Democrats trying to unseat each other II

[lpetrich]

Sarah Ferris on Twitter: "TX primary is tonight! ..." / Twitter

TX primary is tonight!

So I just asked Hoyer if he stands by his endorsement of Henry Cuellar (which came the *morning* of the FBI raid), and if Dems will support him going into the general if he wins tonight.

"The answer is yes, and yes."

Hoyer: "We’ll see what happens today. I certainly stand by my endorsement.
I will certainly support him, and so will the party."

And of course, here is my dispatch from Cuellar's district about how the "King of Laredo" has been standing alone since that FBI raid

2 years ago, Pelosi AND Hoyer went to Laredo to campaign with Cuellar. This year, there's been almost no DC support.

After an FBI raid, ‘King of Laredo’ runs on his laurels - POLITICO - "Jessica Cisneros is giving nine-term Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) a tougher rematch this year. Corruption cloud or no, he still has a real chance."

While Cuellar hasn’t been charged with a crime, his D.C. colleagues have largely left him to fend for himself. The business groups that once bankrolled his campaigns have stopped lining up. He hasn’t voted in person in weeks.

...
But Cuellar, in a rare interview with a national reporter following last month’s FBI raid, insists that his Lone Star State supporters have not abandoned him.

“People have not brought it up to me. They know my record. They know what I’ve done,” Cuellar said by phone. “They don’t want to have somebody from outside the district tell somebody how to vote here.”

Then Cuellar made a bold prediction: that he’d end up beating Cisneros next month in his newly redrawn district by a margin bigger than he did in 2020: “I think it’s going to be much better this election.”

Then mentioning supporters of him who agree, and an internal poll that showed him winning.

But those family ties matter, too. Voters are regularly reminded of the hundreds of millions of dollars Cuellar has steered here, first as a state representative and later as congressman. He was appointed to a role in then-GOP Gov. Rick Perry’s administration. His name is emblazoned on a local elementary school, as well as a park trailhead that he helped fund in 2010.

This year alone, Cuellar is seeking $34 million in earmarks to build local health clinics, upgrade a courthouse and restore a critical bridge to Mexico.

That old-school politicking is partly what’s made him the favorite of many local leaders, even after the FBI showed up at his home. Texas Democrats’ campaign team boasts a list of 171 Cuellar endorsements, from people like Laredo’s mayor, city council members, town constables, district attorneys, police chiefs and school board leaders.

In other words, he brought home a lot of bacon. But all bacon is pork.

Yet,

Cuellar himself is mostly keeping his head down, sticking to heavy radio and TV ads. While his team said he’s knocked doors around Laredo, he had no public schedule for the entire holiday weekend of the festival. His aides turned down an in-person interview request.

Cisneros, for her part, is rallying volunteers to knock on doors in neighborhoods in both Laredo and San Antonio every day of early voting. She’s made herself abundantly available to the press and organized rallies with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

...
“He tries to say, ‘I have deep roots in Laredo,’ but then I think people also forget that — so do I,” Cisneros said. “It might not be these people that have this very important title or whatever, but their vote counts the same.”

While Cuellar didn’t march in this year’s Washington’s Birthday parade, Cisneros and her team worked the route, flyers in hand. At several points, people in the crowd jumped up to hug her or take photos.

 

[lpetrich]

The Texas primaries are now over, and the votes are almost all counted. Let's see how well the candidates did.

In TX-35 (San Antonio), Greg Casar won a big victory. 61.2% vs. 15.6%, 15.5%, 7.7%. His campaign page: Greg Casar for Congress | TX-35 | Progressive Democrat | Texas

In TX-28 (SA, Laredo), Jessica Cisneros got into the runoffs, meaning that she will be facing off with Henry Cuellar again on May 24. The vote was HC 48.4% JC 46.9%, Tannya Benavides 4.7%. JC's campaign page: Home - Jessica Cisneros for Congress | Jessica Cisneros for Congress

Who is TB? Checking on her campaign page, she seems much like JC. So she was a spoiler for JC, and if her voters all vote for JC in the runoff, JC will win. Her campaign page: Tannya for Texas

