Democrats trying to unseat each other II

[lpetrich]

Democratic Exodus From Congress Could Supercharge the Squad -- 'Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, predicted Democratic primaries will get “pretty nasty,” with moderates spending “big money” to try and prevail.'

Starting off with Rep. Mike Doyle of Pittsburgh PA. After more than 20 years, he is now retiring, and when he did so, a progressive State Rep, Summer Lee, announced her candidacy.

But while an open primary paves the way for a surefire changing of the guard and allows progressives to run without the tricky politics of challenging an incumbent, vacated seats also come with their own downsides: they often attract the political masses, sparking competition.

Like diluting the progressive vote among multiple candidates. When Jamaal Bowman ran for office, his campaigners convinced another Eliot Engel challenger, Andom Ghebreghiorgis, to withdraw from the race rather than risk losing from vote splitting.

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive organizing group Our Revolution, said he thinks “there’ll be a greater opportunity for progressives to prevail in these races given that the incumbent Democrat and the established machine isn’t necessarily going to be united early on behind one candidate.”

But, Geevarghese added, “the challenge for progressives is to try to coalesce quickly around the most viable progressive who’s going to be in the race,” in order to not split the base and let a moderate take a plurality simply because a bunch of progressives jumped in the race.

Shows how awful first-past-the-post is.

Still, while insurgent progressive campaigns against longtime incumbents have become more frequent in recent years, their success is far from guaranteed. Often, even if the seat is open, more established or moderate politicians who have waited their turn are quickly elevated by party leadership.

Then about how the party establishment supported Shontel Brown against Nina Turner for OH-11. I may add supporting Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown's sore-loser campaign against India Walton.

Then progressive Kentucky House Rep. Attica Scott not waiting for Rep. John Yarmuth to retire.

But after Yarmuth retired, the opening quickly appealed to a number of established politicians. Kentucky state Sen. Morgan McGarvey, for one, launched his campaign within minutes of Yarmuth’s retirement announcement. While Scott was elected to the state Legislature in 2016, McGarvey was elected in 2012 and now serves as the top Democrat in the state Senate.

The former chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party, Jennifer Moore, and state Reps. McKenzie Cantrell and Josie Raymond are also considering a run, according to The Courier-Journal.

“A safe Democratic seat comes up, like, once in a generation…” a progressive operative told The Daily Beast. “Every single state legislator in America has pictured themselves in Congress.”

Some Democrats argue those politician pipelines serve as a reason for not waiting for vacancies in the first place.

I recall AOC stating in an early interview that she was annoyed with politicians thinking of themselves as waiting in line for seats to open up.

Imani Oakley, a progressive running against incumbent Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ) in 2022, told The Daily Beast in a statement that she doesn’t want to show deference to “the corrupt party machinery that chooses successors.”

He succeeded his father when his father died in 2012, and Donald Payne Sr. first got elected in 1989. Much like Lacy Clay and Dan Lipinski, who succeeded their fathers when their fathers retired. They in turn were succeeded by Cori Bush and Marie Newman.

“He inherited the seat from his father and he’s intent on holding it until he can anoint a successor. That’s aristocracy, not democracy,” Oakley argued. “The only option to protect my community from the ravages of climate change, housing instability and healthcare inequality: challenge Payne Jr. on my own timetable.”

Geevarghese also suspects that corporate interests are going to be especially interested in boosting more moderate Democrats this election, because “it is not in their interest or the establishment’s interest to have a stronger Congressional Progressive Caucus.”

“I anticipate, you know, the primary season is going to get pretty nasty pretty soon between the two wings. And on the moderate side, I think you’re going to see a lot of big money get involved,” he forecasted.

Like what we saw against Nina Turner and India Walton.

 

[lpetrich]

Mike Siegel on Twitter: "Got to hang out with one of the stars of Texas politics.
Support this woman and let’s change the future of this state. (pic link)" / Twitter
Jessica Cisneros. MS ran for Congress last year.

Brand New Congress on Twitter: "Happy birthday to the incredible, the one and only, @ninaturner! (pic link)" / Twitter
BNC head Adrienne Bell with Nina Turner.


Imani Oakley for Congress on Twitter: "Good morning! ..." / Twitter

Good morning!

