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- Old Fart
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- Don't be a dick.
You still on that bullshit???Actually it was Trayvon who assualted[sic] Z.
You still on that bullshit???Actually it was Trayvon who assualted[sic] Z.
No, Summer Lee is.You still on that bullshit???
Representative John Yarmuth, a Democrat, is retiring, leaving two state legislators to compete for the state’s only Democratic congressional district. Attica Scott, a progressive activist and state representative, will tee up against Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky’s Senate minority leader. Mr. McGarvey has Mr. Yarmuth’s blessing.
I saw Fetterman's wife announcing his win. I thought it was his daughter at first. Not only is she gorgeous, she seems to have a great sence of humor. "I saved his life and I'm never going to let him forget it."In the Pennsylvania US Senate seat up for election this year, in the Democratic primary, the vote was John Fetterman 59.0%, Conor Lamb 26.4%, Malcolm Kenyatta 10.3%, Alex Khalil 4.3% with 91% counted. JF seems like some Bernie-Sanders-ish figure, as opposed to the carefully-manicured-looking CL.
Paul Reverse on Twitter: "@maxberger @justicedems The #JusticeDemocrats have identified a winning formula: 1) Refuse to take corporate $; 2) Fight for policies that help the working and middle class; 3) Fight against racist policies; 4) Talk to voters directly and don't shy away from frankness." / TwitterIt’s genuinely staggering how much @justicedems has accomplished in so little time, with so few resources.
They are the most impactful and important group in the progressive movement by a significant margin. In a sane world, they would be showered with 10,000,000s of $$$.
If we had proportional representation, Justice Dems would hold 15-30% of seats in Congress.
If a group was this effective on the conservative side, billionaires would ply them with money.
But, liberal billionaires and funders haven’t given them the $$$ their success deserves.
It’s truly unfortunate to live in a society and a political system that’s entirely privatized, but given the constraints, it would be very helpful if more big funders figured out a way to give money to the most effective progressive organization in the country.
It's an open secret in the progressive left that @JusticeDems annual budget is 1/10th of its other progressive counterparts and 1/50th of it's establishment counterparts.
The press doesn't cover this stuff, but it's just incredible how much they punch above their weight.
Progressive Democrat Doyle Canning Election Night Results Statement
"Elections are Won and Lost. but a Movement Marches Forward.*
Eugene, Oregon - Doyle Canning conceded the election tonight to fellow Democrat Val Hoyle, Oregon's Commissioner of Labor and Industry, in the primary election for Oregon's newly redrawn and Democratic leaning Fourth District. In a private phone call, Canning congratulated Hoyle on her win.
Canning had this to say to her supporters:
"Make no mistake, while this wasn't the result we wanted, our movement is strong. I want to start tonight by thanking everyone in this movement. Your hard work, sacrifices, contributions, and faith in our vision of progressive change, was met with a wall of billionaire Super PAC cash, and you did not cower. You did not turn your back on the promise of people powered change. You took a stand because you know we can't wait, our climate can't wait, change can't wait - and together we kept on putting in the work to win. We didn't, but if I had to do it all again, I would not hesitate. I am so grateful to each and every one of you.
I just called Commissioner Hoyle to congratulate her, and I know that our voices have been heard. Across our district and the state of Oregon and the United States, elected officials have been put a notice: Progressives are building power. Together, we've put bold climate action, Medicare for All, and ending big money in politics on the table, forcing the attention in this race onto the bold agenda of action we need and deserve.
Running this race has been the honor of my life. Thank you."
Background - Canning, 42, of Eugene, is an environmentalist, attorney, and 20 year veteran community organizer. Doyle Canning ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in the newly redrawn and Democratic leaning Fourth Congressional District of Oregon. Canning is committed to taking no campaign funds from the fossil fuel industry or corporate PACs, and legislating for bold climate action, a Medicare for All system that guarantees healthcare to all Americans, ending poverty, and advancing the rights of workers.
So Kurt Schrader is going the way of Joe Crowley and Eliot Engel - an arrogant, clueless incumbent."Kurt Schrader has had my back from early on and played an important part in the progress we have made as a nation," Biden said at the time. "That's why I'm proud to endorse Kurt in his reelection campaign for Congress."
The White House did not return a request for comment.
Schrader drew progressive ire in February 2021 when he voted against Biden's American Rescue Plan. Months later, as he worked to separate Biden's $2 trillion social spending plan from a bipartisan infrastructure package, he reportedly called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) a "terrible person."
Still, Schrader secured both Biden's and Pelosi's endorsements, which helped him massively outspend McLeod-Skinner. Schrader has spent $3.5 million to McLeod-Skinner's $580,000, and the incumbent also benefited from $2 million in outside group support.
McLeod-Skinner ran far to Schrader's left—the challenger backs both the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.
