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:

I Wonder Where Eliot Engel Is Today-- And So Do His Constituents!

Old school New Dem Eliot Engel has been weathering the pandemic in the wealthy suburban neighborhood where he lives-- in Maryland-- and leaving the residents of his hard hit district-- which includes part of the Bronx and the three cities in Westchester with the highest number of COVID cases-- on their own. Last week Edward-Issac Dovere blew the whistle on Engel in an embarrassing piece at The Atlantic,, Why This Democrat Won’t Go Home

A member of Congress since 1989, Engel is facing his first serious primary challenge in years, in a district next door to the one where Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated another longtime incumbent in a primary two years ago. Yet Engel hasn’t been in his district since at least the end of March, according to his communications director, Bryant Daniels. The congressman himself told me that he has been in New York, after I covered my nose and mouth and rang his doorbell in Potomac, Maryland.

“I’m in both places,” Engel said.

“You are?” I asked.

“I sure am,” he said.

“You’ve been quarantined in both places?”

“Sure have.”

Daniels later told me, “He’s remained in Washington since passage of the CARES Act.” The CARES Act passed on March 27. When I pressed for when Engel was last in the district, Daniels stopped responding.

Few congressional districts in America have seen more COVID-19 infections and deaths than Engel’s.

Yesterday, the Bronx had 109 new cases and Westchester had 81 . The day before that the Bronx had 108 new cases and Westchester had 71. Not good news. Does Engel even care? Or does he just concern himself with what's going on in internal Israeli politics and how that impacts his one and only real constituent, Benjamin Netanyahu? (Israel had 116 new cases yesterday and 98 the day before.)

Yesterday, Shane Golmacher reporting for the NY Times wrote that at a press conference Tuesday Engel was caught on a live mic twice saying what plenty of people in his district have known for years: "If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care."  

[B]efore the news conference began, Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president and organizer of the event, ran through the list of planned speakers to the assembled politicians. The microphone was already broadcasting.

“I cannot have all the electeds talk because we will never get out of here,” Mr. Diaz said.

Mr. Engel pressed his case for a turn. “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care,” he said, repeating, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”

First elected to Congress in 1988, Mr. Engel, who is the chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, will face voters again in New York’s primary elections on June 23. His opposition began to consolidate this week as one of his leading rivals, Andom Ghebreghiorgis, dropped out and endorsed Jamaal Bowman, a Bronx school principal.

Jamaal has also been endorsed by Blue America and you can contribute to his campaign by clicking on the 2020 congressional thermometer on the right. Questioned by Goldmacher, Jamaal said Engel's comments were "painful to watch.... We need to be taking care of our communities right now-- whether it's election season or not. It's clear that we need new leadership in NY-16." A Bowman staffer told him Tuesday had been its single biggest fund-raising day of the campaign, with more than 1,000 donations in about three hours.




I bet Engel wishes he had stayed home in Maryland! I wonder if he voted in the Maryland primary yesterday; probably not.

Jamaal Bowman-- The Bronx Could Wind Up With The Most Great Members Of Congress Anywhere In America

The district just north of AOC's-- NY-16-- is solidly blue with a PVI of D+24. Trump only managed to attract 22.5% of the voters. And yet, the district's Rep. is a long-in-the-tooth fossil who does far more for the Likud Party in Israel than for the people in the Bronx and Westchester. Eliot Engel is a New Dem in a district that is far more progressive than he is. And this cycle he has drawn one of the highest calibre primary opponents anywhere in the country-- Jamaal Bowman, who has just been endorsed by Blue America.

When Jamaal, a middle school principal in the Bronx, declared his candidacy in June, Emily Cochrane reported for the NY Times that "the contest could serve as a key test of whether liberal insurgent groups can convert a surge of energy on the left into successful challenges of members of the Democratic Party establishment." But Jamaal is a real candidate, not someone's idea of a test case. A local education-oriented website, Chalkbeat, wrote that he's "counting, in part, on his 20 years of experience in education to appeal to voters. Long before throwing his hat in the political rink, Bowman started the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, or CASA, a middle school that has produced notable academic results despite serving mostly disadvantaged students. He has been a vocal supporter of the opt-out movement boycotting state testing, especially within the black community. Bowman has also pushed for discipline reform, favoring restorative practices such as mediation in his school, rather than suspensions, which are disproportionately meted out, city data shows, to students of color. He’s also a big believer in the importance high-quality, early childhood care and education. A favorite word of Bowman is ‘holistic’-- an approach he likes to see in schools and one he’d like to see in government.'What I wish Congress would do more of is take a holistic view of policy overall,' he said."

