Just Two More Congressional Races Left To Call In California-- One District Held By A Democrat And One Held By A Republican

 

Officially, there are 3 uncalled congressional races in California-- CA-21 in the northern Central Valley, CA-25 in the northern part of L.A. county and part of Ventura County and CA-39 in northeast Orange County with bits of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. But... there really are just two races left, and both are incredibly close.

New Dem Gil Cisneros, the lottery winner who bought a seat in 2018 with $9 million of his winnings, didn't want to spend much of his own money and not many people wanted to donate to him... and he lost to Young Kim, the woman he beat two years ago. AP called the race late Friday. So far, Biden is beating Trump in Orange County 811,916 (53.51%) to 674,231 (44.44%)

Cisneros, a pointless New Dem, was a waste of a seat. His ProgressivePunch grade is "F" and there isn't a reason in the world for anyone to vote for him other than knee jerk Democrats. That wasn't enough this year, even though Hillary beat Trump in CA-39 by about 8 and a half points in 2016. Of the 4 Democrats elected in the 2018 anti-red wave, the two progressives were re-elected and the two rich, reactionary "ex"-Republicans lost. Cisneros' district has an even PVI so it should have been easy to hold by a halfway decent incumbent. Katie Porter's seat is much trickier (PVI is R+3) but she's a great congresswoman and her constituents love her. She won by 7 points. Levin's district has a PVI of R+1 and he has been an outspoken champion of the Green New Deal and won reelection by about 6 points. The other loser, like Cisneros, Rouda, a right-of-center New Dem who contributed money to Romney when he ran against Obama, lost by a bit over 2 points in a difficult R+4 district. The DCCC and Pelosi's PAC spent $9.5 million, $840 on Katie Porter, $135 on Mike Levin and $2.6 million on Cisneros (who conceded on Twitter).

So, that leaves one Democrat-- a New Dem actually-- and one Republican in races still too close to call: TJ Cox and Mike Garcia. Cox's district has a PVI of D+5 and should be an easy hold for a decent candidate (which he isn't) and Garcia's district's PVI is even, although the Democrats have a registration advantage and, again, a decent Democrat should win there-- which Christy Smith is about as far from being as anyone could imagine.

Absentee ballots being counted now in CA-21 heavily favor Cox and Valadao's election night lead has been cut in half. As of Friday, just 2,065 votes (50.6% to 49.4%) separate them and Cox still has a decent shot at reelection. It's one of the most pitifully low-turn out districts in the country but perhaps more people would vote if there weren't always being asked to pick the lesser of two evils. In 2018, the race wasn't decided for weeks of counting, surprising everyone when Cox ousted Valadao (57,239) to 56,377 (49.6%). Cox raised $4,798,088 to Valadao's $3,721,619. The DCCC and Pelosi's PAC kicked another $7 million into the race. There is no real telling who's going to win this time but the absentee ballots need to be stronger than they've been for Cox to pull this one off.

CA-25 is another sad district with two dreadful candidates, neither of whom should be anywhere near Congress. Christy Smith isn't a real Democrat and Garcia is a Trumpist imbecile. But it's one of the closest races in the country, just 104 votes separating the two of them. On Friday Garcia was leading by 219 votes so it looks like Smith will win if there are enough absentees to be counted, something that is unclear now.

By the way, New York has 7 uncalled congressional races. We'll get to that mess soon.

The Fear-Based Politics Of Conservative Democrats Who Sold Themselves To The Voters As Fearless Military Heroes

Look at this photo. Does the word "progressive' come to mind?

It isn't just Cisneros, though, I'm using him as the example, other Dems who ran as brave vets and who have turned into amorphous mounds of quivering jello in the face of Trumpists in their districts include Chrissy Houlahan (PA), Jared Golden (ME), Jason Crow (CO), Max Rose (NY), Mikie Sherrill (NJ), and Elaine Luria (VA).

Judging by his sleazy campaign e-mails, everyone who knew that shady New Dem Gil Cisneros was lying last year when he claimed to be for Medicare-For-All, was correct. Now he's for something he calls "universal health care for all," basically nothing-- just a DCCC buzzphrase dodgy candidates can use to say they back private insurance with subsidies and rate hikes... like Status Quo Joe and Kamala. During the primary-- hoping for support from progressives-- Cisneros used to even pretend he was for Bernie, an absurdity.

Cisneros definitely raised his hand for Medicare for All at the NextGen forum during the primary and had his people out there saying he was for it. All during the primary, this so-called "ex"-conservative Republican always worked to blur the lines between himself and the real Democrats and more progressive candidates running in CA-39-- especially Andy Thorburn and Sam Jammal. He even told the Orange County Register he was for Medicare for All: "Janowicz, Cisneros, Jammal and Thorburn back that approach, although all note that it will take time to make such a transition."

As the general election campaign was wrapping up, he didn't seem as enthusiastic about it. The Washington Free Beacon certainly noticed. "Gil Cisneros, a Democrat running for Congress in the traditionally conservative enclave of California’s Orange County," wrote Susan Crabtree at the time, "is backing off his support for single-payer style healthcare reforms in the general election after supporting them during the primary race... During an appearance Tuesday with a local radio show hosted by Larry Mantle, Cisneros downplayed his prior support for a single-payer health care system and Medicare for all."

When he spoke with Think Progress he may have thought their readership was liberal so he didn't fully back away. "For right now," he said, "for me being practical, it’s about protecting what we have. Protecting the Affordable Care Act… Not allowing them to take away [protections for] pre-existing conditions... I think as soon as we get there, we protect the Affordable Care Act, you know, put the individual mandate back in, don’t allow them to take away [protections for] pre-existing conditions, and then we can keep progressing and working towards making sure everybody has Medicare for All."

At this point, Cisneros has been on the wrong side of almost every intra-party battle. He's clearly part of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, something that was always predictable. ProgressivePunch rates him a solid "F" so far and, let's face it, he's just nothing but a wasted seat in Congress. With the exception of himself and another arch conservative, Lou Correa, the whole Orange County delegation is supporting impeachment. Even Harley Rouda, another "ex"-Republican masquerading as a Democrat, has come around to now backing impeachment for Trump. It is highly doubtful there is a swing voter in Gil's district-- which went heavy for Hillary-- who would vote for a Republican for Congress just because Cisneros were to support impeachment. More likely that voter swings back over taxes or being unimpressed with him, if they would even consider swinging back while Trump is in office. 

