Is The Democratic Party Tent Too Big To Offer Voters Anything?

A new poll done by Change Research-- a very good firm-- found that 60% of voters in rural counties in 9 states-- Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and West Virginia-- approve of the way Trump is doing his job. Democrats need to work harder in rural districts, which they've largely abandoned. And when they haven't abandoned them, they've left them to right-of-center Blue Dogs, New Dems and other conservaDems who don't represent the Democratic Party and its values at all. These are the only Democrats whose districts are at least 25% rural. Non-conservatives G.K. Butterfield (NC) and Bennie Thompson (MS) represent districts that, though rural, are over 50% African-American. Most of the others oppose Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, even a $15 minimum wage. Perhaps that helps explain why Trump does so well in rural areas-- no one to fight back. This list shows what percentage of each district is rural and the grade at the end of each line is how ProgressivePunch rates the congressmember.

• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)- 29.8%... F
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)- 52.4%... F
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)- 40.95... F
• Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)- 27.6%... F
• Cheri Bustos (New Dem-IL)- 42.7%... F
• Abby Finkenauer (D-IA)- 47.7%... F
• Dave Loebsack (D-IA)- 60.7%... F
• Jared Golden (D-ME)- 71.9%... F
• Bennie Thompson (D-MS)- 75.3%... D
• Ann Kuster (New Dem-NH)- 57.6%... F
• Xochitl Torres-Small (Blue Dog-NM)- 73.1%... F
• Antonio Delgado (New Dem-NY)- 45.7%... F
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- 28.9%... F
• G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)- 48.6%... F
• Peter DeFazio (D-OR)- 36.8%... B
• Peter Welch (D-VT)- 69.5%... B
• Derek Kilmer (New Dem-WA)- 27.8%... F

And speaking of no one to fight back, Blue Dog Max Rose, represents Staten Island and a substantial chunk of south Brooklyn. A few days ago he wrote an OpEd for the Staten Island Advance on why he opposes an impeachment investigation. It also demonstrates why I oppose supporting Blue Dogs running for office as Democrats. He starts with some whiny "why can't we all just get along" bullshit, seemingly not cognizant of the Republicans impeaching Bill Clinton over nothing at all, Moscow Mitch making refusing to allow a vote of President Obama's Suprme Court nomination, Moscow Mitch allowing the Russians to help Trump steal the 2016 election... little things like that. Even yesterday... Trumpist Cory Lewandowski obstruction at the House Judiciary Committee. As always, Rose follows that up by breaking out his Republican Party talking points and singing them as loud and he can:

For the past decade, the American people have been sending a clear and unmistakable message: End the hyper-partisanship and do your jobs. Yet, both parties have taken electoral victories as mandates to ignore that message to do what they want. It must stop.

Republicans across the country ran on a proactive agenda in 2016: To drain the swamp, rebuild our roads and bridges, and protect Social Security and Medicare. What they did instead was pass a trillion-dollar tax cut for the very companies that created the opioid epidemic. I fear the Democratic Party is now at risk of repeating a similar bait-and-switch mistake by focusing on impeachment instead of infrastructure, healthcare costs, and putting people to work with livable wages and benefits.

Let me be clear, we have made real progress this year, including permanently extending and fully funding the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, passing the most sweeping anti-corruption legislation in a generation, and bipartisan gun safety reforms.

This Rose stinks

But there’s far too much work left to be done and we are in danger of losing the trust of the American people if we choose partisan warfare over improving the lives of hardworking families. I made a promise to my constituents to focus on making their lives better, and I won’t break it.

There is no doubt that this Administration is one of the most corrupt in history. From taxpayer dollars propping up Trump Organization properties to the mass exodus of Administration officials who have been forced to resign, are facing serious ethical investigations, or have sped through the revolving door to become federal lobbyists for the same industries they oversaw. It’s clear as day, the swamp is alive and thriving.

But pursuing a partisan impeachment process won’t address any of those serious issues. The truth is impeachment will only tear our country further apart and we will see no progress on the enormous challenges we face as a nation. Impeachment will not fix our roads and bridges or lower the costs of drugs. Impeachment will not keep our kids safe from gun violence or end the opioid epidemic. Impeachment will not improve the lives of the hardworking Staten Islanders and South Brooklynites that I fight for every day.

That’s why I implore my Democratic colleagues to focus on making our case that we are the party that will put the interests of working families first. Because in just over 400 days, men and women across the country will go to the polls and render their judgment on this administration. I have faith in the American people and believe that they will-- and should-- make the final decision as to who will lead this country.