TX-37 (Austin) was a big disappointment for me. Donna Imam lost, though she lost to long-time incumbent Lloyd Doggett. The vote: LD 79.2%, DI 17.8%, others 2.0%, 1.1%. Her campaign page: Donna Imam For Congress - "Engineer for US Congress"

TX-30 (Dallas) was a bit of a disappointment. Jessica Mason, supported by Brand New Congress and some others, lost to Jasmine Crockett, supported by Elizabeth Warren and some others. The vote: JC 48.5%, Jane Hamilton 17.0%, others 7.9%, 7.7%, 5.0%, 5.0%, 3.4%, Jessica Mason 3.4%, others 1.2%. JC and JH will go into a runoff. Campaign pages: Jessica Mason For U.S Congress | This is the New Deal - Home – Jasmine For US - Jane Hope Hamilton

JM had the strongest progressive platform, JC progressive-looking but rather vague, and JH was actually close to JM.

In TX-33 (DFW), Carlos Quintanilla was defeated by incumbent Mark Veasey. His campaign page: QuintanillaforCongress - Home - a bit vague, like saying "Medicare for all (who want it)" and not championing renewable energy.

In TX-15 (S Texas E of TX-28), Michelle Vallejo went into a runoff with Ruben Ramirez: RR 28.3%, MV 20.1%, others 19.2%, 16.5%, 10.6%, 5.2%. Campaign pages: For our pueblo! - Michelle Vallejo for Congress - Ruben Ramirez for Congress | TX-15 | Texas

MV seems like a good progressive, like endorsing M4A and renewable energy, RR much more vague about healthcare and not endorsing renewable energy, but endorsing student loan forgiveness. MV goes further than him, endorsing not only SLF but also tuition-free public colleges and trade schools.

Of the incumbents who won, Veronica Escobar in TX-16 has ideology score 0.24, Mark Veasey TX-33 0.34, Lloyd Doggett TX-37 0.29. All middle-of-the-road by Democrat standards.

538's partisanship scores: TX-15: 0 -- TX-28: 7 -- TX-16: 33 -- TX-35: 38 -- TX-33, TX-37: 44 -- TX-30: 51

That should wrap it up until May 24, the day of the runoff elections.

 

[lpetrich]

Marie Newman hasn't stopped.

Marie Newman on Twitter: "#IL06 needs real climate action, not just platitudes. (pic link)" / Twitter

MARIE NEWMAN

Marie is working with her colleagues to address the climate crisis head-on with real solutions, not just platitudes.

• Introduced America's Clean Future Fund Act to create new investments in clean energy and to help us reach the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
• Signed the No Fossil Fuel Pledge and rejects all fossil fuel, oil and gas, and corporate PAC money
• Passed a law to study and expand high speed rail right here in Chicagoland
• Worked with the rail industry and local officials to cut train delays and blockages by up to 100%
• Fighting for legislation to get us to net-zero emissions ASAP while creating good-paying American jobs

SEAN CASTEN

Sean talks the talk on the environment, but his record says something else.

• Accepted thousands of dollars from the fossil fuel industry, including Chevron, BP, and Exelon
• Called supporters of the Green New Deal "naive" and legislation meant to create jobs and achieve 100% renewable energy "pie-in- the-sky"
• Owns massive stake in a company that was cited for violating the Clean Water Act
• Lobbied Congress as CEO of a fossil fuel company

(OCRed picture)

I checked on their govtrack.us report-card ideology scores, and for 2020, SC had 0.26. It doesn't have numbers for 2021.

The latest on the scandal where MN allegedly paid someone not to run against her: Statement of the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics Regarding Representative Marie Newman | House Committee on Ethics

But if Henry Cuellar's career can survive a FBI raid associated with his long history of being on the take, then her career may be able to survive this one.

 

[lpetrich]

Brand New Congress on Twitter: "THANK YOU @JessicaMasonTX. Your campaign has been an inspiration to us all. You left a mark on the movement and we know it is only the beginning. @BrandNew535 was proud to stand behind you in the race to represent #TX30 and can’t wait to see what you do next. (pic link)" / Twitter
"You built an unstopable movement. Together, we will continue fighting to build a future where all of us can thrive."