Cisneros' problem is that the NRCC is after him in a big way and instead of standing strong for what he campaigned on and what won him his seat, he seems to be doing absolutely everything he can to turn off the Democratic base with his lame, fear-based politics. Georgia Senate candidate Teresa Tomlinson sounds like she was describing Cisneros when she explained a common problem among Democrats today: "It’s fear that cripples the Democratic Party. Fear of our policies, fear of who we are, and fear of the Republicans. Yes, fear is what has politically cost us in the last many election cycles. One cannot lead if one is afraid. The thing about leadership is that people want their leaders to be brave. They care less about what you think on the issues than whether you have the moxie to fight for them and the strength of conviction to tell them what you really think."

And like I said up top, this isn't just about Cisneros. Brave right-of-center veterans who are using Republican talking points today-- Chrissy Houlahan, Jared Golden, Jason Crow, Max Rose, Mikie Sherrill, and Elaine Luria-- should all think about this before it's too late. No one likes the smell of fear. And speaking of the stink of fear...

Gil Cisneros-- Already As Bad As We Predicted

Cisneros really hates this photograph

"Ex"-Republican Gil Cisneros spent $10,494,157 to beat still-Republican Young Kim (who spent $2,158,357) in a suburban L.A. district that went for Hillary 51.5% to 42.9%, her best Orange County performance. Of that $10,494,157 Cisneros spent about 80% of it came out of his personal bank account ($8,852,762) and most of that wasted on expensive consultants who ripped him off.The former Frito-Lay's potato chip taster who lives in a beachfront mansion nowhere near his landlocked district, doesn't care; it's just a small part of the 2010 historic $266 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot haul that came just weeks after he was fired from the potato chip factory for tasting too many chips. He was immediately catapulted into the upper echelons of the California Democratic Party (which is never fussy about who writes the checks).

He says he left the GOP in 2008-- although the math doesn't work and it was probably 4 or 5 years after that-- and he says the reason is because the Republicans had become "too ideological." Since the Democratic Party is so transactual and non-ideological, he figured he could use his money to bribe enough party support to get a congressional seat. It worked, albeit just barely and not in the Orange County part of the district.

Yesterday, Washington Post reporters Robert Costa and Mike DeBonis broke the story that Cisneros breathed new life into Seth Moulton's moribund coup against Nancy Pelosi, signing the letter agreeing not to vote for her in tomorrow's party caucus nominating election nor in the January 3 floor vote. "Cisneros’s signature," wrote Costa, "gives a jolt of energy to the anti-Pelosi dissidents, who had seen the House minority leader’s relentless lobbying machine pluck off several of the rebels." Both Brian Higgins (Buffalo) and Stephen Lynch (Boston) withdrew their signatures and distanced themselves from Moulton, Rice and the other coup plotters.

I asked a prominent activist in the district what she thought and she emailed me back: "Geez. That was quick. I assumed he would wait to disappoint. Considering the party spent around $5 million to get him elected plus all the SwingLeft support he had for the general (most volunteers were from LA and surrounding areas, not local), you would think he would find a way to be supportive." You would? I wouldn't.

Last night, Politico reported that "The latest trouble for the rebels started when Moulton issued a statement Monday signaling he was open to holding talks with Pelosi and leaving the gavel in her hands. But multiple aides and lawmakers in the anti-Pelosi pack pushed back on Moulton’s statement, worrying it could make the rebels look like they’re already seeking an exit strategy. Moulton suggested that replacing her top lieutenants, Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland or Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, with new leaders might win her the group’s support. Sources close to Moulton also hinted that Pelosi could find success if she were to promise to serve only one more term."

I asked a few congressmembers who Cisneros wrote checks for, what they thought about him throwing in his lot with the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. No one wanted to say anything on the record but one Democrat told me that "It says a lot about [Pelosi] that she bothers even to listen to people like that. If she were like Boehner, she would simply say, 'if you don’t vote for me for Speaker, then you’re off the Financial Services Committee. Go try selling your vote when you’re on the Joint Committee on the Library, and see what you get.'"

Everything you need to know about Congressman-elect Cisneros, including the sexual harassment case that he seems to have bribed his way out of. Thinking of a primary challenge? Contact downwithtyranny@gmail.com/

The Midterm Field Has Expanded In California-- Thank Ted Lieu

L.A. Times this morning: "Republicans are at risk of a wipeout in California’s six most hotly contested congressional races, a new poll shows-- a result that could radically reshape the state’s political map, with major consequences nationally... The Democratic tide threatens to swamp congressional districts in Southern California’s suburbs that Republicans have controlled for decades. That would significantly boost Democrats’ chances of gaining the additional 23 seats they need to win a majority in the House."

The story behind the story, a story beyond the ken of the mass media. After years of abject DCCC failure, the members of the Democratic caucus in the House demanded reforms from Pelosi before agreeing to give her another term as leader. That was in 2016. Reluctantly, Pelosi agreed to giving up the right to pick the DCCC chair and she agreed to allow the election of six DCCC regional vice chairs.

Big victory for reformers, right? Bullshit! When it came time to vote, the only candidate running for DCCC chair was Pelosi's handpicked, bumbling incompetent, Ben Ray Luján. So he was elected. There were no contested battles for the DCCC vice chairmen jobs either. And that has turned out to be a complete disaster. More than half the candidates outside of the West Coast have told me they didn't know their region even had a regional vice chair. One vice chair told me he didn't know why he ran or what the job was and asked me to help him figure out what he was supposed to do. Two years on and he hasn't done a thing. Another resigned a couple of months after being elected and, despite promises from Luján and Pelosi that he would be replaced, there is still no regional vice chair for the Rocky Mountain states and Texas (one of the crucial battlegrounds of 2018, where the unsupervised DCCC staff has fucked up race after race). In the end, two regional vice chairs get a passing grade, Joe Kennedy (B) and Ted Lieu (A+). The rest have been abject, embarrassing failures.

