FLASH: Incumbent Democrats Who Have Drifted Right HATE Primaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marianne Williamson Draws A Line In The Sand-- For Shahid Buttar And For David Kim

A few weeks ago Marianne Williamson wanted to discuss the congressional election in CA-34, a district that starts a few blocks from my house. I can walk there; before the new reality, I used to have dinner there a couple of times a week. And Konbi, my favorite sandwich shop-- also, according to Bon Appétit, the best sandwich shop in America-- is in the district. CA-34 includes Echo Park, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Koreatown, Mount Washington, El Serano, Cypress Park, Boyle Heights, DTLA (the Arts District, the Financial District, the Fashion District), Dodger Stadium, City Terrace, Chinatown, Bunker Hill, Little Tokyo, Newton Park and Skid Row. It borders on Adam Schiff's district, Ted Lieu's district, Judy Chu's district, Karen Bass' district and Lucille Roybal-Allard's district. It's the heart of Los Angeles.

The district is 64% Hispanic, 20% Asian and 10% white. The $40,215 median income makes it one of the 20 poorest congressional districts in the country. It's one of the bluest districts in the country (D+35), gave Romney 14% of the vote and Trump 11%. It was the only district in Los Angeles to give Bernie a majority in the 2016 primary. The congressman representing CA-34 is Jimmy Gomez. Progressive Punch rates his voting record-- the 16th most progressive-- a solid "A." The only Californians voting further left are Mark DeSaulnier, Judy Chu and Ro Khanna. Gomez's #16 compares well to actual heroes of the revolution like AOC and Rashida Tlaib (tied at #18), Barbara Lee (#22) and Ilhan Omar (#37). But Marianne wasn't calling me to discuss endorsing Gomez's reelection campaign. She knows the meaninglessness of these kinds of ratings and wanted to know what I thought of David Kim, Gomez's opponent.

David's a 36 year old anti-corruption attorney whose campaign motto is "Financial Freedom, Love & Justice for All" The jungle primary was March 3 and the two who emerged to face off in November were Gomez with 49.5% of the vote (just under 50) and David Kim with 23.2% of the vote. Turnout was abysmal-- 34,034 voters in total. After the vote, the other 3 candidates (including the Republican) all endorsed David Kim. This video will give you a good idea about what his campaign is all about and why he has been gaining momentum:





I asked him how he's going to persuade voters to replace Gomez and he told me that Gomez isn't "a true progressive and does the bare minimum, only chiming in to support certain legislation once Nancy Pelosi does so first. He is scared to lead in legislation and just follows. If he were a true progressive, he should be supporting Ilhan Omar's HR 6515 and not HR 6314 in place of that. Moreover, Jimmy doesnt have a pulse with the suffering of our people here in L.A. I have nothing personal against him but when career politicians have been in office too long, they're unable to connect with the suffering of the people no matter how hard they try because they've been in their political cash bubbles for so long... [W]e need a federal representative who will fight and lead for us, not do everything Nancy says. We have corrupt local politician/developer relationships/money rampant in L.A. and our federal representative hasn't stepped in because they're all part of the same pack, with the same campaign donors... 98.8% of Jimmy's campaign contributions are from PACs, corporate PACs, banks, developers, military industrial complex/defense, etc.. And our people in L.A. don't like that kind of energy feeding our federal representative. We want to move away from a Jimmy Gomez [towards someone more like] Ro Khanna. We need someone to take a firm stance on clean campaign finance reform, while addressing homelessness, housing and these systemic issues that haven't been addressed for years... Nothing personal against Jimmy. But people are suffering and we don't want to waste another 2 years by electing someone who just follows."

Marianne endorsed him. That was a big step towards a kind of political clarity that differentiates between real leadership and... well, however you want to describe professional politicians who try to be on the right side of their districts' prevailing sentiments.

Marianne was just getting started though. She asked me about the grassroots progressive taking on Nancy Pelosi, Shahid Buttar, which began a process that led to the video up top. As she noted, she's "a lifelong Democrat who has become has become very very concerned with the corporatist direction of the party in too many cases." Her own experience in running for president this year showed her, she said, "how the control of certain forces, at the expense of progressive voices, is a direction that is taking the Democratic Party away from the principles" that she was-- like many of us-- raised to believe the party stands for. The Heroes Act Pelosi pushed through Congress on Friday snapped something in Marianne. She is insisting that there should be $2,000 a month for everyone until the pandemic is under control, as well as Medicare for All... "We need a show of compassion for the American people that is simply not the agenda these days for the corporate-backed Democratic Party."

"Progressives," she said, "can't just be sidelined all the time... or pandered to, suppressed. It's got to stop. Let's stop it now. ShahidButtar.com." Please take a look at the candidates Marianne has already endorsed by clicking on the thermometer on the right. And don't be surprised if she gets behind others taking on the Ancien Régime beyond just Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Mitch McConnell, Carolyn Maloney, Gregory Meeks, Albio Sires and Susan Collins. I wouldn't be surprised if, for example, Debbie Wasserman Schultz doesn't find herself with a Marianne Williamson problem down in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, please take a look at the candidates, like David Kim, Shahid Buttar, Mckayla Wilkes, Andrew Romanoff and Betsy Sweet, who Marianne has already endorsed. And please contribute what you can to their campaigns at the page the thermometer will take you to.