So because I am absolutely unwavering in my commitment to defending the human rights of the Palestinian people & all oppressed people worldwide, a fake email address tried to harass my campaign, I posted about it, and Twitter locked my account. ()

In a world where white supremacy and violence are constantly being bred in online spaces like @Twitter, it is the responsibility of these platforms to do a better job at deciphering posts that are harmful v. posts that are informative

As the future Congresswoman for NJ10, I will not only continue to use my position of power to steadfastly fight against human rights abuses, but I will also make sure we are properly regulating platforms like @Twitter so they don’t become breeding grounds for hate

She was supposedly violating Twitter's new rule against publishing others' private information.

Right-wing activists are openly 'weaponizing' a new Twitter policy against doxxing - CNN

Twitter acknowledged on Friday that a new policy it unveiled this week to protect users from harassment is being abused by malicious actors — days after journalists, left-wing activists and self-described "sedition hunters" reported their accounts had been locked for sharing publicly available images of anti-maskers, anti-vaccine protesters and suspected Capitol insurrectionists.

...
Unveiled on Tuesday, Twitter's new policy prohibits the sharing of images of private individuals without those people's consent. The rule was created, Twitter initially said, in a bid to prevent its platform from being abused to harass and intimidate people, particularly women, activists and minorities.

But right-wing groups and anti-mask activists have quickly determined that the new Twitter policy offers an opportunity to strike back at those who might draw attention to their real-world identities. And in a matter of days, they established a coordinated campaign to flood Twitter with complaints that left-wing activists, Jan. 6 investigators and journalists covering rallies have published their faces without consent in violation of the new rule.

...
After filing such reports, some individuals have publicly celebrated "weaponizing" Twitter's new rule. A pair of posts reviewed by CNN on the alternative social media site Gab boasted of making dozens of Twitter reports and urged allies to "stay on the offensive" against "antifa" and "their doxxing riot videos."

...
As of Friday morning, several accounts on Twitter that track open-source images of right-wing extremists and participants in the Capitol riot had been hit by suspensions under the private media policy, potentially jeopardizing what has become a vital source of information for law enforcement and federal prosecutors investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, a Los Angeles videographer, told CNN his account was locked due to reports to Twitter involving videos he posted of anti-vaccine rallies and counter-protests in January.

The speed, scale and enthusiasm with which some groups have invoked the policy — along with numerous enforcement errors — have prompted some experts to conclude that Twitter's policy is backfiring.

 

[Derec]

Imani Oakley for Congress on Twitter: "Good morning! ..." / Twitter

Ah yes, the anti-Israel wannabe squadie who got taken by a parody account purporting to be the "Chief Rabbi of Gaza". The account is such an obvious parody, Imani Oakley richly deserves all the ridicule she has gotten.
New Jersey Democrat agrees to meet 'Chief Rabbi of Gaza' in Twitter ruse

An example tweet by the supposed Chief Rabbi:


Imani O. must really have some morons on staff if they could not recognize this as parody after about 20 seconds.

Good morning!

So because I am absolutely unwavering in my commitment to defending the human rights of the Palestinian people & all oppressed people worldwide, a fake email address tried to harass my campaign, I posted about it, and Twitter locked my account. ()

In a world where white supremacy and violence are constantly being bred in online spaces like @Twitter, it is the responsibility of these platforms to do a better job at deciphering posts that are harmful v. posts that are informative

Oh yes, the eternal boogeyman of "white supremacy". What does this parody account have to do with "supremacy" of any kind?
Imani O. (or rather her staffers, but the buck stops at her desk) fell for an obvious parody and she is all butthurt about it.

As the future Congresswoman for NJ10,

Hashem forbid!

I will not only continue to use my position of power to steadfastly fight against human rights abuses,

But only by Israel and white people, right?

but I will also make sure we are properly regulating platforms like @Twitter so they don’t become breeding grounds for hate

She not only hates Israel, she hates the 1st Amendment as well.

She was supposedly violating Twitter's new rule against publishing others' private information.

And rules should be applied consistently. Apparently some think Twitter rules should only be used against so-called "right-wing activists", but not against left-wing ones.

Twitter acknowledged on Friday that a new policy it unveiled this week to protect users from harassment is being abused by malicious actors — days after journalists, left-wing activists and self-described "sedition hunters" reported their accounts had been locked for sharing publicly available images of anti-maskers, anti-vaccine protesters and suspected Capitol insurrectionists.

Not to mention parody accounts who dare expose an anti-Israel politician to ridicule.

Unveiled on Tuesday, Twitter's new policy prohibits the sharing of images of private individuals without those people's consent. The rule was created, Twitter initially said, in a bid to prevent its platform from being abused to harass and intimidate people, particularly women, activists and minorities.

Again, rules should apply to all equally. Women, minorities and (left-wing) activists do not deserve special protections.