And that brings us back to this morning's L.A. Times story. "With the Nov. 6 midterm election less than five weeks away," wrote David Lauter, "none of the Republicans in the state’s six most competitive races have a lead. The Democrats lead strongly in one race and narrowly in three others, and two are dead heats, the Berkeley IGS Poll shows. Reaction to President Trump appears to drive the results more than any specific issue and, in most cases, more than the individual candidates. 'Trump appears to be the main motivator for voters in these districts,' said Mark DiCamillo, the veteran pollster who directs the Berkeley IGS Poll. 'He’s the central figure.'" Yes, he has that right. Recall, Ted Lieu's comments here at DWT yesterday: "The 2018 midterm elections are primarily about one thing: Donald Trump. November will be a referendum on the job the President and his party are doing.  Americans express their support or displeasure with the governing party. During a time of relatively low unemployment it is unheard of for the party in power to be so despised. But this is where we are-- Trump’s numbers are under water in purple districts across the country. This tells me that Americans are anxious about other things besides the economy. They are concerned about Trump’s temperament and lack of basic decency, the instability he creates around the globe, and his assault on our democratic norms and institutions. Voters are smart. They know that Trump inherited a pretty darn good economy from Barack Obama; and yet what did he do with it? Did he increase workers wages with a big infrastructure package? Did he tackle the student debt crisis? Make healthcare more affordable? Pay down the national debt? Nope. He and his Republican enablers in Congress passed a hugely unpopular tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and continue to undermine the Affordable Care Act. So on top of issues with Trump’s character and temperament, these policies are also very unpopular (and don’t even get me started on Russia)."

Even if he was hampered by the usual DC-directed DCCC staffer-clowns stepping clumsily and ineptly all over recruitment efforts, Lieu has demonstrated how the DCCC could turn into an organization that actually helps elect Democrats-- instead of existing as a pocket-lining disaster that benefits only the Republican Party. Unlike his co-vice chairs, he has raised millions of dollars for his region's candidates, helped the West Coast candidates find their footings for their races and helped create the environment that journalists and pundits marvel over as they write about the West Coast races.

Trump is unpopular across most of the targeted districts-- four covering parts of Orange and San Diego counties, one in Los Angeles County and one centered on Modesto in the Central Valley. That’s especially true among college-educated white voters, whose alienation from the president has turned suburban districts across the country into risky territory for the GOP, and among Latinos and women.

The share of voters who approve of Trump serves as a ceiling for Republican candidates, with none able to surpass Trump’s level by more than a few percentage points. That’s a significant problem for Republicans; in five of the six districts, a majority of likely voters disapprove of the president’s performance in office.

In several districts, the president’s opponents appear more motivated to vote than his supporters, with self-identified liberals and registered Democrats more likely to say that they view this year’s election as more important than previous contests.

Strategies that the Republicans had hoped would bolster their campaigns and make up for the undertow from the president appear to have had limited effect, at best.

A ballot measure to repeal the recent increase in the state’s gas tax, which Republican operatives had hoped would spur turnout on their side, trails in each of the six highly competitive districts. Money for the repeal campaign has largely dried up as Republicans have diverted funds elsewhere.

A national effort by Republicans to portray untested Democratic candidates as unacceptably liberal appears also to have come up short in these California districts. Several Democratic newcomers have maintained favorable images with voters, the poll showed.

As a result of those factors, Republicans lag behind in two of the four congressional districts that cover most of Orange County, long the heartland of California conservatism. The other two contests are dead heats.

A longtime Republican incumbent, Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale, is narrowly trailing in the only remaining L.A.-centered district the GOP holds.

Farther north, Republican Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock, who has survived previous attempts by Democrats to oust him, is behind by a slim margin in his Central Valley race.

The poll’s findings in those districts are generally similar to other recent nonpartisan, publicly released surveys.

In addition to those six districts, the poll also surveyed the races in two Republican-held seats that have not been top Democratic targets but have attracted considerable attention.

Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has a 53%-45% lead in his race against Andrew Janz, a county prosecutor. Nunes’ role as a defender of Trump has opened a gusher of money for Janz, despite the district’s heavily Republican tilt.

But in another heavily Republican district, Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine has only a 49%-47% lead over Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, a result well within the poll’s margin of error.

Let me butt in here for a moment. According to Janz, the DCCC has been unhelpful and even hostile to his efforts to replace Nunes. Lieu has gone out of his way to help Janz even though Luján and Pelosi have refused to even add him to their Red to Blue list. With Lieu's help he has raised more money than any of the DCCC-favored candidates. And Lieu includes him in all his joint candidate events and fund-raising efforts. The DCCC has also ignored-- and viciously undermined-- Ammar Campa-Najjar. Lieu? He's helping him raise money and, in fact, is hosting a major fundraising event for him (and Randy Bryce) in two weeks.

49th District

Democrats have their strongest shot in the 49th District, covering northern San Diego County and the southern Orange County coast up through Dana Point. Mike Levin, the Democrat, has a 55%-41% lead over Republican Diane Harkey, the poll shows. Republican Rep. Darrell Issa decided not to run for reelection in a district that Hillary Clinton carried by just more than 7 points in the 2016 presidential election.

White voters with college degrees make up 45% of the likely voters in this mostly affluent, suburban district, and they back Levin 60% to 35%. Latinos, who make up about 1 in 8 likely voters here, back him by about a 3-1 majority. While men are divided almost evenly between the two, women favor Levin 60% to 34%.

Perhaps most important, likely voters disapprove of how Trump is doing as president 61% to 39%, with more than half, 55%, saying they strongly disapprove. Democrats and liberals were significantly more likely than Republicans and conservatives to say that it was “very important” for them to cast a vote to show their position on Trump.

48th District

Next door to the north, the 48th District, which spans the rest of the Orange County coast from Laguna Niguel to Seal Beach and inland to Westminster and Fountain Valley, is a couple of clicks more conservative. Clinton carried the district by less than 2 percentage points.

There, longtime Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and his Democratic challenger, Harley Rouda, are in a dead heat, each with 48%. Voters also split almost evenly on whether they approve of Trump.

As in the 49th District, college-educated white voters and Latinos back the Democrat, but they make up a slightly smaller share of the electorate: 39% of likely voters in the 48th District are whites with college degrees, and about 1 in 10 are Latino, the poll found.

Rohrabacher also benefits from significant support among Asian Americans, who make up about 1 in 8 of the likely voters. Elsewhere in California, Asian Americans lean heavily toward the Democrats, but this district includes a large, conservative Vietnamese population. Asian American voters overall divide almost equally between Rohrabacher and Rouda, the poll found.