Rose hasn't accomplished a thing since he got to Congress-- unless you call holding back accomplishments accomplishing something. He's been against virtually every progressive initiative proposed. The video above, released this afternoon by the Kina Collins campaign in Chicago, shows a very different end of the Democratic tent, a young woman who has every intention of getting things done for her constituents. The theme of this one is gun violence prevention and Kina is on fire to get it done-- done for real. Kina is running in Chicago, in IL-07 for a seat held by do-nothing incumbent Danny Davis-- and it's a tragedy that there isn't someone like her running against Rose.

"We have to go beyond the gun," she said, "to address systemic issues of poverty and neglect. It's time to pursue a bold progressive platform that includes Medicare-for-All, a Green New Deal, criminal justice reform and future free of gun violence... It's time; it's our time." Please consider contributing what you can to Kina's grassroots congressional campaign by clicking on the 2020 Blue America House  thermometer on the right. We desperately need more activist members of Congress like Kina Collins and far fewer like do-nothing reactionaries like Max Rose. This is a time for independent-thinkers like Kina, not for passive follow-the-leader shills like Danny Davis and Max Rose, sitting around and ignoring the urgent issues of the day while they collect their unearned paychecks.

Congress Needs More Activists In Its Ranks-- Meet Chicago's Kina Collins

I have a hard job at Blue America-- figuring out how a candidate is going to behave once they get into Congress. It's less about looking into a crystal ball, though, and more about looking into their hearts. With some of the candidates we vet, it takes weeks or even months. With Kina Collins, it took a couple of days-- really just a couple of hours. Blue America will never have to push Congresswoman Collins on anything-- anymore than we ever have to push AOC or Rashid Tlaib on anything. Like them, the Kina Collins I've been talking to is a natural-born leader who will be fighting for the issues that motivates Blue America-- including issues years from now that haven't even come up yet. She made my tough job easy.

Kina is running for the downtown Chicago congressional seat occupied Danny Davis (going on 78 years old and first elected in 1996). IL-07 is a solid blue district with a PVI of D+38. Trump didn't even hot the 10% make there and whoever wins the Democratic primary will be the next member of Congress. A minority-majority district, just 27% of IL-07 residents are white. It stretches from tony lakefront neighborhoods through the Loop and the Near Northside into the Westside, the heart of the district, and out into Cook County suburbs like Oak Park (home of American Chicago icons Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright), River Forest, Maywood, Broadview and Hillside. Danny Davis isn't a "bad" congressman and he has served his district. Kina Collins has the ideas and the energy of the 21st century that folks in IL-07 will benefit from. The status quo is not the answer for these communities. I asked her to introduce herself in a guest post that goes into her background as an activist as a way of showing what she brings to the table. Please give it a read (and watch the iPhone video she made for us above)... and if you like what you see, please consider contributing to Kina's all-grassroots campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2020 congressional thermometer on the right. It's not just IL-07 that needs her; Congress does and America does.

From Activist to Policymaker
-by Kina Collins

Three and a half years ago, I was standing on the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago linking arms with other activists and organizers across the city, protesting the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. People mocked us, they spat at us, they pushed us, but for 12 hours straight they couldn’t move us. We stayed the entire day outside businesses from open to close enacting an economic boycott, and at the end my toes and fingers were frozen and I couldn’t feel my face, but my heart and soul were full. I knew we had done something special, and we did it peacefully and in solidarity. That day, we collectively changed the course of history in Chicago.

Before the Black Friday shutdown happened in November 2015, there had been an immense amount of strategic organizing going on behind the scenes. Seeing the video of Laquan being shot 16 times, I physically felt a burning sensation in my back as I watched Officer Van Dyke pull that trigger. I remember feeling like time had stopped. Within 24 hours of the video being released, we had a plan. We knew what we were capable of, and that we did not want our rage to result in burning the city down because that would not further our collective movement.

In order to take bold action and put the power back into the hands of the people, we wanted to stop the city from doing business on the biggest financial day of the year. We knew that direct action would not suffice on its own; we wanted policy changed, laws rewritten, and we wanted elected officials to be held accountable. We had no idea on that day that this was the spark that would eventually lead to Chicago getting a new police superintendent, electing a new state’s attorney, ousting the mayor responsible for the cover up, and actually seeing a police officer convicted of murder-- something that no other major city has accomplished in the Black Lives Matter era.

It was the activist community in Chicago that showed me that we have the collective power to fight for what is right in this country, and to keep pushing until we can put an end to corrupt, immoral, and unjust systems. Organizing alongside other powerful movement leaders, I have seen that not enough people are being brought to the table. The voices of the most marginalized in our community are being left out of policy making, and it is time for the Democratic party to elevate new leaders with fresh perspectives to be on the front lines in Washington.

Since that cold day in November, I've turned my activism into action, I've written and passed state policy, and I’ve organized on a national scale for a single-payer Medicare for All plan. Now I am ready to take this same energy and coalition building all the way to Capitol Hill. The most important actions we can take are not just focused on resistance but focused on solutions, and putting in place accountability measures to prevent what happened to Laquan McDonald from ever happening again. There are real life battles going on in small towns and big cities across our country, and we need fighters in Congress who will bring the spirit of their community with them.