But right-wing groups and anti-mask activists have quickly determined that the new Twitter policy offers an opportunity to strike back at those who might draw attention to their real-world identities.

So the "real-world identities" of only certain activists should be protected?

 

[Derec]

Democratic Exodus From Congress Could Supercharge the Squad -- '

That would be a disaster, both for the Democratic Party and for the country.

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, predicted Democratic primaries will get “pretty nasty,” with moderates spending “big money” to try and prevail.'

And so much depends on the moderates being successful in holding off the extremists.

 

[lpetrich]

Warren Democrats | elizabethwarren.com - has some Senators and also this new one:

Elizabeth Warren on Twitter: "I’m endorsing @JCisnerosTX for Congress in Texas’ 28th District because she’s fighting for working families, not big money—and she knows that when progressives are unapologetic about who we’re in this battle for, we win." / Twitter

Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "I’m so proud to receive @ewarren’s endorsement.
Sen. Warren has spent her entire career fighting for working families like mine. Sen. Warren believed in our campaign early on last cycle. Now, she is back on our team to help us give South Texans in #TX28 a voice in Congress. (pic link)" / Twitter
then
Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "Join @ewarren and help us finish what we started last cycle!
Let’s unseat an anti-choice, anti-worker, Big Oil, NRA democrat and replace him with a progressive champion who will fight for our families. (pic link)" / Twitter


Donna Imam on Twitter: "Let's get it done Texas! (vid link)" / Twitter -- DI is now officially in the race for US Congress in TX-37 in Austin.

 

[lpetrich]

Cori Bush on Twitter: "A note to Democrats who blame progressives after losing an election:

Forcing millions to start paying student loans again and cutting off the Child Tax Credit at the start of an election year is not a winning strategy.

We're warning you now, don't point fingers in November." / Twitter

I researched which Democrats lost in 2020, and it was mainly the most conservative ones. Only one Green New Deal supporter and no Medicare for All supporters. Also, all the "Squad" members won big in their primaries.

She got response
Michael Salamone on Twitter: "@CoriBush Punching down & left is the only consistent policy out of both parties. (link)" / Twitter
noting
People worry that 'moderate' Democrats like Joe Biden are the same as Republicans. Our study suggests they may be right | The Independent | The Independent - "Men who refer to themselves as 'moderate' or 'centrist' score basically the same on values and opinions as people who identify themselves as 'conservative'"

In an August 13th column in the New York Times, David Brooks argued that the moderate “forces that brought Joe Biden the nomination are far more powerful than a few extremists in Portland and even the leftist illiberals on campus,” adding, “If you look at who actually leads change over the course of American history, it’s not the radicals. At a certain point, radicals give way to the more prudent and moderate wings of their coalitions.”

Evidence: {} - the "moderates" or "centrists" did such things only because they were pushed leftward.

When it comes to addressing climate change, Eric Levitz of New York Magazine argued that “a major [obstacle] is the tendency of moderate Democrats to mistake their own myopic complacency for heroic prudence”. Political researcher David Adler found that across Europe and North America, centrists are the least supportive of democracy, the least committed to its institutions, and the most supportive of authoritarianism. Furthermore, Adler found that centrists are the least supportive of free and fair elections as well as civil rights — in the United States, only 25 percent of centrists agree that civil rights are an essential feature of democracy.

noting
Opinion | Centrists Are the Most Hostile to Democracy, Not Extremists - The New York Times
Polling about:

• Percentage of people who say democracy is a “very good” political system.
• Percentage of people who say that choosing a leader in a free election is an “essential feature of democracy.”
• Percentage of people who say civil rights that protect people’s liberty from state oppression is an “essential feature of democracy.”
• Percentage of people who say a strong leader who does not have to bother with a legislature is “fairly good” or “very good.” (exceptional in being most common in the right wing)

Either (left, right) > (center) or sometimes (left) > (center, right) or rarely (left) > (center) > (right) -- the Left is consistently the best supporter of democracy.

In the United States, centrists’ support for a strongman-type leader far surpasses that of the right and the left.

... As Western democracies descend into dysfunction, no group is immune to the allure of authoritarianism — least of all centrists, who seem to prefer strong and efficient government over messy democratic politics.

Strongmen in the developing world have historically found support in the center: From Brazil and Argentina to Singapore and Indonesia, middle-class moderates have encouraged authoritarian transitions to bring stability and deliver growth. Could the same thing happen in mature democracies like Britain, France and the United States?