Among whites without a college degree-- the heart of Trump’s voting base-- Rohrabacher leads by nearly 20 points, 58% to 39%, almost twice the size of the Republican’s margin with that group in the 49th District. Women support the Democrat, but men back the Republican by an almost equal margin.

The more Trump-oriented conservatism of the 48th District also surfaces when voters said what issues they care about most. Among Republicans in the 49th District, taxes were the top issue; in the 48th, it was “securing the nation’s borders.”

As the two sides vie to break the Rohrabacher-Rouda tie, the poll found a couple of weak spots.

Latino voters in the district were slightly less likely than others to say they viewed this election as more important than usual. That could hold down the Democratic vote.

Rohrabacher, however, has been dogged by controversy over his friendliness to people connected with Russia’s government. Unsurprisingly, an overwhelming share of Democrats said his contacts with Russian officials made them less likely to vote for Rohrabacher. So did 10% of registered Republicans. Among the small number of undecided voters, 45% said the Russia issue made them less likely to vote for him.

45th District

The 45th District, which covers a swath of Orange County from Irvine east through most of the foothill communities, resembles the 49th in its affluent, college-educated demographics. Clinton carried the district by 5 percentage points.

The Republican incumbent, Rep. Mimi Walters of Laguna Beach, had confidently predicted she could ride out the national tide flowing against her party, but the poll shows her Democratic challenger, UC Irvine law professor Katie Porter, leading 52% to 45%.

This race illustrates the failure so far of GOP strategies. Walters put money into helping get the gas tax repeal measure on the ballot, hoping it would spur GOP turnout. But the poll shows the measure getting only about a third of the vote in the district.

Republicans have also put millions into ads attacking Porter as too far to the left. That effort has had limited impact. By 50% to 38%, likely voters have a favorable opinion of Porter; self-identified moderates view her favorably 52% to 37%. By contrast, 50% of the district’s voters have a negative view of Walters, compared with 45% who see her positively.

39th District

Only a very, very strong wave could drag Cisneros into Congress

The GOP may have had more success with negative ads in the 39th District, which covers much of northern Orange County as well as parts of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Gil Cisneros has battled accusations that he sexually harassed a former Democratic state Assembly candidate, Melissa Fazli. A Republican super PAC allied with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) has run advertisements in the district about the charge.

Fazli withdrew the accusation this week after a meeting with Cisneros, saying it was based on a “misunderstanding.” The super PAC said it would stop running the ads.

The poll can’t directly measure the impact of that issue, but 45% of likely voters have a negative view of Cisneros. That includes 10% of registered Democrats. Just 41% of likely voters view him positively.

Cisneros and Republican Young Kim are locked in a dead heat, the poll showed, with the Democrat holding a nominal 49%-48% edge.

25th District

The demographic picture looks somewhat different in northern Los Angeles County, where Republican Rep. Steve Knight hopes to hold off a challenge from Katie Hill, the 31-year-old former executive director of PATH, a nonprofit organization that provides services to homeless people.

Hill has a slight edge, 50% to 46%, within the poll’s margin of error.

The district, which covers Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and the Palmdale area, has fewer college-educated white voters than the wealthy Orange County suburbs. But it has a higher share of minority voters.

Latinos make up a bit more than 1 in 5 of the district’s likely voters and support Hill by nearly 2 to 1, the poll found. Hill also benefits from a significant gender gap, with women backing her 53% to 44% over Knight, while men split almost evenly. Just over half of the voters have a strongly negative view of Trump

10th District

Similar factors have put Republican Rep. Jeff Denham’s career at risk as he seeks a fifth term in a district centered on Modesto in the Central Valley, where Latinos make up more than 40% of the district's population, but about a quarter of the likely voters.

Denham’s Democratic opponent, Josh Harder, has the support of roughly two-thirds of Latinos, the poll found.

White voters split 52% for Denham, 43% for Harder. Together, that’s enough to give the Democrat a 50%-45% edge in a district that Clinton narrowly carried in 2016 and where 57% of voters say they disapprove of Trump.

Here on the right is the Blue America "California-- Not Blue Enough" thermometer for 2018. To win Congress, Democratic voters are stuck with whichever candidates the primaries advanced to the general election. There are some really good candidates and some really bad candidates-- and mostly candidates in between. The DCCC put its finger on the scales in many districts to make sure New Dems and "ex"-Republicans from the Republican wing of the party would be the general election candidates. To stop Trump, we are now stuck with a situation where we have to vote for them too. But that isn't what Blue America is about. We're raising money only for the progressive candidates. Sure, vote for the Democrap candidates to help put Trump in check, but only contribute money to the progressives who will actually help solve America's problems when they get into Congress. Isn't that what this is ultimately all about? So, who, precisely, are they? Tap on the thermometer and you'll see.

How Much Did Self-Funding Help In The California Congressional Races?

Gil Cisneros, the DCCC's staff's idea of a candidate

There were a lot of candidates willing to spend over $500,000 of their own money to buy a place in the general election run-off. None of the big spenders came in first and most of them failed to come in second, which is what they would have needed to get into the general election. These are the 3 districts, all in Orange County, where multimillionaires spent over half a million in the effort. All but one of the big self-funders are Democrats, in part due to the DCCC's repulsive obsession with recruiting wealthy self-funders. In some cases they actually hurt themselves by recruiting more than one self funder in a single district. The DCCC recruited both Gil Cisneros and Mai Khanh Tran in the 39th and Harley Rouda and Hans Keirstea in the 48th, a race that still hasn't be called.

Worse yet, in the 39th, Cisneros is such an abysmal candidate that unless the blue wave is an absolute tsunami, he's unlikely to be able to win the general election. What the DCCC has done is cede the best target in Orange County to the Republicans just because Cisneros is such a big spender, his only "qualification" for office.

The vote counts are as of last Saturday, June 16 and the money totals are of May 16

CA-39

• Gil Cisneros (D)- 25, 291 (19.3%)- $3,552,762
• Andy Thorburn (D)- 12,046 (9.2%)- $2,785,900
• Herbert Lee (D)- 5,456 (4.2%)- $800,000
• Mai Khanh Tran (D)- 6,793 (5.2%)- $730,000

CA-48

• Harley Rouda (D)- 29,178 (17.2%)- $1,130,500
• Omar Siddiqui (D)- 8,384 (5%)- $764,820
• Hans Keirstead (D)- 29,292 (17.3%)- $730,400

CA-49

• Paul Kerr (D)- 7,707 (4.5%)- $4,112,728
• Sara Jacobs (D)- 27,154 (15.7%)- $1,587,831
• Brian Maryott (R)- 5,133 (3.0%) $700,000

Is The DCCC Supervising A GOP Win In Orange County's Most Flippable District?

