington and fight for inclusivity and decency. That’s why I'm pleased to strongly endorse Harley Rouda for Congress. Harley is a compassionate, principled, and savvy leader who will fight to move Orange County forward, and I’m with him 100%."

It actually makes me physically ill that the DCCC's call for party unity is just party unity behind their crap candidates and not party unity around progressives who have won their primaries as well. In fact, that's what the thermometer on the right is about-- supporting progressive primary winners like Kara Eastman and Jess King who have won their primaries and have been abandoned to the Republicans by Pelosi and her pack of vile, nefarious scumbags at the DCCC. Never give any money to the Van Drews and Janzes; but, please give all you can to the men and women who have been chosen to represent the real Democratic Party by Democrats in their districts who the DCCC continues to sabotage. I'm not going to let my disdain for the establishment Democraps get in the way of my knowledge of what Trump has planned for America. Afterwards, of course, we'll have to wrestle with the fear of what candidates like Kyrsten Sinema and Jeff Van Drew will do once Trump starts wooing Democrats-- or figuring out how many of these right wing candidates will jump the fence and become Republicans. My bet: Sinema will be the first. (She's already announced, out of the blue, that she won't vote for Schumer as Senate majority leader if she's elected-- Schumer, the crook who selected her as the Arizona Democratic candidate!) We just can't take the chance that the Republican enablers and rubber stamps will maintain control of Congress while Trump is in the White House.

Can A Democrat Defeat Devin Nunes?

Alas, it looks likely that the $1,390,505 Andrew Janz has managed to generate in anti-Nunes contributions may power him into Congress. Why "alas?" Janz is a dreadful candidate who will undoubtably make a dreadful member of Congress. How do I know? I spoke to him right after he declared he's running-- before he rented any Beltway consultants who taught him how to speak like a Democrat. How he, more or less, speaks like a Democrat. But when I spoke with him, he didn't. When I asked him if he supports single payer healthcare he didn't know what it is. I said, Medicare for All and he got snippy... "Can I just tell you what is motivating me to run?," he asked. Sure, I said. He had two motivations, he volunteered. One was to make sure the death penalty was used more frequently. The other was to protect the Second Amendment. I thought he might be joking around. He wasn't. He said Valley Democrats aren't like you people on the coasts. Oy!

While I was regaining my equilibrium, I asked him a real softball-- if there were any members of Congress he admires and would like to work with on legislation. He had an instant reply: Jim Costa, another Valley Democrat. Costa's voting record is the worst of any Democrat in California. He's an especially wretched Blue Dog who ProgressivePunch has not just rated an "F," but whose 2018 crucial vote score (32.97) is actually worse than some Republicans' scores.The next worst Democrats' scores are Blue Dog Lou Correa (51.02) and New Dem Scott Peters (52.58). At least those two reactionaries vote with the Democrats around half the time-- unlike Costa.

Will Janz be a better member of Congress than Nunes? Of corse he will-- just like Costa is. But on almost two-thirds of votes he's likely to be exactly as bad as Nunes. And Janz-- like Costa-- will be able to do something Nunes never can: drag the Democratic caucus further to the right in everything it does. He'll be shitting on the party brand at every opportunity, confusing voters and people who have given up on voting at all. And-- for the sake of the primary-- there happens to be a better, a much better, candidate running for the Nunes seat, Ricardo Franco. He's an actual progressive who would make a stellar member of Congress. Right now Nunes has a campaign warchest of $4,535,099, to Janz's $612,273 and Franco's $2,188.

If anything defeats Nunes, it will be his disgraceful involvement in covering up for Trump. Yesterday Jim Comey dismissed the findings of Nunes' absurd report purporting to have found no evidence Señor Trumpanzee's campaign colluded with Russians. On Meet The Press Sunday, Comey referred to Nunes' report as "a political document... That is not my understanding of what the facts were before I left the FBI and I think the most important piece of work is the one the special counsel's doing now." Comey pointed out that Nunes and his work "wrecked the committee, and it damaged relationships with the FISA Court, the intelligence communities. It's just a wreck."

Nunes has transformed the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into "a beachhead" to gather support for President Donald Trump against his enemies, according to an article published this week in the New York Times Magazine.