These are all self-reported centrists, and a lot of people on the left and the right may call themselves centrists.

 

[lpetrich]

This finding dovetails with observations made by Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from Birmingham Jail: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the… great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Klu Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” Even Arthur Books, a self-avowed moderate, admits to “the failure of the mainstream, moderate, progressive formula for how to create a more equal pluralist America,” adding, “I’m a moderate guy, but the evidence doesn’t support moderation when it comes to racial equity.”

Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]

Then research into Navigating Religious Diversity | IFYC (IDEALS)

I am actively working to foster justice in the world:
MM 49.7% CM 49.8% CW 51.7%, MW 57.3% LM 68.2% LW 74.4%

I am committed to leading efforts in collaboration with people of other perspectives to create positive changes in society:
CM 46.3% MM 51.3% CW 54.3% MW 62.5% LM 65.8% LW 71.3%

My worldview inspires me to serve with others on issues of common concern:
CM 68.7% MM 70.7% CW 80.0% MW 82.3% LM 84.5% LW 87.5%

I am currently taking steps to improve the lives of people around the world:
MM 50.5% CM 51.8% CW 62.9% LM 64.0% MW 64.5% LW 71.2%

It is important to serve with those of diverse religious backgrounds on issues of common concern:
CM 70.9% MM 78.0% CW 82.1% MW 86.5% LM 89.5% LW 92.7%

I frequently think about the global problems of our time and how I will contribute to resolving them:
CM 59.1% CW 62.7% MM 65.3% MW 72.3% LM 85.2% LW 87.0%

C = conservative, M = moderate, L = liberal, then M = men, W = women

That moderate men most resemble Republicans has been confirmed, of all places, on dating apps. Brittany Wong of HuffPost writes, “It’s almost become a coastal cliche at this point: If someone lists their political views as ‘moderate’ on a dating app, the thinking goes, go ahead and assume the person is a conservative.” One interviewee noted, “It’s just in my experience, even ‘moderate’ guys tend to have extremely different views on topics that matter to me, like gun control, women’s reproductive rights and immigration.” Sometimes, moderate men who appear to bend liberal turn out to be “faux woke,” according to one interviewee who was initially attracted to someone whose profile featured photos at a women’s march. Eventually “he slowly started to drop his facade,” revealing behaviors inconsistent with his professed political beliefs.

noting
In Partisan 2019, Listing 'Moderate' Can Hurt You On Dating Apps | HuffPost Life
AOC said early in 2020 that “The Democratic Party is not a left party. The Democratic Party is a center or a center-conservative party.”

 

[lpetrich]

Now for the candidates that  Brand New Congress and  Justice Democrats have endorsed so far.

For this year, Selinda Guerrero NM-01 BNC lost the party-convention vote, Nina Turner OH-11 BNC JD lost the primary, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick FL-20 BNC won the primary.

For 2022, BNC is endorsing 3 Senate candidates and 17 House ones, 13 newcomers and 4 incumbents. JD is endorsing 5 House candidates, all newcomers. BNC and JD are both endorsing two candidates, Summer Lee PA-18 and Jessica Cisneros TX-28.

Past performance:

2018:
BNC: H new (28, 9, 1) S new (2, 1, 0)
JD: H new (64, 21, 4), H inc (3, 3, 3), S new (4, 0, 0)
BNC & JD: H new (22, 7, 1), S new (1, 0, 0)

2020:
BNC: H new (38, 7, 2), H inc (2, 2, 2), S new (6, 1, 0)
JD: H new (8, 5, 3), H inc (7, 7, 7), S new (1, 0, 0)
BNC & JD: H new (5, 3, 2), H inc (2, 2, 2), S new (1, 0, 0)

Numbers are (all candidates, all who won primaries, all who won general elections)

 

[lpetrich]

Of the BNC- and JD-endorsed candidates, 7 ran in 2020 after losing in 2018, and only 2 won: Marie Newman and Cori Bush. Among those that lost was Paula Jean Swearengin.

Jessica Cisneros Is the Future of the Democratic Party | The Nation
About her opponent, Henry Cuellar:

Cuellar is one of the last anti-abortion, pro-gun Democrats left in Congress. He’s held the seat, which represents a relatively safe blue district including Laredo, Rio Grande City, and Universal City, since 2005, but had already been involved in South Texas politics since the 1980s. Even among corporate Democrats, Cuellar stands out for his deference to big business and Republican interests. He’s the fourth-biggest recipient in the House of oil and gas campaign contributions in the 2022 cycle so far, according to OpenSecrets, and he is the biggest Democratic recipient of private prison campaign cash.