One of California's most conservative Dems, Scott Peters, endorses his rich funder, Paul Kerr

According to OpenSecrets.org, this cycle's half dozen worst self-funders-- at least so far-- include 5 Democrats-- and 4 of this 5 are running ing in Orange County. These are men-- and one woman (an utterly worthless Qualcomm heiress from Brooklyn, pushed run by EMILY'S List-- who are trying to buy congressional seats. All are expected to spend much more before their races are over. Anyway, these are the sic with how much they've self0funded and what percent of their total campaign war chest comes out of their own pockets:

• David Trone (D-MD)- $5,281,939 (93.71%)
• Andy Thorburn (D-CA)- $2,335,900 (91.20%)
• Gil Cisneros (D-CA)- $2,052,762 (81.96%)
• Paul Kerr (D-CA)- $1,612,728 (82.75%)
• Bob Corlew (R-TN)- $1,300,000 (98.91%)
• Sara Jacobs (D-CA)- $1,087,461 (64.35%)

Kerr and Jacobs are running in the same district, CA-49. Kerr knows he has no shot at winning but he wants to build up name recognition so when his conservative pal, New Dem Scott Peters runs for mayor of San Diego in 2 years, he can then run for Peters' neighboring San Diego seat. Jacobs' ridiculous run is just something EMILY's List has cooked uo as a way for their corrupt consultants to get their hands on her money.

But the two biggest Orange County self-funders are Thorburn and Cisneros. Cisneros is the silliest candidate of the cycle, a former Republican potato chip taster for Frito Lay's who won $266 million in a lottery and thinks that entitles to him to a seat in Congress. He's been buying endorsements from easily corruptible members of Congress (like this guy) since he decided to run as a "Democrat."

When candidates have money to burn, they spend it foolishly. This week Cisneros, whose campaign is controlled by the DCCC, started running an ad on CNN attacking Thorburn. And Cisneros and Thorburn have started flooding Orange County mail boxes with slick, vicious attack ads against each other , like these 3:

Republican voters love is when their candidates attack each other. Democratic voters don't; in fact, they hate it. Democrats like positive primaries. And Democrats like the negative saved to be used against Republicans. Cisneros' incompetent task masters at the DCCC-- Jason Bresler and Kyle Layman-- should know better. But they don't. So, you have seen Cisneros and the DCCC smearing Thorburn relentlessly, asserting that he's a tax evader and giving the GOP weapons against him if he makes it into the general-- much like the DCCC did to Laura Moser in Houston.

Cisneros, whose every word is scripted by the DCCC and the high-priced consultants they made him hire, is on a kamikaze mission against Thorburn. "We already have a con man in the White House," they had him say. "We don’t need one representing the 39th District. Andy Thorburn’s career is an unbroken chain of tax evasion, financial mismanagement, and misreprersentation." What's especially funny about this is that it's coming from the mouth of a man who has constantly been caught in outright lies and an unending stream of misrepresentations. Cisneros is more like Trump than any other Democrat running for Congress anywhere in America.

This is the cached website the DCCC designed for Cisneros to use in his attack against Thorburn. They are such scumbags-- but also stupider than shit and unable to cover their own tracks. This is the site that has been taken down-- "Committee name here" written in the disclaimer box-- instead of anybody's disclaimer. Watch them screw up another race! Since Cisneros isn't even a Democrat and has no idea how to appeal to Democrats, his campaign is completely based around attacks against the Democrats running for the CA-39 seat. This are the claims he's been using his lottery winnings to make against Thorburn:

• Thorburn is running for office on his record of being a teacher but his only teaching experience was four decades ago in New Jersey. He is in fact an insurance executive who has bankrupted numerous companies, failed to pay his taxes, and made a fortune that he is now spending to misrepresent himself to voters.
• Thorburn says he’s a successful businessman but in fact he has a history of illegal and unethical business misconduct. He led a company that was forced to pay over 234 thousand dollars for breach of contract to a customer who asserts Thorburn defrauded him. A former business partner asserts Thorburn used fraud and defamation to push him out of their business and says that Thorburn did not pay taxes or use normal account procedures, used offshore bank accounts, and used insurance ratings improperly.
• Thorburn says he supports big government policies but won’t pay his fair share in taxes to fund these policies. He failed to pay his taxes for five years and has faced nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in federal tax liens. Thorburn and two of his businesses filed for bankruptcy. When wealthy men like Thorburn fail to live up to their responsibilities, the burden is shifted to ordinary families who pay their taxes. 

There's also a good candidate in the race-- Sam Jammal, the Democrat who actually lives in the district (unlike Cisneros, Mai Khanh Tran and Thorburn, the 3 multimillionaire carpetbaggers)-- but the clueless DCCC shenanigans could well end with 2 Republicans-- Young Kim and Bob Huff-- winning the jungle primary and no Democrat making it into the general election. That's the DCCC; that's Kyle Layman; that's Jason Bresler; that's Ben Ray Lujan... and that's what we get when Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer get to supervise the DCCC. Eric Bauman should kick them out of the state.

Congresswomen Won't Be Safe With A Drunken Gil Cisneros Wandering Around Capitol Hill

Cisneros keeps threatening to sue everyone; he's just like another Republican: Trump

I've been writing about Gil Cisneros' hopes to buy an Orange County congressional seat he doesn't live in for about a year now-- and I've been talking with DCCC staffers for that long about it as well. Why the hell would they be pushing a conservative "ex"-Republican carpetbagger as incompetent and foolish as Cisneros when there were so many better candidates running in the district? And Cisneros has proven it again.

Melissa Fazli is running for the state Assembly now (AD 55) after having run for DNC vice chair. She has a great reputation among Democratic activists in Orange County and she put out a horrifying press release about Cisneros yesterday, This is it, word for word:

I have seen and heard things that should be yelled from the top of Mount Whitney when it comes to other candidates, especially those running for Congressional District 39. I have heard lies and seen inappropriate behavior. I have spoken privately with others about some of the things that I have witnessed and I have kept quiet until now.