If this election's vote holds up, then good riddance to someone so grossly corrupt.U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon cast one of the key Democratic votes against the drug pricing plan.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee vote to drop the proposal from its piece of Biden’s signature 10-year, $3.5 trillion spending plan was not necessarily fatal. The separate House Ways and Means Committee kept it alive by approving nearly identical drug-pricing language.
Even so, the provision’s rejection by one committee underscores the clout that moderates looking to curb new spending — or any small group of Democrats — have as Biden and party leaders try pushing the entire package through the narrowly divided Congress.
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The Energy and Commerce vote on the drug-pricing language was 29-29, with three moderate Democrats joining Republicans to oppose it: Reps. Scott Peters of California, Kathleen Rice of New York and Oregon’s Schrader. Tie votes in Congress are usually insufficient to keep legislative provisions alive.
Schrader, who inherited a fortune from his grandfather who was a top executive at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has accepted large donations from big pharma during his seven terms in Congress.
Then some examples of redboxing, noting that it's done by Democrats across the political spectrum, from Kurt Schrader to Jessica Cisneros. Also discussing Republicans' ways of coordinating.On April 29, Mr. Schrader issued a not-quite-private directive inside a red-bordered box on an obscure corner of his website, sketching out a three-pronged takedown of what he called his “toxic” challenger, Jamie McLeod-Skinner — helpfully including a link to a two-page, opposition-research document about her tenure as a city manager.
The message was received.
On May 3, a super PAC that has received all its money from a secret-money group with ties to the pharmaceutical industry began running television ads that did little more than copy, paste and reorder the precise three lines of attack Mr. Schrader had outlined.
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The boxes highlight the aspects of candidates’ biographies that they want amplified and the skeletons in their opponents’ closets that they want exposed. Then, they add instructions that can be extremely detailed: Steering advertising spending to particular cities or counties, asking for different types of advertising and even slicing who should be targeted by age, gender and ethnicity.
Then noting the $3 million spent on Valerie Foushee's campaign in NC-04 -- mainly by a super PAC run by AIPAC, and by a super PAC called "Protect Our Future" founded by 30-year-old cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried.Adav Noti, the legal director of the watchdog group the Campaign Legal Center ...
“It’s a joke,” he said. “The coordination of super PACs and candidates is the primary mechanism for corruption of federal campaigns in 2022.”
A red flag to AIPAC, I'm sure.Ms. Foushee is running against, among others, Nida Allam, a Durham County commissioner who promotes herself as the first Muslim woman elected in North Carolina, and who has been critical of U.S. military aid to Israel “being used to oppress the Palestinian people.”
The article concludes with some redboxing by both Kurt Schrader and his main opponent, Jamie McLeod-Skinner.Red boxes are typically hidden in plain sight in “Media Center” or “Media Resources” sections of campaign websites that operatives know how to find, and often use thinly veiled terms to convey their instructions: Saying voters need to “hear” something is a request for radio ads, “see” means television, “read” means direct mail, and “see while on the go” usually means digital ads.
...
While political reformers question the legality of these wink-and-nod arrangements, past complaints to the Federal Election Commission about illegal coordination involving public materials posted online have mostly gone nowhere. A complaint about a top adviser to Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign tweeting a request for specific television ads, which a super PAC then produced, was recently dismissed.
...
Red boxes aren’t static. Candidates update their messaging guidance, essentially scripting super PAC ads for different stages of the campaign.
SK: Should he step aside from the DCCC he's running in a primary against another member?
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: "I think so. I think so. Because, given the resources that he has at his helm, it creates a conflict of interest. And even if he is acting in complete propriety - completely properly, which I would believe he would - it still creates an appearance of a conflict of interest. And I believe that if he's going to enter in a primary and challenge another Democratic member, then he should step aside from his responsibilities of the DCCC."
These districts are in Westchester County or nearby. From south to north:It's really disappointing how poorly the establishment of the Democratic Party is responding to the crisis of democracy.
Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn are still endorsing Cuellar, and the head of the DCCC abandoned his district to run against a young, black progressive incumbent.
It's to be expected that the Democratic establishment would treat the rise of the left as a threat to their position.
It's so deeply cynical and a dereliction of duty to fight the left harder than authoritarian Republicans. History will not judge them kindly.
I'll be incredibly disappointed if Mondaire Jones runs in Jamaal Bowman's district. I think it's politically and morally wrong.
But, I'm just aghast the head of the DCCC put him in that position. If the republic is really on the line - and it is - how can you be so selfish?