...
Cuellar, meanwhile, has the power of entrenched political interests on his side, from the fossil fuel industry and conservative dark money groups to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The US Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s biggest lobbying group representing corporate interests, has traditionally aligned itself with the GOP, but it went big on Cuellar, spending seriously on a Democrat for the first time in years. In the run-up to the primary, Pelosi found herself on the same side as the Koch network, as she traveled to Laredo to campaign for Cuellar with other party leaders in a last-ditch effort to try to get him over the finish line.

It looks like it's going to be a tough fight. Will NP and the House leadership stand by HC the way it did the last time around?

 

[lpetrich]

It looks like controversial Seattle councilmember  Kshama Sawant will survive an attempt to recall her.

Before running for office, she was an economics professor at a local community college.

After an unsuccessful run for Washington State House the previous year, she got into the Seattle City Council in 2013, defeating an incumbent by 1.7%. She won again by 12.2% in 2015, and by 4.1% in 2019.

She is a member of the Socialist Alternative party, a Trotskyist party, and she has caused a lot of controversy. In addition to advocating typical left-wing positions, she has done things like this:

Sawant and Mayor Jenny Durkan have repeatedly clashed, and in June 2020, Sawant said that the mayor should resign.[61] In a letter to the Council president on June 30, 2020, Durkan asked the City Council to investigate Sawant under its city charter authority to punish members for "disorderly or otherwise contemptuous behavior," writing that Sawant had participated in a march to her home, knowing that her address "was protected under the state confidentiality program because of threats against me due largely to my work as U.S. Attorney."[61] The mayor accused Sawant and others of acting "with reckless disregard of the safety of my family and children."[61] Additionally, Sawant led protesters into Seattle City Hall, which was closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, on the evening of June 9, 2020.[62] Durkan also alleged that Sawant had used her council office to promote the "Tax Amazon" ballot initiative, urged protesters to occupy the East Precinct police station, and involved Socialist Alternative in her council office staffing decisions.[61] Durkan said that she respected policy disagreements with members, but that these disagreements, "do not justify a council member who potentially uses their position in violation of law or who recklessly undermines the safety of others, all for political theatre."[61] In response, Sawant accused Durkan of being the leader of a "pro-corporate political establishment" and of carrying out "an attack on working people's movements."[61]

Kshama Sawant - Council | seattle.gov - her official city council page - contains

Tax Amazon for COVID-19 Relief, Affordable Housing, Jobs, Green New Deal

Rent Strike! Fight for rent and mortgage suspension and rent freeze now!

 

[lpetrich]

Recall Kshama Sawant | Seattle City Councilmember
Claiming

1. Misuse of City of Seattle Council Office Resources to Promote a Ballot Initiative or Other Electioneering (Jan-February 2020)

2. Misuse of Councilmember Sawant’s Official Position in Admitting Hundreds of Individuals Illegally into City Hall Afterhours (June 9, 2020)

3. Using Her Official Position as City Councilmember to Lead a Protest March to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s Private Residence Whose Location is in the State Confidential Program (July 3rd 2020)

The vote on recalling her was on December 7, and as the vote was counted, it shifted from recalling her to keeping her in office.

Dec 7 -6.2%, Dec 8 -0.6%, Dec 10 +0.6%, Dec 13 +0.8%, Dec 14 +0.8%

Rejection of recalling her is currently leading by 309 out of 40,932 votes.

The count should be done by tomorrow and certified by Friday. She or the recall supporters can then request a recount, but whoever does will have to foot the bill.

 

[lpetrich]

Kshama Sawant has officially survived the recall attempt, though with a narrow margin: 41033 total votes, 20346 yes, 20656 no, and 31 invalid. The recall effort was defeated by 310 votes, 0.76% of the total.

Seattle socialist Kshama Sawant keeps city council seat after recall election | Seattle | The Guardian

Though a recount request is possible, it is considered unlikely.

“For us to have overcome that in this spectacular manner really speaks to not only the organizational strength of our campaign, of Socialist Alternative, of working people in general, but also the political ideas on which this victory has been based,” Sawant told the Guardian on Friday.

The recall result for Sawant – who became the first socialist on the Seattle council in nearly a century after she beat out a Democrat and 16-year incumbent in 2013 – was viewed as a win for progressives and a rebuff of big business.

The article then noted CA Gov Gavin Newsom's surviving a recall attempt of him. He survived surprisingly well, better than was expected from the polls. That made the Democratic governor-race loss in Virginia and almost-loss in New Jersey rather surprising to me. It is also not much mentioned in discussions of VA and NJ.