On February 24, 2018 at the San Diego Bayfront Hotel while attending the California Democratic Party Convention, I had an inappropriate encounter with Gil Cisneros, who is running for House of Representatives for Congressional District 39. It was around the 11 pm hour and I had just left Rep. Maxine Waters’ party when I ran into Mr. Cisneros at the elevators. In my opinion, he was intoxicated. I told him how I was running for Assembly 55 and that I was going to hit him up for the maximum contribution for my campaign. He joked “why does everyone come to me for donations?” I responded by saying “well isn’t it obvious?” We chit chatted about Rep. Waters’ party while waiting for the elevator. Then out of the blue he asked me “Should we go back to your room?” I was shocked, but quickly excused it because he was intoxicated. I responded “I don’t think so Gil and I don’t think my two roommates would approve,” while I was laughing. He just smiled and the elevators door opened.

I wouldn’t have given it another thought, if it wasn’t for a phone call I had with him about a week later. I called him to ask for the donation. First he said “why should I? You didn’t vote for me.” He was talking about the pre-endorsement meeting before the convention where the delegates, like myself, get together to vote. I explained to him that a group of us were trying to get Jay Chen the CADEM endorsement in hopes of others to drop out of the crowded race and we were 2 votes shy and so there was no endorsement for CD39. I already knew it wouldn’t deter him or Andy Thorburn from dropping from the race. He then asked me “well what are you going to do for me?” I went into this whole spiel about my ground game hoping to impress him that I would be a very active candidate. Then he interrupted me and in a different tone and slowly said “no Melissa. I mean what are you going to do for me?”

Now this can be interpreted two ways. Either he wants me to be his spy or he wants me to have sex with him. After the encounter at the elevator in San Diego, I thought he wanted to have sex with me in exchange for a $4400 donation. Either way he wanted pay for play; a quick pro quo. I lost my breath for a second and responded “well Gil that’s not how this works.” In the end, he said that he needed to talk to his wife because he was already having problems with people saying he was buying the election and then the call ended. That was the last time I ever spoke to him, but not the last time I would see him.

On April 23rd, I saw him walk in at the Democratic Party of Orange County meeting a little before 7 pm. He looked my way and I immediately felt uncomfortable, so I ended up leaving.

I met Mr. Cisneros for the first time at the Tri-County Democratic Club’s Christmas luncheon in December. Before that I had received a couple of phone calls from him to lobby my vote at the pre-endorsement meeting but I sent them to voicemail. At that time I was getting dozens of calls for my vote as the elected Assembly 55 Delegate and Executive Board Representative to CADEM. Thomas Rivera, Gil’s Deputy Political Director came to my door after the 8 pm hour to also lobby me for my vote. He was the only one to do that and it was kind of creepy.

The first thing I noticed about Mr. Cisneros was he seemed socially awkward. He was constantly on his phone not conversing with the people around him. I’ve seen this exact same behavior in other local venues we’ve attended. I also interviewed him for a couple of minutes for a video I put together of Ed Royce’s retirement celebration at Cha Cha’s restaurant in Brea. He struck me as an outcast in high school who won the lottery and now he wants to hang out with the cool kids in Washington D.C. by showering money on them.

Before I decided to go forward with telling my side of the story, I decided to visit Gil Cisneros’ office in Placentia to let him know and see his response in person on April 30th, however he was not there. His friendly staff told me he was at a high school event and then he was headed to Philadelphia to participate in Michelle Obama’s America’s College Promise event. My first thought was I wished I had Michelle Obama’s cell phone number so I could let her know what happened to me. It also gave me solace in my resolve to come forward. I know there will be sceptics and people who will publically flog me for coming forward, but I thought it was necessary to let people know what kind of man is Gil Cisneros, an unethical creepy man who is using inappropriate and bullying tactics to intimate others in order to win a seat in Congress.

I wonder if Cisneros has ever even heard of the #MeToo movement. I spoke with Melissa on the phone before I wrote this. I asked if she was positive Cisneros was trying to have sex with her. She was positive, unquestionably so. He's so out of touch sitting in his multimillion dollar beachfront mansion in Newport Coast, that he may not even know what it's about. Ben Ray Lujan, Stenchy Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi, Jason Bresler, Kyle Layman, and Dan Sena do know what it means. Do they care? They've endorsed Cisneros and, at least so far, they're sticking with him. Did they even ever vet him-- other than what was in his bank? How disgusting is that? By the way, Republican Russ Wilson spoke up for Cisneros today, defending him by explaining that they've been friends since 2000 "when we worked on the McCain campaign together." Wow... most Democrats I know were working for Al Gore, not John McCain. Cisneros forgot to put his work for John McCain on his resume. But... that's DCCC candidate Gil Cisneros. Pelosi must be so proud! And accused child predator Tony Cárdenas, who-- when he wasn't drugging 16 year old girls and molesting them-- was forcing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC to unite behind Cisneros.

He HATES this photo of himself

CA-39-- Ask Lulu

One of the moist rotten of the DCCC's many rotten moves this cycle was endorsing the least competent "serious" candidate--"serious" implying in this case only one thing: loaded with cash-- anywhere in the country. Gil Cisneros wouldn't be a good candidate for dog-catcher; just ask Lulu (above). He won $266 million in a lottery and was able to quit his gig as a potato chip taster for Frito-Lay's and become... a slumlord. He lives in a multimillion dollar mansion in one of the most exclusive zip codes in America-- Newport Coast-- and has been successful at one thing: bribing lots of shameless organizations and congressional sleaze balls into endorsing him. Newport Coast in nowhere near CA-39, where he's running for Congress. He lies and tells people he's moved. He hasn't. (In fact, he lies about everything... all the time, very much like Trump.) The people who endorsed him must all be completely like him; his lies aren't secret or hidden-- and now we know who they are as well. Cisneros, for example, claimed he supported Bernie in the primary. But he didn't. He contributed massive amounts of money to Hillary during the primary and exactly nothing to Bernie during the primary. Maybe he prayer for Bernie; does that count as support? Those are the kinds of lies-about-everything bullshit that comes out of his mouth every time he opens it. This guy is the essence of an untrustworthy DCCC type of candidate-- perfect for DCCC right-of-center staffers who found him, Kyle Layman and Jason Bresler.

The DCCC didn't want him getting in the way of their candidate in CA-48, where he lives, and felt there was no chance to take back CA-39 anyway, so it didn't matter. But Ed Royce decided to retire and now the chance of flipping CA-39 is better than the chance of flipping CA-48. And the DCCC is stuck with Cisneros in one and two recruits-- Keirstead and Rouda-- in the other.