While we were getting to know Jamaal during the Blue America endorsement process, I asked him to introduce himself to DWT readers with more about what he hopes to accomplish in Congress. Please take the time to read it (below) and consider chipping in to his campaign if you think Congress can use a man like this. You can contribute by clicking on the 2020 congressional primary thermometer above. At a time when congressional Republicans are seriously discussing cutting $5 billion out of the health and education budget to fund Trump's preposterous monument to his own racism and xenophobia, the response from Democratic voters in NY-16 should be loud and clear: Jamaal Bowman.

While America Boasts Being The Richest And Most Powerful Country In The World...
by Jamaal Bowman

During the 2017-2018 school year, thirty-four children attending Bronx public schools passed away. Seventeen of the deaths were attributed to suicide. One child, fearing that her mom was going to be deported, committed suicide because she couldn’t bear the burden of losing her mother. At the start of the year, less than a mile away from my school, two children were stabbed to death. One murder occurred inside of a classroom, the most sacred place in a school. The second murder occurred during an outdoor lunch break after a conflict started within the school. A third child after being a victim of a reported sexual assault, rushed home after school, took the elevator to the top floor of her building, and jumped off the roof.

A few of these stories made one or two new cycles. Not one elected official made a public statement about a crisis involving our children. And after a few days, it was business as usual in our public schools. While these tragedies will impact the families forever, the memory of these events are too swiftly removed from the American consciousness.

The horrific incidents described above do not illustrate a problem within our public schools. Rather, they are indicative of a country at war with itself. The most vulnerable among us are being crushed by crippling racism, sexism, and inequality. We cannot have business as usual when our children are killing themselves and each other. This situation is unacceptable and untenable, and an urgent response is needed.

I am running for Congress because while America boasts being the richest and most powerful country in the world, millions of children and families continue to suffer. It is way past time for our representatives in Washington, to put children, families, the elderly, and the poor at the top of the political agenda. For too long we have allowed corporate greed to dictate our federal policy at the expense of the majority of Americans. Policies like Citizens United, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and tax breaks for fossil fuel and pharmaceutical companies among others, are literally killing the American people. We are complicit in allowing the financially wealthy to wield incredible power and influence throughout the political arena. This has to stop now!

In order to stop the continued economic and psychological oppression of the masses. We, as Americans, have to reckon with our history and build a new nation that works for all of us.

I have had the privilege of being an educator for the past twenty years. I started my career as an elementary teacher in the south bronx for five years. I went on to become a guidance counselor at high school for three years. After one year of administrative training, I became the founding principal of Cornerstone Academy for Social Action middle school. We educators experience the injustice that our children have to live with on a daily basis. Our students live in communities that have been starved of resources. There are not enough parks, museums, and libraries for cultural enrichment. Many of our kids live in food deserts, where it is impossible to find organic healthy food options. There’s little wonder why the obesity epidemic disproportionately impacts poor communities of color. Combined with a housing and environmental crisis, and aggressive police tactics, and our children are living with Ongoing Traumatic Stress Disorder (OTSD).

Over the last 30 years my district has been represented by Eliot Engel. Congressman Engel is a corporate democrat who has said that those on the left are “not his cup of tea.” His record proves this point. The majority of his fundraising comes from super PACs representing the real estate, pharmaceutical, and military industries. He supported the war in Iraq, opposed the Iran deal, loosened regulations on Wall Street, and voted for the 1994 crime bill. While Issues of poverty, housing, and addiction continue to cripple his district, congressman Engel supports policies that neglect the majority of his constituents. It should not be a surprise to learn that only 9% of the electorate voted in the 2018 primary, and why the majority of people we speak to in the district  either do not know who congressman Engel is, or do not ever see him.