But with a significant subsection of residents in Sawant’s district voting to remove her, the result also clarified just how much of a polarizing figure she has remained.

The recall effort was based on claims that she opened city hall to demonstrators during a protest, disregarding Covid-19 restrictions, used city resources for a “Tax Amazon” effort, and led a march to Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan’s home despite the address being protected under state confidentiality laws.

The Kshama Solidarity Campaign has pushed back on the charges, and Sawant said the recall was rather an “attempt to have a do-over of the election result in 2019 which big business did not like”.

She added: “In reality if the rightwing, if big business was allowed to win in this recall [then] they would only be emboldened to go after progressive movements both in Seattle and nationally.”

 

[lpetrich]

Far-left Councilmember Kshama Sawant retains seat after recall attempt | Fox News - "Sawant, a 48-year-old economics professor, is the longest-tenured council member in Seattle."

Certified — Sawant recall defeated by 310 votes — UPDATE: Party postponed | CHS Capitol Hill Seattle

As for the challenges, response on that front also showed a high level of voter engagement. The tallies included 491 ballots challenged over factors like missing or mismatched signatures, or late arrival. Officials said 68% of voters responded to try to clear up their challenge issue. Another sign? Only 33% of the challenges involved late arriving ballots. In the November general election, officials said that number was a much more typical 52%.

...
Meanwhile, the intense “get out the vote” effort from the Sawant camp included legal “grassroots voting stations” that included ballot printing — but, the campaign said, no “electioneering” — for voters. About 3% of ballots — around 1,400 — were printed, a much higher rate than typical, KING 5 reports.

“Working people across Seattle have a hard-fought victory to celebrate — a victory 15 months in the making!,” the Kshama Solidarity campaign said in a message to supporters. “Defeating the right-wing recall and their many corporate donors would not have been possible without the thousands of young people, renters, people of color, and working people who made sacrifices so that they could volunteer and donate to this campaign.”

The postponed part was her victory party, postponed because of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

 

[lpetrich]

Chris Sommerfeldt on Twitter: "New: Fresh off of being sworn this month, Queens Councilwoman @tiffany_caban is already wading into what’s expected to be one of the city’s most heated 2022 congressional primaries, endorsing @RanaForCongress's left-wing bid to unseat @RepMaloney. (link)" / Twitter

Rana Abdelhamid on Twitter: "So grateful to be building this movement with @tiffany_caban as we stand together for progress, equity, housing access, and health care for all of our communities.

Let's get it! (vid link)" / Twitter

Rana Abdelhamid on Twitter: ".@tiffany_caban has been a critical leader in the movement to decarcerate our city & I couldn’t be more honored to have her endorsement.

I'm proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with her in the most important & difficult fights facing our movement - nationally & here in Queens. (pic link)" / Twitter

Tiffany Cabán on Twitter: "Queens deserves a new generation of bold leadership for our borough and our city — leadership that’s multiracial, that’s working class, and that’s led by the most marginalized among us. I know @RanaForCongress will deliver that kind of leadership." / Twitter

Then TC's endorsing Greg Casar of TX-35, Justice Democrats' sixth and latest endorsee.

 

[lpetrich]

India Walton Reflects on her Mayoral Campaign - YouTube - interviewed by Cenk Uygur of TYT.

IW wanted to run on the issues, but incumbent Mayor Byron Brown campaigned on IW's personality and socioeconomic status and the like, including outright lies. Like saying that she wanted to fire 100 cops, starting with minorities and women. She wanted alternatives to policing for some cops' jobs, but BB's campaigners repeated it over and over and over.

One news outlet fact-checked that claim about firing cops, but that was no match from the repetition after repetition after repetition of that claim. Cenk Uygur said that he saw lots of cases of news media putting their thumbs on the scale in favor of establishment Democrats against progressives, repeating negative things about progressives more often than about establishment candidates, and saying that it was "Just Asking Questions".

BB's campaign talked about IW's overdue parking tickets, and IW called parking tickets "predatory" and "budget-gap fillers". She claimed that BB has likely never driven a car in 16 years. She said that BB is very disconnected with the concerns of large numbers of Buffalonians, despite having been mayor for so long. One newspaper called her a "hood rat". Some Democratic Party officials said that she was like David Duke and Donald Trump.

IW said that it's important to control the narrative. AOC has said that also, and she recalled Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats being meekly silent after attack after attack after attack. She was determined not to let that happen to her.