Written by contributor Jason Zengerle, "How Devin Nunes Turned The House Committee Inside Out" looks at the Tulare Republican's rise from Central Valley farming roots to leading one of the nation's most powerful congressional oversight bodies.


Zengerle writes how Nunes' close ties to Trump were forged after an August 2016 fundraiser the then-presidential candidate held in Tulare, "cementing a political alliance that would have become one of the most consequential of the Trump era."


According to the article, after the election Nunes and Trump had discussed the possibility of him becoming director of national intelligence, overseeing a reorganization of the intelligence community.

However, Trump's circle saw Nunes as more valuable in Congress leading the Intelligence Committee.

"Some 17 months later, that looks to have been a remarkably prescient decision-- as Trump appears to have been able to influence Nunes to a remarkable degree. So much so that during Trump's time in the White House, Nunes has transformed the Intelligence Committee into a beachhead from which to rally his fellow Republicans in support of the president against his perceived enemies-- not just the Democratic Party but also the FBI, the Department of Justice and the entire intelligence community."


Zengerle also wrote Nunes has begun "laying the groundwork" to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether there was collusion between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia before Mueller's report is completed.

The article mentions how Nunes earlier this year pushed for the release of a memo he wrote that describes alleged Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice bias against Trump during an investigation of his campaign.

Additionally, Republicans on the Intelligence Committee in March concluded there was no collusion or coordination between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.

In the article, Nunes spokesman Jack Langer responded by saying the facts sent by the New York Times Magazine to check for the piece are "filled with laughable fictional stories and some entertaining conspiracy theories" that "are great examples of why so few people trust theNew York Times anymore."

So what paper does Nunes trust? Certainly not the biggest newspaper in his own district, the Fresno Bee. A few days later, it pointed out that Nunes is in jeopardy of losing his reelection bid. Yes, even to as crappy a candidate as Janz. CA-22, which goes from Clovis and Fresno and it's northern and eastern suburbs down through Dinuba and Visalia past Tulare, has a PVI of R+8. Obama lost both times he ran and Trump beat Hillary 52.1% to 42.6%. That's off for a district where just 41.9 of the population is white. Perhaps someone will persuade the DCCC about the efficacy of voter registration someday. Opps... no-one will since the corrupt staffers who run the DCCC haven't figured out how to line their own pockets with voter registration drives. The Fresno Bee was informing its readers that Nunes' district, CA-22, had been downgraded by Sabato's Crystal Ball from safe Republican to likely Republican.

Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap... California

Progressive woman, Katie Porter, vs Dave Min, backed by the corrupt reactionay New Dems

Do you want to hear something funny? Last week I was talking with someone about Dave Min, a truly reprehensible New Dem, trying to claw his way into Congress by telling everyone he meets whatever he thinks they want to hear. He actually managed to use some really gross tactics to win the California Democratic Party endorsement just over a week ago. My DCCC contact told me the DCCC should back him now out of respect for the California Democratic Party. Min won their endorsement, which was disputed by all the other candidates, by 1 vote. On the same day, Emilio Huerta won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party in a massive landslide. That triggered an avalanche of DCCC activity to pressure Huerta out of the race for a ghost candidate. Among the congressmembers who landed on Huerta-- or chatted with him respectfully-- were Zoe Lofgren, Jim Costa, Pete Aguilar and DCCC regional vice chair Ted Lieu.

Min was also able to use that "respect for California" argument to block progressive Katie Porter from being endorsed by the Congressional "Progressive" Caucus. So what about these reprehensible tactics Min has been using. If you're following the race, you know Min and his backers-- including Rep. Mark Takano-- used intimidation against signature gatherers at the Democratic state convention. Republican Mimi Walters has already started advertising Min's vile behavior towards progressive Democrats at the convention She sent out this video of Min in action in an e-mail which also used these tweets (among others):







But that's out there already and it isn't what I want to discuss today. This I believe hasn't been reported previously. Although when he was caught Min has been trying to worm out of this by claiming it was done by an unaffiliated supporter of his, I know from first hand experience with him that this has his stink all over it. He had one of his staffers call Katie Porter's Asian law students to see if they had been discriminated against. And now there are rumors that the dean of the law school got win of it and flipped out and demanded Min apologize. I haven't been able to get my hands on whatever apology he sent to the students but this is the bullshit he sent to the convention delegates:

So how do I know this isn't just campaign gossip? Min is an asshole. As soon as he noticed I was writing about him being a New Dem-- long before I had ever called him an asshole-- he went whining to friends of mine in DC that I'm an anti-Asian racist. I got three calls about that in one day-- from Asian friends.