After noting that Summer Lee is a likely Squad candidate,Around seven weeks before Pennsylvania’s primary elections, Summer Lee commanded a lead of 25 points over rival Steve Irwin in the race for Pennsylvania’s 12th District, a blue stronghold encompassing Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs. It appeared that Lee, 34, a Black woman and progressive activist who currently serves as a Pennsylvania state representative, would make history. Then came the outside money. By election day, Democratic groups had dumped more than $2 million into the primary race to defeat Lee—dwarfing the outside money spent attacking Irwin, a mere $2,400. Specifically, the United Democracy Project (UDP)—a political action committee for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—spent $2,025,297 against Lee and $660,317 in support of Irwin, 62, a Pittsburgh lawyer and county Democratic Party organizer. The ads painted Lee as anti-Israel and claimed she was “not a real Democrat,” following a playbook that moderate groups have run against other progressives nationwide, including against Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman.
Endorsed by Sanders, Lee’s platform is rooted in key progressive policies such as the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and expanding the Supreme Court. Lee has supported setting conditions on U.S. aid to Israel and condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians. Irwin, conversely, adopted a more moderate platform, stressing bipartisanship and building broad coalitions. Irwin, who is Jewish, said in an interview with Jewish Insider that statements from Lee, “do not indicate a strong conviction that Israel has a right to exist.” (Lee dismissed this claim, saying she “absolutely” believes in Israel’s right to be an independent Jewish state and, “What’s more is that I also understand and really, truly believe the need that we have for Jewish folks globally to have a safe haven.”)
Out of the ~113,000 votes, Summer Lee is now beating Steve Irwin by 682 votes. There are about 2,000 votes left to count, mostly in Allegheny County, where SL beats SI by 5%. That means a likely 100 votes more.
So it looks like AIPAC is going to lose here.
Fetterman's popularity seems to be more about personality rather than policies per se. I like his stance on weed, and that should be popular across partisan divides.
Again, the 18th Maloney was in is no more. The new 18th is a different district altogether.He was in NY-18, and he will now compete with Rep. Mondaire Jones. He's the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
What kind of chicanery is that?NY Mag said:The new maps place Jones in a similar predicament to Maloney’s. Under the draft map, his home of White Plains would now be considered part of the 16th District, which is currently represented by Jamaal Bowman, a fellow first-term Democratic representative. Jones hasn’t announced a decision on where he intends to run yet, but Bowman issued a statement of his own, saying that he and Jones “should not be pitted against each other all because Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney wants to have a slightly easier district for himself.”
“Congressman Maloney should run in his own district. I’ll be running in mine,” Bowman said.
Why? Maloney would be running in the district he lives in. Jones should do the same.Sahil Kapur via lpetrich said:
It is a threat to the country. Both parties becoming more extreme is bad news.Max Berger (via lpetrich) said:It's to be expected that the Democratic establishment would treat the rise of the left as a threat to their position.
Why? Because they are both black? Because they are both on the leftist fringe of the Dem party?I'll be incredibly disappointed if Mondaire Jones runs in Jamaal Bowman's district. I think it's politically and morally wrong.
Please! The republic is not on the line because two radical freshmen might go against each other in the primary because they both live in the same district.But, I'm just aghast the head of the DCCC put him in that position. If the republic is really on the line - and it is - how can you be so selfish?
I am trying to find a good map zoomed on the relevant area of old and new 16th-18th districts to show the changes in territory, but alas, could not find one.back to lpetrich himself said:These districts are in Westchester County or nearby. From south to north:
- NY-16 -- Jamaal Bowman (includes north Bronx)
- NY-17 -- Mondaire Jones
- NY-18 -- Sean Patrick Maloney (before he moved to NY-17)
It seems like SI's platform is being a good Democratic apparatchik, rather than SL's wanting to do things.Ms. Lee, who famously got her start in state politics a few years ago by ousting a longtime Democratic incumbent, has pitched a vision for the party that’s focused more on movement-building and systemic change than it is status quo pragmatism. She’s organized around the issues of racial, environmental and economic justice and has talked of lifting up the most vulnerable.
To Mr. Irwin and his powerful surrogates on Thursday, it comes down to the ability to get things done in Washington at a time the Democratic agenda needs allies, not critics, they said. Mr. Doyle and Mr. Fitzgerald pointed to Mr. Irwin as someone who would immediately work as a partner with President Joe Biden’s administration and Democrats in Congress.
So SL got started by primarying a long-time incumbent, like AOC and Ayanna Pressley and Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman.Ms. Lee likened the attacks against her to the establishment throwing everything it can at her to stop the movement she’s helping to cultivate. She said it didn’t work when she took down the long-term Democratic state House incumbent Paul Costa in the 2018 primary, and it hasn’t worked since.
“Instead of going along to get along, we decided that there is more that we can do — that there are more people that we are going to empower and lift up,” Ms. Lee said. “We kept on coming back, cycle after cycle.”
She said the movement resulted in Pittsburgh electing its first Black mayor, Ed Gainey. Mr. Gainey, speaking at the rally, criticized super PACs for spending so heavily against Ms. Lee’s candidacy.
“The beauty of this is to show special interests that when the will of the people comes together, your money is only cents,” Mr. Gainey said.