IW said that Buffalo is 65% Democratic, and that Republicans usually don't run a challenger. They didn't do that this time around, but instead supported BB in his write-in sore-loser campaign.

IW got the Democrats' vote by a small margin, but a lot of Republicans and conservatives turned out for BB as a rejection of her.

She says that she needs some time to heal, but that she would continue being an activist.

Then "socialist" vs "democratic socialism". She said that "socialism" is more about caring for people and how governments are to be involved in that, than any specific ideology. During the campaign, some people claimed that she was a Communist and that she wanted to seize people's private property. This included some labor leaders and pastors.

IW then revealed that she got a nice note from someone very surprising: Barack Obama. It was about losing a seemingly won election.

 

[lpetrich]

2 decades of left turns | The Week

Starting off with Rep. Barbara Lee's opposition to the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) of 2001.

Back in 2001, Lee was one of a tiny handful of members of Congress that could be said to be on the left. Today, things are different. There is quite a large caucus of progressives within the Democratic Party with similar politics to hers, and even a handful of self-identified socialists to her left. Despite his previous record as a sellout centrist, President Biden has turned out to be the most left-wing president since Lyndon Johnson at least (though that isn't saying much).

It's been a rough 20 years for America, but the best 20 years for the left since it was brutally crushed by the McCarthyite anti-communist frenzy in the late 1940s and early '50s. As a millennial approaching middle age, I watched this all happen in real-time. It's a good moment to check in on how a small but significant leftist movement has been built centered around younger people, and examine its prospects for the future.

Then talking about the election of George Bush II, the Iraq War, the financial crisis of 2008, and the Obama Admin's inadequate response to that crisis, despite Barack Obama saying nice things when he campaigned. By early 2010, the Obama Admin was supporting deficit hawkery, and the 10% unemployment rate on Election Day gave him a crushing defeat in the midterm elections. Obamacare was a step forward, but a very inadequate one.

The Occupy Wall Street movement emerged as a protest of the inadequacy of the Obama Admin's actions: Occupy Wall Street at 10: It Was Annoying, But It Changed the World It was a flop.

The Black Lives Matter movement also emerged during the Obama years, as a response to excessively brutal policing. It has had more staying power.

Then Bernie Sanders's Presidential campaigns of 2016. He did remarkably well, even though he was defeated by an establishment Democrat, Hillary Clinton. She, in turn, was defeated by a boorish, bigoted reality-TV host.

 

[lpetrich]

When Clinton lost, membership in the Democratic Socialists of America exploded, turning it from a semi-moribund organization for theorists and aging activists into a serious political force practically overnight. While still small in total numbers, DSA has made significant political inroads, especially in New York state, where it was a key force breaking Andrew Cuomo's stranglehold on power.

Sanders, of course, lost his primary fight against Joe Biden in 2020, though for a couple of weeks he was within a whisker of clinching the nomination. It took a major behind-the-scenes effort — above all one more cynical move from Obama to convince the delegate frontrunner to drop out and endorse Biden — to stave Sanders off.

That brings us to the present day: The American left has a serious national presence for the first time since the 1940s, a toehold in Congress, and a significant presence in many state governments. One byproduct is a truly enormous partisan age gap — probably the largest in American history, and one that was important for Biden's victory in 2020. What's more, the reason his presidency has been a relative success compared to Obama's, especially when accounting for his tiny margins in Congress, is because leftist academics and scholars have successfully argued that Obama's turn to austerity was a colossal error, and because today the Democrats have a committed core of genuine leftists who bolster the party by trying to force it live up to its promises. The real disloyal Democrats are on the party's right in the form of senators like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who demand that instead it betray its own constituents again on behalf of their big donors.

But does this new left have staying power. Author Ryan Cooper isn't very sure. "More importantly, what traditionally happens in American history when there is any serious leftist political movement is it is smashed through a combination of state repression and racist vigilante violence." pointing to the Redemption counterrevolution that destroyed Reconstruction, and the Red Scares of 1920 and 1950.

Both Red Scares were provoked by Communists taking over elsewhere in the world. In 1920, by the Bolsheviks taking over Russia and establishing the Soviet Union. In 1950, by the Soviet Union imposing Communism on Eastern Europe and Communists taking over China. "Who lost China?" became a big issue. Korea seemed to be next, but North Korea was defeated until Communist China sent over a million troops across the border.

Curiously, the author didn't describe the most recent era of left-wing prominence: the Sixties Era.