Cisneros is just one of the self-funders who wants to buy a congressional seat-- for no particular reason other than to have a business card that says "congressman on it. Here are the self-funders running in CA-39, none of whom live in CA-39:

• Andy Thorburn- $2,335,900
• Gil Cisneros- $2,052,762
• Mai-Khanh Tran- $480,000

There's one good candidate in CA-39, someone who will make an actual difference in Congress and isn't running to get a business card-- Sam Jammal. He's an accomplished guy-- in the Washington and in the private sector. Here's how he explains why he's running for Congress:

I am running because during these divided times we need the next generation of leaders to step up and lead. Too many of us are falling further and further behind. The American Dream was in trouble before Donald Trump and now it’s on life support.

We need new voices that will fight to make sure students and young professionals can get a good job, afford a down payment on a home, and start a family. We need leaders who can stand up and fight to make sure our government gets back to the basics and represents our best interest.

I have spoken with seniors who are worried about whether their retirement savings will be enough. I have seen small business owners struggling to get a loan or stay afloat for their employees. I have spoken to students and young professionals facing crippling student debt and putting off life decisions as a result. Our community deserves a fair shot and Washington is too busy with empty rhetoric and partisan fights to look out for us.

I will champion the values we believe in as Americans, the ones our parents and grandparents taught us: in America, nobody should have to choose between paying their utility bill and taking their child to the doctor. In America, we welcome our new neighbors who want to put in an honest day’s work and make a better life for their families, because we were once those new neighbors and America welcomed us. In America, we go for bold ideas, we think big, we don’t settle for second place and we lead in every sector, from health care and higher education to clean energy.

DCCC-- Tearing Up The California Democratic Party... With No One To Stop Them

Gil Cisneros-- this is what a DCCC recruit looks like

Alexander Burns decided to tell the story from a primarily DCCC/Washington perspective: Fearing Chaos, National Democrats Plunge Into Midterm Primary Fights. Yes, they fear chaos... but there's more to it than that. He picked CA-39 as the example. But he doesn't know the story and didn't name the main characters in the chaos. Early on the DCCC wanted to get two friendly allies from Dana Rohrabacher's 48th CD along coastal Orange County where they lived and wanted to run. One was very wealthy Vietnamese-American physician Mai Khanh Tran and the other was a very pliable "ex"-Republican who won a couple hundred million dollars in the lottery, Gil Cisneros. Very right-of-center DCCC political operatives, Kyle Layman and Jason Bresler wanted the DCCC candidate against Rohrabacher to be someone else, another wealthy ex-Republican, Harley Rouda, so they persuaded Cisneros and Tran to move their campaigns inland and north to CA-39.

Pelosi and her circle, though, didn't want Rouda as the candidate against Rohrabacher. They wanted someone who looked really good on paper, wealthy medical entrepreneur Hans Keirstead, but who has turned out to be a stiff. Rouda sorted himself out among CA-48 candidates as everyone's second choice after themselves and the one everyone prefers over the DCCC mandated candidate. The DCCC now seems saddled with Keirstead-- plus some guy named Omar Siddiqui calling himself a "Reagan Republican" (in a Democratic primary!) who stuck $764,856 of his own cash into the race. Don't feel sorry for the others though. They're trying to buy a seat for themselves too. As of the March 31 FEC filing deadline:

• Rouda- $1,130,500
• Siddiqui- $764,856
• Keirstead- $430,400

Two candidates in the race, Laura Oatman (the progressive candidate) and Michael Kotick (the millennial candidate) have recently dropped out and endorsed Rouda. The New Dems are backing both Rouda and Keirstead. And another serious Republican, ex-Assemblyman Scott Baugh, has jumped into the contest, with a ton of money from a previous campaign. This contest is a mess-- and because of the DCCC, the mess has spilled all over CA-39. And that brings us to Burns' DCCC perspective, their never ending, failed justification for interference in primaries, not just in Orange County, but around the country.

Burns started with how the DCCC is trying to push former recruit Tran, who is polling very badly, out of the race. She told Burns that she told the DCCC that she was "the only qualified woman, the only immigrant and the only physician in the race. 'I said to them, frankly, let the voters decide,' recalled Ms. Tran."

The national Democratic Party was not chastened: On Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took sides in that House race and backed Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran and former Republican.

With their forceful intervention in Orange County, national Democrats have lunged into an impatient new phase of the 2018 primary season-- one in which they are clashing more openly with candidates and local political chieftains in their drive to assemble a slate of recruits for the midterms.

In districts from Southern California to Little Rock, Arkansas, and upstate New York, the party has begun interceding to help the Democrats it sees as best equipped to battle Republicans in the fall.

Really? "As best equipped to battle Republicans in the fall?" That's where the lie starts. Their candidates are always conservatives and never independent-minded agents of change. Even in districts that Bernie won in landslides against Hillary, they always seem to come up with Hillary-hacks-- and call them "the best equipped to battle Republicans in the fall." Funny how that works, when the decision-makers are conservatives themselves, like, among others, Kyle Layman and Jason Bresler. Back to Burns, whose instincts start pointing him in the right direction: "The approach," he figured out, "is laced with peril for a party divided over matters of ideology and political strategy, and increasingly dominated by activists who tend to resent what they see as meddling from Washington. A Democratic effort to undercut a liberal insurgent in a Houston-area congressional primary in March stirred an outcry on the left and may have inadvertently helped drive support to that candidate, Laura Moser, who qualified for the runoff election next month." He doesn't say the DCCC are morons, conservative, assholes or, most important, personally corrupt, but... he calls them "Democratic leaders" and concludes they "have concluded it is worth enduring backlash to help a prized recruit or tame a chaotic primary field."

They are moving most aggressively in California, where the state’s nonpartisan primaries present a unique hazard: State law requires all candidates to compete in the same preliminary election, with the top two finishers advancing to November. In a crowded field, if Democrats spread their votes across too many candidates, two Republicans could come out on top and advance together to the general election.

There are at least four races in California where Democrats fear such a lockout, including the 39th Congressional District, where in addition to Mr. Cisneros and Ms. Tran there are two other Democrats running: Sam Jammal, a youthful former congressional aide, and Andy Thorburn, a wealthy health insurance executive who is backed by allies of Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont. The district is among the most coveted for Democrats nationwide-- a seat left open by the retirement of Representative Ed Royce, a popular Republican, in an area Hillary Clinton won by about 8 percentage points.

