Most 2018 DCCC Recruits Are Being Endorsed By The Chamber Of Commerce-- Meet Next Year's Chamber Endorsees

2018 DCCC recruit Jeff Van Drew is honest enough to be running for reelection as a Republican. Other 2018 DCCC recruits are being endorsed by the US Chamber of Commerce. Maybe someone needs to change the DCCC-- drastically

ProgressivePunch has awarded grades of "F" to 108 Democrats in Congress. 35 of them are part of the the most right-wing freshmen class in the history of the modern Democratic Party. Some of them-- like Steny Hoyer and Cheri Bustos-- are among top party leadership. All of them are extremely conservative and would have been considered Republicans before the GOP took a turn towards fascism in Reagan-era politics. Many of them, in fact, were Republicans.

I had to laugh yesterday because one of the "ex"-Republicans, a super-rich, utterly worthless bucket of slime from California, Gil Cisneros-- who was a potato chip taster who won a lottery and bought off the Democratic Party for a House seat-- was extolled as a hero of the revolution by none other than... Elizabeth Warren. Maybe she's getting bad advise, but Cisernos doesn't support anything Warren stands for. (By the way, Progressive Punch rated her record "A.") She wrote yesterday that she often talks "about the big, structural change that I believe is necessary to ensure the sanctity of our democracy, to hold our government accountable to working for the people and not corporations, and to bring bold action on the issues that matter most - like access to affordable health care, protected social safety programs, and attention to local economies." Yep she does work hard for those things. Cisneros works against them.

She wrote that "systemic change relies in part on the action of good public servants-- those who hold themselves accountable to hard working families, those who are committed to fighting for justice. It depends on people like Gil Cisneros." Did someone slip some ayahuasca into her tea? Cisernos didn't earn an "F" because he's a good public servant-- he's not-- or because he holds himself accountable to hard working families-- be doesn't-- and especially not because he's committed to fighting for justice; he isn't.

"That is why," she continued, absurdly and damaging her own brand, "for his righteous fights, for all that he brings to our Congress, for his tireless work on behalf of his constituents and Americans everywhere-- I am proud to endorse my friend Gil Cisneros in his reelection bid for Congress."

Friendships can account for a lot, I guess. Cisneros spent $9,252,762 to buy his seat in 2018. And that doesn't count these contributions:

• $47,300 to the DNC (July 7, 2016)
• $33,400 to the DNC (Sept. 9, 2015)
• $33,400 to the DNC (March 31, 2016)
• $32,4000 to the DNC (Feb. 11, 2014)

Warren wasn't done. "I’m proud to endorse Gil because, to me, he’s the exemplar of the type of fighters we need in Congress: those who offer more than just empty talk and actually lead with their actions. Who keep the promises they’ve made to people who elect them, who don’t sell out to special interests-- and who won’t back down from protecting working families’ right to quality, affordable health care and social safety nets that the President is trying desperately to rip away. Gil listens to his constituents, he stands with hard working Americans, he’s committed to doing right by those in California’s 39th-- and I’m committed to ensuring that Gil is reelected to Congress in November... [A]t this crucial point in the campaign cycle, Gil’s campaign is laser-focused on doing all that they can to spread his message of progress. But the only way that they’ll be able to talk to more voters, hire more staff, and shore up their media operation is with donations today from folks like us."

No shame. Like when she savaged her friend Bernie.

That was a tangent I didn't mean to get into. What I wanted to talk about was the blurring on the lines between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, not a new topic around DWT. Using their lifetime crucial vote scores as the determinant, these are the worst Democrats in the House-- the ones who have voted less than 50% of the time for progressive positions-- along with their district's PVIs:

• Conor Lamb (PA)- 48.06% [R+1]
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)- 47.98% [even PVI]
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)- 44.30% [R+4]
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- 44.30% [R+6]
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)- 44.27% [D+9]
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- 42.31% [R+3]
• Abby Finkenauer (IA)- 41.77% [D+1]
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- 40.51% [R+1]
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)- 39.95% [D+9]
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- 39.10% [R+12]
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- 39.01% [R+3]
• Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)- 35.44% [R+2]
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- 29.11% [R+10]
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- 29.11% [R+6]
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- 27.85% [R+13]
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- 25.32% [R+6]
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- 24.05% [R+10]

Many of these right-of-center faux-Democrats-- what people call the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- are about to get rewarded for their consistent anti-progressive stands and for preventing the congressional Democratic Party from even taking up issues opposed by corporate America. The Chamber of Commerce, despite furor in the GOP-- is going to back them for reelection. According to Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt, two dozen freshmen Blue Dogs and New Dems are about to get the reelection nod from the U.S. Chamber, although Isenstadt's point is that this is "triggering a revolt within the right-leaning organization and drawing fierce pushback from the group’s powerful GOP donors. The decision represents a sharp departure for the traditionally conservative Chamber, which has spent over $100 million backing Republican candidates during the past decade, and it threatens to further complicate the party’s prospects in the November election while driving a split in the business community." Yeah, yeah... but it's hardly unknown for the U.S. Chamber to back right-wing, anti-progressive Democrats. Like the NRA, they reward the worst scum inside the Democratic Party, despite wing nut special interests flipping out and huffing and puffing. Some of the fake Dems up for Chamber endorsements include Kendra Horn, Elaine Luria, Andy Kim and Joe Cunningham.