Jessica Mason for Congress on Twitter: "Our fight isn't over; it's just beginning. I want to thank all of my supporters and allies for helping me in this good fight.

Dallas will always be my home, and I will never stop fighting for the community I grew up in and the people I love. (pic link)" / Twitter

She conceded that it was an uphill battle for her, not to have a lot of corporate money supporting her. But she nevertheless got the most individual small-dollar donations.

She seems like she will continue to be an activist in favor of causes like universal healthcare and a Green New Deal.


So far in this primary season, 1 win (Greg Casar JD), 1 loss (Jessica Mason BNC), 1 runoff advancement (Jessica Cisneros both).

So far, Brand New Congress is endorsing 25 candidates, 21 new and 4 incumbents, and Justice Democrats 17 candidates, 7 new and 10 incumbents.

Back in 2020, BNC did 46: 44, 2 and BNC did 30. Also back in 2020, JD did 16: 9, 7, and in 2018, 73: 70, 3.

So BNC is scaling back by a factor of 2, while JD is about the same.

 

[lpetrich]

More on Shukri Abdirahman, a Republican who is running against Ilhan Omar for MN-05.

Muslim Army veteran running to unseat Ilhan Omar: 'I was proud to put my life on the line for America' | Fox News

SA's biography parallels IO's even more: both women spent some time in Kenyan refugee camps in their teens. Both of them are Muslim women whose families fled civil war in their homeland, Somalia.

 

[Harry Bosch]

More on Shukri Abdirahman, a Republican who is running against Ilhan Omar for MN-05.

Muslim Army veteran running to unseat Ilhan Omar: 'I was proud to put my life on the line for America' | Fox News

SA's biography parallels IO's even more: both women spent some time in Kenyan refugee camps in their teens. Both of them are Muslim women whose families fled civil war in their homeland, Somalia.

I wonder if Shurki would support aid for Ukraine?

 

[lpetrich]

I wonder if Shurki would support aid for Ukraine?

No idea. One can research what she's said and written, like in her Twitter feed.

Federal judge, among others, says she never signed petition for 12th District House candidate Steve Irwin | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal judge is among the more than 1,000 people whose names and signatures appear on a petition in support of 12th Congressional District candidate Steve Irwin.

But this judge, and a number of other people whose names appear on the petition, say they did not sign Mr. Irwin’s petitions — potentially calling Mr. Irwin’s candidacy into question.

Federal Western District judge Cathy Bissoon and at least five other people who live on the street that the judge lives on. One of them is not registered to vote and another said that her husband's name is misspelled on it.

"These alleged forgeries could call Mr. Irwin’s candidacy into question, with at least one other Democratic candidate considering waging a challenge to his petitions."

Running against him is Summer Lee, a PA state legislator and activist who is supported by the Justice Democrats, among others.

 

[lpetrich]

Salem Snow (@Salem4Congress) / Twitter
Socialist in Philly running for congress in PA’s poorest district (PA02). Proud Roma. Will be PA’s first congressperson! (He/him) BLM

Salem Snow on Twitter: " I am officially withdrawing my candidacy for PA’s 2nd congressional district.

We needed to collect 1000 valid signatures to get on the ballot and the PA Supreme Court shortened our window to collect signatures by almost a week. We came up 103 valid signatures short." / Twitter
Then describing how his candidacy is a grassroots one, and one without the resources of establishment candidates. Nevertheless, he says, his candidacy was targeted by party leaders and dark-money PAC's.

 

[lpetrich]

Assault Allegations Vanished From Potential Cori Bush Challenger’s Wikipedia Page

SOMEWHERE IN THE Missouri Office of Administration building, someone has been scrubbing a state senator’s Wikipedia page. Democrat Steven Roberts, who represents Missouri’s 5th Senate District, is a member of the Missouri Air National Guard, a commissioned U.S. Air Force officer, and the youngest Black state senator in state history. He has also been accused by at least two women of sexual assault. But if you looked at his Wikipedia page during February, you might not know that. An unidentified editor, logging on from an IP address located in the Office of Administration building, repeatedly stripped the allegations from Roberts’s page.