Today, Republicans are openly announcing that they intend to replicate the McCarthy formula by whipping up a shrieking moral panic over "woke" phrases and "critical race theory," by which they mean anything that discusses racism whatsoever. Party apparatchiks are drawing up long lists of crimethink to be banned from the classroom, and laws that legalize running down protesters with your car.

Donald Trump, emboldened by Biden's complete failure to prosecute him for attempting to overturn the election in 2020, is plotting to do the same thing again in 2024. Should Republicans reclaim national power, I would expect a further crackdown on leftism of any sort — particularly antifa (one of whom was executed in public by what amounted to a death squad) and Black Lives Matter. It will be open season on any leftist protest for police and right-wing terrorist groups, who are increasingly hard to distinguish.

The future isn't set in stone, but unless the Biden administration and congressional Democrats do something to protect democracy and America's civil rights, the relative toleration the left has enjoyed since 2000 will come to an end. But there's still time to recognize that American democracy needs the left as much as the left needs democratic freedoms.

 Cyclical theory (United States history) - US history goes through progressive and conservative phases. The first three - the Revolution, Jefferson, and Jackson Eras - essentially faded into their following conservative phases: Federalism, Good Feelings, and Slaveowner Dominance. The next three ended with hostility from some of the more conservative parts of society: Civil War, Progressive, and New Deal. The Civil War was followed by Reconstruction but that was destroyed by white-supremacist counterrevolutionaries, and northerners did not do much to stop it. So it was cut short. The Progressive Era and the New Deal Era both lasted as long as other liberal eras, so they had the misfortune of Communist advances occurring at the end of them. The Sixties Era lasted from the early sixties to the late seventies, and it also faded.

 

[Derec]

Rana Abdelhamid on Twitter: "So grateful to be building this movement with @tiffany_caban as we stand together for progress, equity, housing access, and health care for all of our communities.

What is it with left-wing Democrats and religiously conservative Muslims? Has the Left learned nothing from their Iranian comrades helping Ayatollah Khomeini get into power?

 

[Derec]

IW said that Buffalo is 65% Democratic, and that Republicans usually don't run a challenger. They didn't do that this time around, but instead supported BB in his write-in sore-loser campaign.
IW got the Democrats' vote by a small margin, but a lot of Republicans and conservatives turned out for BB as a rejection of her.

In a democracy, should not all citizens get a say in their government and not just the members of the majority party?
You dismiss BB's campaign as "sore loser", but he actually enjoyed the support of the majority of Buffaloans, while IW did not. Without the write-in campaign, there would be a distinctly anti-democratic outcome in that election. That illustrates the flaw of the current partisan primary system, especially in polities where one of the major two parties has a virtually insurmountable advantage. Something like a jungle primary is a better system I think.

Then "socialist" vs "democratic socialism". She said that "socialism" is more about caring for people and how governments are to be involved in that, than any specific ideology.

Words have meanings. She does not get to pretend they mean whatever she wants them to mean.
IW is a member of DSA, and DSA definitely understand socialism as public ownership of means of production.
DSA Constitution & Bylaws

Article II. Purpose
We are socialists because we reject an economic order based on private profit, alienated labor, gross inequalities of wealth and power, discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, disability status, age, religion, and national origin, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo. We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution, feminism, racial equality and non-oppressive relationships. We are socialists because we are developing a concrete strategy for achieving that vision, for building a majority movement that will make democratic socialism a reality in America. We believe that such a strategy must acknowledge the class structure of American society and that this class structure means that there is a basic conflict of interest between those sectors with enormous economic power and the vast majority of the population.

Quite different than just "caring for people", don't you think?

During the campaign, some people claimed that she was a Communist and that she wanted to seize people's private property. This included some labor leaders and pastors.

Well, that is consistent with DSA positions, and she is a member.

 

[Derec]

Despite his previous record as a sellout centrist, President Biden has turned out to be the most left-wing president since Lyndon Johnson at least (though that isn't saying much).

That is my chief complaint about Biden. He ran as a moderate, but has allowed the Squad and other leftists (like Pramila Jayapal) to push him to the left. He ran on restoring status quo ante, not on "transformative change" or adding trillions in new Squad-approved entitlements.

The Black Lives Matter movement also emerged during the Obama years, as a response to excessively brutal policing. It has had more staying power.

#BLM movement did not emerge because of "excessively brutal policing" but because activists and compliant media were pushing false narratives about police shootings. "Gentle giant". "Spreading the word of Jesus Christ". "Hands up, don't shoot". All BS.