Chamber leaders-- including President Suzanne Clark, Chief Executive Officer Tom Donahue and Executive Vice President Neil Bradley-- have been pushing the proposal ahead of a Thursday committee vote to finalize a slate of 2020 endorsements.

But the group’s donors and members are up in arms, with some threatening to pull funding and others openly venting their frustration. Some are raising the prospect that Chamber board members will quit in the weeks to come.

There is particular concern the Democrats in question do not have the pro-business record an endorsement would convey. State Chamber of Oklahoma President Chad Warmington wrote a letter Tuesday to national Chamber leaders fervently opposing the proposal to back Rep. Kendra Horn, perhaps the most vulnerable House Democrat in the country.

Citing the Oklahoma congresswoman’s voting record on energy issues, Warmington wrote, “I question how the U.S. Chamber could endorse a candidate who consistently voted against the largest industry in Oklahoma, employing over 90,000 workers throughout the state. That is hardly a pro-business record. I am also concerned the U.S. Chamber would endorse a congresswoman that voted in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who are not pro-business nearly 90 percent of the time.”

Warmington added: “I don’t believe an endorsement of Congresswoman Horn is warranted at this time and certainly not justifiable based on the current record of consequential votes impacting Oklahoma businesses.”

...The clash also provides a window into a growing rift in the business community over its place in the Donald Trump-dominated Republican Party, which has at times embraced policies the corporate world opposes. While the Chamber has almost exclusively endorsed Republicans over the past decade, it has collided with the president over everything from tariffs to immigration.

Clark told the Washington Post last year that “if anybody here ever thought of themselves as working for a partisan place, they should stop.”

Thomas Wilson, chairman of the Chamber’s executive committee, said in a statement that "the Chamber’s board has actively and successfully supported more bipartisanship in Washington since 2016 so we can create jobs and economic prosperity,” adding that “our priorities cut across party lines.”

“We are excited about the positive impact our enhanced endorsement criteria is having on creating better solutions for America," Wilson added.

The Chamber’s shift toward Democrats has deeply worried Republican officials, who long regarded the Chamber as a key piece of their campaign infrastructure. And it comes as two other prominent Republican-aligned political organizations, the National Rifle Association and Koch political network, pare back their electoral activity.

The Chamber has typically endorsed a handful of House Democrats each election year, though people familiar with the group say it hasn't endorsed so many at a single time. It rarely gets behind freshmen members, who are especially vulnerable in their first reelection race.

The DCCC has also tended to add the most conservative Democratic candidates to its endorsement list (the much-distrusted red to blue program, once notoriously run by Debbie Wasserman Schultz to benefit her own Republican cronies!) This morning, a progressive Democrat meeting all the supposed criteria for a DCCC endorsement asked me if I could help her figured out why she still wasn't on this list. I laughed and suggested she could join the New Dems or Blue Dogs and Cheri Bustos would have her on the list in 48 hours. Of the 33 mostly right-of-center candidates on the Red-to-Blue list, 25 have also been endorsed by the Blue Dogs and/or New Dems who Bustos has allowed to act as Red-to-Blue gatekeepers this cycle.

The Blue Dogs have found the 8 most Republican-like Democratic candidates to get behind for 2020, none of whom should be considered Democrats when it is time to go to the polls-- unless you want to make sure no progressive legislation ever even reaches the floor:

• Eugene DePasquale (PA-10)
• Gretchen Driskell (MI-07)
• Margaret Good (FL-15)
• Jackie Gordon (NY-02)
• Christine Hale (IN-05)
• Josh Hicks (KY-06)
• Brynne Kennedy (CA-04)
• Sri Kulkarni (TX-22)

The New Dems have endorsed 30 anti-working class candidates so far. Their list is is where the Red-to-Blue list comes from. This is the new crop of neo-liberals. Red-to-Blue endorsees are in red:

• Alyse Galvin (AK-AL)
• Hiral Tipirneni (AZ-06)
• Christy Smith (CA-25)
• Margaret Good (FL-16)
• Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07)
• Betsy Dirksen Londrigan (IL-13)
• Christina Hale (IN-05)
• Hillary Scholten (MI-03)
• Dan Freehan (MN-01)
• Deborah Ross (NC-02)
• Kathy Manning (NC-06)
• Pat Timmons Goodson (NC-08)
• Jackie Gordon (NY-02
• Kate Schroder (OH-01)
• Eugene DePasquale (PA-10)
• Wendy Davis (TX-21)
• Sri Kulkarni (TX-22)
• Gina Ortiz Jones (TX-23)
• Carolyn Long (WA-03)
• Sara Jacobs (CA-53) who is running against a progressive Democrat in November, Georgette Gomez (who you can contribute to here)
• Jill Schupp (MO-02)
• Kathleen Williams (MT-AL)
• Amy Kennedy (NJ-02)
• Nancy Goroff (NY-01)
• Desiree Tims (OH-10)
• Hillary O'Connor Mueri (OH-14)
• Christina Finello (PA-01)
• Sima Ladjevardian (TX-02)
• Cameron Webb (VA-05)
• Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) who is running against a progressive Democrat in November, Beth Doglio (who you can contribute to here)