More DCCC skuttlebutt that I just heard, although this sounds like it is wishful thinking from another conservative candidate, gun-nut and death penalty fanatic Andrew Janz. The rumor he's spreading is that the DCCC is trying to get Ricardo Franco, the progressive running against Devin Nunes, to run against Valadao. Total bullshit. And the good California progressives running for Congress this cycle are easily found by clicking on the ActBlue congressional thermometer in the right. I asked Ricardo if he has anything of the rumors Janz and his allies are spreading. He hadn't. He did send me a statement though:

I was made aware of Emilio Huerta's resignation from his race this morning through various media outlets. I was saddened to see my friend Emilio would no longer be fighting for labor rights, income inequality or better healthcare as a candidate for congress, but am confident he will still find a way to serve the good people of his district in another fashion as he always has. He and his family always have been and will continue to be an inspiration for all of us working-class folks from the Central Valley.

I also want to clarify that I have not had any contact with any members of the DCCC regarding my campaign jumping ship from CD-22 over to CD-21. I have great respect for CD-21; our districts are incredibly similar. However, the communities in CD-22, specifically Fresno, Dinuba, Clovis and Visalia have played an important role in my family's history for the last 100 years. I buried my uncle last year in Dinuba and have already purchased my burial plot in Fresno. My god-children live in Clovis and my cousins are in Visalia. These are the faces I will remember when I am making tough decisions in Congress. Theirs, along with the faces of countless volunteers that have supported me over the last 9 months with their blood, sweat and tears remind me why we cannot give up nor get distracted by issues out of our control.

I did not enter this race to simply win. I got into it to improve lives. Until we have Medicare for all, clean air in our valley, affordable housing, water with which to live, repatriated deported veterans and provided affordable means of housing for all of our citizens I will not stop fighting. Hasta la victoria!

And now, despite the DCCC, some good news for 2018-- another poll. Voters are pissed off at Trump and his Regime and at the Republicans who enable him-- and they're looking towards 2018 as a way to remedy that. That's what a wave is and that's what we've been seeing in those tremendous red to blue swings in special elections in every part of the country. Republicans are happy enough... but normal Americans are out for blood. Sure Democrats are anti-Republican and that accounts for gigantic voter enthusiasm. But even more important is that independents have turned away from the GOP in staggering numbers. USA Today reported that "Seven in 10 Republicans say the country is headed in the right direction. But more than eight in 10 Democrats say it's off on the wrong track, and seven in 10 independents agree with them... If the election were held today, though, those surveyed say they are more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress than the Republican one by 47%-32%-- a yawning 15 percentage-point advantage. Democrats need to flip 24 seats now held by Republicans to gain control of the House of Representatives. Winning control of the Senate is more difficult in a year in which 26 Democratic seats and just eight Republican seats are on the ballot.

Sixty percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, his highest negative rating in the USA TODAY Poll since he was inaugurated last year. Thirty-nine percent "strongly" disapprove; just 16% "strongly" approve.

Ratings for the Republican-controlled Congress are even worse: 75% disapprove of the job its doing. Thirty-six percent "strongly" disapprove and just 5% "strongly" approve.

That intensity of feeling could affect efforts to convince voters to go to the polls. Turnout traditionally is lower in midterm elections than in presidential years.

...The Republican Party has a dismal rating: 27% had a favorable opinion of the GOP; 60% an unfavorable one. That's a net negative rating of 33 percentage points.

That's not to say voters have a rosy view of the Democratic Party. Its favorable-unfavorable rating was 37%-48%, a net negative of 11 points.

Attitudes toward the nation's two major parties are so dyspeptic that even a share of partisans who claim membership in them express a dim view. One in five Republicans and one in five Democrats say they have an unfavorable opinion of their own party. Among independents, half have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party; two-thirds have a negative view of the GOP.