At the national level, this is the same bold action we need to take to abolish ICE, to support Dreamers, to preserve reproductive freedoms, to protect the rights of transgender folks, and to get real about the climate crisis. I will bring a new approach to the Illinois 7th Congressional District, speaking up for the concerns of everyday citizens and not shying away from difficult political fights. That is why I am running for Congress - to bring a new voice to Washington, and to directly confront the most pressing issues of our times.

We are running a people-powered grassroots campaign, and we’re not going to win with big money-- we’re going to win with big organizing. I will not be taking any corporate PAC money related to the fossil fuel industry, pharmaceutical or insurance companies, nor from any groups associated with private prisons or the gun lobby. I know that with your help, we can work together to bring about change in our country. Find out more at KinaForCongress.com and @Kina4Congress on social media, and thank you for your support!

Democratic House Primaries Around The Country-- And Blue Dog Collin Peterson Finally Gets One, But He Looks Worse Than Peterson!

As you know, Cheri Bustos-- with the support of Pelosi and Hoyer-- has moved to ban primaries against incumbent Democrats. The policy is tremendously unpopular and people who never even knew what the DCCC is re now hating it. Thanks to Bustos, the DCCC has become a dark spot against Democrats. Way to go! But despite her draconian decision, there are more and more candidates announcing their decisions to tackle Democratic incumbents.

Blue America has a Primary A Blue Dog ActBlue page to help raise money for progressive Democrats running against entrenched reactionaries. So far this cycle, we are encouraging our members to contribute to the campaigns of Marie Newman, who's running for the southwest Chicagoland seat occupied by widely reviled Blue Dog Dan Lipinski; Eva Putzova, the progressive former Flagstaff city council member who is running in the mammoth AZ-01 district for a seat occupied by so-called "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran, who still votes with his old party an awful lot of the time; and Michael Owens, who's taking on odious corrupt conservative David Scott in the suburbs southwest of Atlanta (GA-13). You can contribute to all or any of these candidates by clicking on the Primary A Blue Dog thermometer on the right. And, don't worry; we're in the process of vetting another dozen progressive candidates who are running against bad Democrats next year.

One new candidate I spent some time talking with yesterday is Kina Collins, a Chicago activist who's taking on Danny Davis on Chicago's West (IL-07). Davis who was first elected in 1996 had been involved with city and county government since 1979. It's a minority-majority district, just over 50% African-American and about 14% Latino. It's Illinois' bluest district (PVI is D+38); Trump only managed 9% of the vote. The district starts at the end of the Gold Coast, on East Banks Street and Lake Michigan and heads south as far as Kenwood and includes the Loop, the Magnificent Mile, the Near Northside and the near Southside and shoots west to the Near West Side and all the way out to Forest Park, Maywood, Bellwood and Westchester.

I asked Kina how she could expect to beat Davis, who is a solid liberal with a strong "A" from ProgressivePunch. "His voting record," she told me, is the best thing about him. He has had a long and reliable career, but in our current political climate it is crucial that we elevate new leadership to take bold action. We don’t just need seniority, we want progressive leadership that advances the 7th district. I am running for Congress because we desperately need inclusive, transformative leadership at this pivotal moment. To address the urgent crises threatening the future of our country, we cannot simply proceed with business-as-usual."

And she spoke like she meant it. "Our district," she continued, "deserves a fighter with a proven track record of policy making, coalition building, and working with diverse communities to get things done. Residents of the district are looking for a fresh approach, someone who has the energy and experience to mobilize inside the Congressional chambers as well as in the streets of our communities. There is a saying in Chicago-- 'It’s just politics; it's nothing personal.' I don’t agree with that. When a family is illegally detained by ICE in our district, that’s personal to me. When dozens of public schools get shut down in our neighborhoods, it’s personal to me. And when people can’t afford to pay for their insulin, mortgage, and food every month, that’s not just politics-- it’s definitely personal. With the backing and support of community members from across the district, I am ready to bring their concerns and new ideas to Washington, D.C. in 2020."

A brief look around the country shows me a few incumbents being primaried and a few that should be who aren't. New Dem Terri Sewell (AL-07) is the main force holding up raising the minimum wage-- in a majority black district, where people deserve a raise.