During my opponent’s tenure, mass incarceration has dramatically increased, public housing has experienced a 30 billion dollar shortfall, teachers unions are under attack, public schools are chronically underfunded, and strategically being replaced by charter schools, and jobs and career development opportunities are scarce. Finally, over the last 30 years real wages have been stagnant, while child care, health care, housing and education costs have skyrocketed.

My opponent’s record directly coincides with these atrocities. He, and many others in Washington, are accountable for these dismal results.

It’s time for new leadership and a new vision for the district. A leader that will fight to build new public housing that is dignified, clean, well maintained and safe. This new public housing will be powered by green technology, have open green spaces for community events and sports, parks to play in and community centers for collective learning, organizing, and development. This new public housing will be forever rent stabilized and will provide community land trusts options that allow for each tenant to own a small stake in the residential and commercial real estate that is part of the land trust. Our new green public housing will be a major component of a Green New Deal.

Another pillar of this new vision is tripling the federal investment of public education and building and creating new community schools. Our community schools will have healthcare and education working together to provide holistic support to children and families. From pre-natal care through college, medical professionals and educators will work collaboratively  to decrease toxic stress and chronic trauma on families, while building resilient, innovative communities of joy. As we fight for Medicare for All, we will ensure that all Americans, including the most vulnerable, have their healthcare needs taken care of at the point of delivery including care for our elderly, as well as mental health and dental services.

Further, our vision for criminal justice reform includes ensuring that job readiness, career opportunities, and safe places for children to play and learn are a priority in our neighborhoods. Most of the people incarcerated struggled in school, and come from communities with a dearth of resources. We will invest in giving our children and young adults opportunities to thrive. So that the historical neglect of our government does not continue to plague them.

The recruiting and training of cultural responsive peace officers are another component of our criminal justice reform mission. These peace officers will be of and from the community and will specialize in de-escalation, trauma-informed counseling and community policing. They will also be trained in culturally responsive practices that work collaboratively with community residents to dismantle systems of oppression while empowering residents to have the most meaningful voice in community based decisions.

Another key component of our vision for  criminal justice reform involves the legalization of marijuana. We must release and expunge the records of those with marijuana convictions and use the tax revenue generated from marijuana to reinvest in communities that have been most harmed by the so-called war on drugs. Let us rebuild what has been destroyed by marijuana injustice and fight to keep other illegal drugs and guns from entering the community in the first place.

Finally, our criminal justice reform vision includes closing private prisons, ending cash bail, banning the box, ending solitary confinement and dramatically increasing education programs in our jails.

Throughout my career, I have worked with parents and community based organizations to deconstruct education policies and practices rooted in racism and classism. We have organized around the unscientific practices of using corporate standardized tests in the evaluation of teacher effectiveness, and won an important victory of a moratorium on connecting teacher performance to student test scores. We have also fought for increase public education funding that led to record increases in historically neglected communities. We have made great progress related to education funding, but there is a lot more to do. We have also fought to ensure that our schools hire more teachers of color and become more culturally responsive overall, which led to the New York City Department of Education adopting historic culturally responsive measures in our schools. As the congressional representative for New York’s 16th district, I will continue to fight against oppression and discrimination in all its forms, starting with getting big money out of policitics and reinvesting our wealth in the needs of the majority of American people,

It’s time to vote out Democrats who are compromised by corporate greed and special interests and replace them with true democrats who are accountable to the people. We have seen the dangers of this compromise. We now have a  demagogue occupying the White House and a rise in hate across the globe. I do not and will never take a single cent from corporate PACs. If I am fortunate enough to be elected my job will be to work for and with the American people over the needs of the wealthy few. I am excited to be part of the true blue progressive movement that is happening in our country. I look forward to the privilege of continuing to do my part.

Likudnik Eliot Engel Hasn't Been Looking Out For The Folks In The Bronx And Westchester-- And Now He Has A Primary

Late Monday night, Cenk Uygar from Justice Democrats announced that his group would be rockin' the world on Tuesday and warned the Democratic establishment to "brace for impact. Justice is coming..." I knew that meant there was going to be another candidate announcement. When I woke this morning I found out about Jamaal Bowman, a Westchester County (Yonkers) middle school principal and found his TED Talk (above). What a candidate!