National Democrats may also intervene in the Southern California districts held by Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Jeff Denham, where multiple Republicans and Democrats are running, and in the seat held by Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican who is retiring. Voters receive mail-in ballots starting in early May, making the next few weeks exceptionally important.

House Majority PAC, a heavily financed Democratic group that spends millions in congressional elections, recently polled all four races and has been conducting digital surveys that simulate the complicated California ballot, according to people briefed on the group’s strategy. The super PAC has run ads in California in the past when Democrats have faced disaster in primary season.

Representative Judy Chu, a Los Angeles-area Democrat, said the open primaries had led Democrats to take unusual steps to prevent Republicans from dominating the first round of voting.

“That would stop our goal of taking the House back,” Ms. Chu said. “We have to have a viable candidate, and I think that if it does turn out to be a Democrat versus a Republican, the Democrat will win.”

Ms. Chu said the campaign committee’s endorsement of Mr. Cisneros was a signal to donors and volunteers that it was time to close ranks.

But picking favorites is not easy for Democrats: Until mid-March, Southern California lawmakers were divided in the 39th District race between Mr. Cisneros, who is backed by Representative Linda T. Sánchez, an influential member of the Democratic leadership team, and Jay Chen, another Democrat who was endorsed by Ms. Chu. It was only after Mr. Chen opted against running, with a call for party unity, that Ms. Chu and other Democrats swung behind Mr. Cisneros.

Ms. Sánchez said the glut of Democratic candidates remained concerning across California, and acknowledged having lobbied the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to back Mr. Cisneros. National leaders, Ms. Sánchez said, had “a role to play in terms of trying to talk to nonviable candidates and urging them to be team players.”

Meredith Kelly, a spokeswoman for the committee, said the group was taking action in California because voters “deserve to have a Democrat on the ballot in November.”

“Any decision to get involved in these races is toward that goal and based on intelligence from the ground in California, extensive data and partnerships with as many local allies as possible,” Ms. Kelly said.

Facts Burns might have included at this point: 1- Meredith Kelly is one of the stupidest people in Democratic politics; 2- California's Democratic Party has been so riven with identity politics that it borders on blatant racism; 3- Jay Chen who was the most qualified candidate for November had been in the race a little over a month when the DCCC persuaded him to drop out to help Cisneros; 4- the DCCC is threatening to smear Thorburn and make it impossible for him to win in November unless he drops out; 5- Cisneros has been bribing Democratic congressmembers and organizations to back him; 6- and, of course, the self-funding:

• Andy Thorburn- $2,335,900
• Gil Cisneros- $2,052,762
• Mai-Khanh Tran- $480,000
• Phil Janowicz- $194,900 (pressured out by the DCCC)

In the 39th District, Democrats went beyond prodding underdogs like Ms. Tran, 52, to stand down. Mr. Thorburn said the D.C.C.C. presented him with polling that suggested attacks on his finances and business record would be damaging in the general election-- data Mr. Thorburn dismissed out of hand. He said the committee clearly indicated its preference for Mr. Cisneros.

Mr. Thorburn, 74, is now the most unsettling rival for Mr. Cisneros and national Democrats, pairing a pointed ideological message with a personal fortune to spend on advertising. Deriding Mr. Cisneros as a “wishy-washy” newcomer to the party, Mr. Thorburn said he would strike back hard if the committee were to attack him, as it did Ms. Moser.

“I’m much more of a fighter than the national party,” Mr. Thorburn said, warning: “If they do something like they did in Texas, we would come back guns blazing.”

Mr. Cisneros has won over important state groups, including the muscular California Labor Federation. But his campaign office, at a strip mall in Brea, about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, showcases his national allies: One wall boasts an enormous sign from the gun-control group Giffords, which supports him, while another displays photographs of Mr. Cisneros with Barack and Michelle Obama.

...Some voters sounded unlikely to take their cues from national parties. Outside a Fullerton coffee shop where Mr. Jammal was greeting voters, Adam De Leon said he was suspicious of the candidates using personal wealth to sway the race. Mr. De Leon, 72, said he favored Mr. Jammal, 36, because of his government experience.

“What does it tell you when people spend millions of dollars to get into a position that pays maybe $140,000 a year?” Mr. De Leon said, somewhat underestimating the $174,000 congressional salary. “It’s all about power and connections.”

The Republican field is in flux, too. Young Kim, a longtime aide to Mr. Royce, is the front-runner but has several candidates challenging her from the right. With Republicans in Washington focused on defending beleaguered incumbents, they have been less intent than Democrats on shaping open primaries.

For Democrats, that project extends beyond California: On the same day the D.C.C.C. endorsed Mr. Cisneros, it also boosted candidates in New York and Arkansas who face contested primaries. In New York, the committee enlisted Juanita Perez Williams, a former candidate for mayor of Syracuse, to challenge Representative John Katko this month, though a lower-profile Democrat was already running with the support of local party leaders.

That kind of big-footing may be trickier in California. Mr. Chen, the Democrat who opted out of the 39th District race, said the party still faces a “precarious situation” there. He said he had decided against running after conducting a poll that showed him neck and neck with Mr. Cisneros and Mr. Thorburn-- but with Democratic voters fragmented enough to create an all-Republican general election.

He predicted none of the remaining Democrats would follow his lead and get out.

“If you’ve never been involved in the party before and you just ran because you want to run, then you don’t really have those considerations,” Mr. Chen said. “They are new to this. They don’t have bridges to burn.”

The ideological battle within the Democratic Party is between the Democratic wing of the party (progressives and populists) and the Republican wing of the party (New Dems and Blue Dogs). The DCCC is part of the Republican wing and working hard to elect uber-corrupt former New Dem head, Joe Crowley, to lead the party after Pelosi and Hoyer are gone. DCCC candidates, like Cisneros, will do whatever they're told. A guy like Jammal has a functioning mind, always a great danger for closed hierarchical systems like the House Democrats. You know what that Blue America ActBlue congressional thermometer is on the right? It leads to a contribution page for candidates who aren't in thrall to the DCCC and who are independent minded. And, one thing for sure-- no Blue Dogs and no New Dems... No candidates from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.