California

• CA-07- Ami Bera is a conservative crook who deserves a primary but there's no opponent
• CA-12- Unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi has 3 Democratic challengers. Shahid Buttar looks like the strongest candidate.
• CA-15- There are 3 Democrats trying for Eric Swalwell's seat... just in case he gets elected president?
• CA-16- This is important. The worst California Dem, Blue Dog Jim Costa, is being challenged in his Central Valley district by Kim Williams. I've by trying to get in touch with her but so far to no avail.
• CA-18- Anna Eshoo, a Pelosi and Big PhRMA ally is being challenged by Rishi Kumar, a Saratoga City Councilman.
• CA-26- Julia Brownley, a total waste of a seat has earned a nice primary, but no one is running against her.
• CA-29- Tony Cardenas also deserves a strong primary. His corrupt and slimy (and a child molester) and he has two primary opponents, Angelica Duenas and Abdeli Sanchez.
• CA-31- Pete Aguilar also deserves a primary-- and doesn't have one, at least not yet.
• CA-41 Mark Takano is being primaried by Simon Mark Alvarez, who describes himself as a "Luciferian."
• CA-51- Juan Vargas deserves a challenge and he's going to get one from activist Aeiramique Glass.
• CA-52- Scott Peters deserves a primary but I believe he sold his seat to a wealthy friend and is running for mayor of San Diego.
• CA-53 Susan David is being primaried by Jose Caballero

Diana DeGette (CO-01- Denver) is pretty much a waste of a seat and she has two primary opponents, former House speaker Crisanta Duran and trans rights activist Charlie Madison Winters.

Nathan Clay, a progressive activist is running against New Dem Ed Perlmutter again (CO-07, in the suburbs west and north of Denver).

In Florida Al Lawson (waste of a seat) is being challenged by Albert Chester but people tell me he isn't any better than Lawson. (FL-05). No primary for head Blue Dog Stephanie Murphy unfortunately (FL-07) and no primary for Blue Dog Charlie Crist (FL-13). A couple of candidates are going after Alcee Hastings (late of a seat), James Taylorand Emmanuel Morel (FL-20). And last but not least, Wasserman Schultz has one opponent so far, Christine Olivo. (FL-23).

Tulsi Gabbard is being primaried by state Sen Kai Kahele in her HI-02 district.

Aside from Danny Davis and Dan Lipinski, there are 2 other incumbents facing primaries in Illinois. Bobby Rush has two challengers, community activists Robert Emmons and Ameena Matthews (IL-01). And who could possibly deserve a primary more than Cheri Bustos (IL-17). William Swisher, a progressive activist, is giving it a shot.

Kentucky's lone Democrat, John Yarmuth, is getting a challenge in his Louisville district by Attica Scott, a state Rep.

Maryland has some real garbage congressmen, especially Steny Hoyer, who's being challenged by McKayla Wilkes and Briana Urbina. Believe me, if either of them looks viable, Blue America will be all over it.

Massachusetts needs more primaries. Richard Neal (corrupt) has two potential opponents, David Daley and Alex Morse, the mayor of Holyoke. 6 Dems are being talk up as primary challengers to Seth Moulton, including former congressman John Tierney, who's been recruited by Pelosi. I think Barbara L'Italien would be a better option.Brianna Wu is taking on all around bad guy Stephen Lynch again.

In Detroit Brenda Jones is likely being encouraged by AIPAC to run against Rashida Tlaib.

Minnesota will see a progressive, David Sandbeck, running against garden variety Democrat, Betty McCollum (waste of a seat). AIPAC is absolutely trying to get rid of Ilhan Omar and there are 2 candidates being talked about, state Senator Bobby Joe Champion and Margaret Keliher, the ex-House speaker. Putrid DINO and Blue Dog Collin Peterson is being primaried by Stephen Emery, who appears even worse than Peterson!!

In Missoui, Cori Bush is a strong opponent for corrupt seat waster Lacy Clay (St Louis) and progressive activist M.G. Salazar is challenging Emanuel Cleaver in Kansas City.

New Jersey has some really terrible Democrats-- Josh Gottheimer, Jeff Van Drew, Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone and Mikie Sherrill. Pallone has progressive activist Russ Cirincione running against him.

New York will see primaries against Tom Suozzi (NY-03), Kathleen Rice (NY-04), Gregory Meeks (NY-05), Grace Meng (NY-06), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Jerry Nadler (NY-10), Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Eliot Engel (NY-16), and Nita Lowey (NY-17). But the Democrats who most deserve primaries-- Hakeem Jeffries, Anthony Brindisi, Max Rose, Antonio Delgado and Sean Patrick Murphy are all unchallenged.

G.K. Butterfield (NC-01) is being challenged by progressive DeAndre Cooper. David Price (NC-04) is being challenged by progressive activist Daniel Ulysses Lockwood.

In Oregon Milwaukie mayor Mark Gamba is challenging Blue Dog Kurt Schrader.

In Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee has 4 primary opponents. Blue Dog Henry Cuellar is about to get one and it looks like State Rep Ramon Romero is going to take on Marc Veasey.

Progressive truck drive Joshua Collins, a Democratic Socialist, is running against Denny Heck in WA-10 and that looks like a live race in the making.