He's challenging long-in-the-tooth Democratic stalwart, Eliot Engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, someone who seems to serve Israel's Likud Party more than the residents of New York's 16th district. The district, which borders on AOC's, is solidly blue-- PVI is D+24 and Hillary beat Trump 75.1% to 22.5%. It includes much of the northern Bronx (Riverdale, Fieldston, Eastchester, Woodlawn) and southern Westchester County (Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, up through Larchmont, Mamaroneck and Rye in the east and Scarsdale and Hastings-on-Hudson in the north.). The ethnic make-up is 38.1% white 30.5% African-American, 24.1% Latino and 4.8% Asian-American.

Emily Cochrane wrote in the NY Times that "the contest could serve as a key test of whether liberal insurgent groups can convert a surge of energy on the left into successful challenges of members of the Democratic Party establishment." Engel is a relatively liberal member of the corrupt, corporately owned-and-operated New Dems. ProgressivePunch rates his crucial vote score a C, although-- sensing a primary was coming, Engel has voted 100% progressive so far this cycle, as progressive as Barbara Lee, Raul Grijalva, Jan Schakowsky, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and... AOC. He's co-sponsoring Pramila Jayapal's Medicare-for-All bill, Bobby Scott's $15 minimum wage bill, John Larson's Social Security 2100 Act and AOC's Green New Deal resolution. The only one of the controversial big progressive bill's he's not co-sponsoring is Lloyd Doggett's prescription drug price reduction bill. His problem though is foreign policy, where his record-- and leadership-- is not considered progressive at all. His racist-tinged disrespect for Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar haven't been forgotten by progressives either.

Mr. Bowman becomes the second liberal challenger to Mr. Engel this year, but the first New York primary candidate to be endorsed by Justice Democrats, the grass-roots group that helped fuel Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning defeat last year of Joseph Crowley of New York, the No. 4 Democrat in the House at the time.

“I’m inspired by all of the new lifestyles injected into Congress and the new ideas,” said Mr. Bowman, who will run against Mr. Engel, a 16-term incumbent who serves New York’s 16th Congressional District, and Andom Ghebreghiorgis, a teacher who, like Mr. Bowman, has vowed to pursue progressive policies, including “Medicare for all,” the Green New Deal and changes to public education.

“I’ve been in education now for 20 years, spending most of my years in the Bronx, working with families who are struggling, are in many different areas from poverty, health care, mental health issues, asthma from pollution and so on,” said Mr. Bowman, who helped found the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in New York. “Many of their struggles come from policy that begins in Washington.”

Mr. Bowman plans to emphasize Mr. Engel’s support for the Iraq war and acceptance of donations from lobbyists and political action committees in making his case that Mr. Engel is too moderate for New York’s diversifying 16th District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester County and is overwhelmingly Democratic.

In a statement this year, Mr. Engel had praised the party’s “new energy.” But, he added, “I think we’re doing the people we represent and the country a disservice by focusing on 2020 primaries when we have so much to do right now in Washington.”

Members of Justice Democrats-- who have worked for months to prepare both Mr. Bowman and Jessica Cisneros, who is challenging Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas-- are quick to draw parallels between Mr. Crowley and Mr. Engel.

“As someone who has built a public school from the ground up and served his community and students for many years, we are so honored to endorse Jamaal Bowman for Congress,” said Alexandra Rojas, the organization’s executive director. “Our grass-roots movement shocked the country last year with A.O.C.’s upset victory, and we are prepared to do it again in New York’s 16th District.”

Mr. Engel, whose more than 30 years in Congress began after he unseated a popular incumbent, is one of the most powerful incumbents in the Democratic House majority facing a primary election challenger. In 2018, Mr. Engel defeated three of them, with nearly 74 percent of the vote.

The campaign arm for House Democrats, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has vowed to defend incumbents, brushing off the ire of liberal Democrats as it broke ties with pollsters and political consultants who work for primary challengers.

Bowman: "My opponent has been in office for over 30 years. Over those 30 years, my opponent voted for an unjust war in Iraq, deregulating Wall Street, school privatization, and building more prisons. While the very few at the top continue to build their wealth and power, the majority of us continue to struggle."