Roberts — who has reportedly been mulling a primary challenge against Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. — was first elected to the state House of Representatives in November 2016.

Then the details.

But on February 7, someone deleted all mention of those alleged incidents from SR's page. That was done in four deletions from a user only known from an IP address at the Office of Administration building across the street from the Senate building at the Missouri Capitol complex.

Then on February 28, a user called MOFacts with a hidden IP address repeated those deletions after their content had been restored. “Sources behind paywall and unable to be verified. Please use public sources for verification.”

Another user claimed that MOFacts added “a bunch of favorable information” on February 14 and later deleted “information on the Wiki page for Steve Roberts that was not favorable (multiple sexual assault allegations).”

A Wikipedia edit war, one of many that that site has had over its existence.

Asked about whether Roberts plans to primary Bush, Hawkins said the state senator was focused on the current legislative session, “his leadership duties as the Democratic Whip and commitment to serving in the US armed forces during this time of crisis.

...
When Bush beat the two-decade incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay in 2020, her election added a leader from 2014 protests in Ferguson to the House’s growing progressive Squad. Now she is facing at least two challengers in her first primary as an incumbent, and if Roberts files, she’ll face a third.

Roberts would be the highest-profile candidate yet to challenge Bush.

 

[Derec]

Nevertheless, he says, his candidacy was targeted by party leaders and dark-money PAC's.

Sure, it's always some shadowy cabal's fault.
Btw, his campaign website is still up, but his about page does not give much detail about his educational or professional background. But at least we know he has a hairless cat named Chicken. Important things.

 

[lpetrich]

Corporate PACs Save Face by Claiming Worker Power

CORPORATE PACS ARE having a public relations crisis.

Four years ago, a quickly successful effort led by the liberal advocacy group End Citizens United sparked a national conversation about the corrupting influence of money. More than 200 Democratic congressional candidates in the 2018 cycle — including big names like Beto O’Rourke and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — swore off contributions from corporate political action committees, which represent big businesses from chain retailers to defense contractors. Even though corporate PAC dollars make up only a tiny fraction of the donations sloshing around American politics, advocates maintained that the gesture signaled a clear commitment to campaign finance reform — and the pressure seemed to work. By the start of 2021, one-fifth of Democratic lawmakers were refusing corporate PAC money.

It would be interesting to find out how many Republicans are now also doing that. Democrats have been using a site called actblue to collect donations, and Republicans have created an imitation, winred.

So they are now trying to present themselves as the voice of their paymasters' underlings.

“Candidates can run the kind of campaign they want, but what happens when they reject contributions from employee-funded #PACs?” asked the group, called the National Association of Business Political Action Committees, in a 2020 tweet. “It sends the message to American workers that their voices aren’t valid simply b/c of the way they choose to give.” In another blast, the NABPAC said pledges against corporate PACs deny “millions of #AmericanWorkers their voice.”

However,

“This is all branding; there have been no regulatory changes,” said Sarah Bryner, research director for the Center for Responsive Politics. “The vast majority of donations come from executives, lobbyists, shareholders, high-ranking people, and their family members.”

Indeed, corporate political activity is often at odds with the interests of workers, like when a PAC representing restaurant chains donated tens of thousands of dollars to fight efforts to raise the minimum wage, or when Apple fought legislation to stop forced labor in China, or when Murray Energy lobbied the Trump administration to roll back mine safety regulations. In the 2020 election cycle, half of Facebook’s PAC spending went to Republicans, while 98 percent of Facebook employee contributions went to Democrats.

All of this is happening in the backdrop of rising political coercion in the workplace. Political scientist Alexander Hertel-Fernandez has been tracking the ways that companies, post-Citizens United, can compel their workers to participate in politics as a condition of employment and fire them for refusing. One survey he led in 2015 found that up to 25 percent of employees — or 29 to 39 million Americans — had received some political contact at work, and 46 percent of managers reported that they had mobilized workers into politics during that period.

This "employee PAC" scam has allowed some Democrats to start taking corporate PAC money again, like Cindy Axne IA 0.51 and Elaine Luria VA 0.44. I've included their govtrack.us 2020 ideology scores to show where they are at (liberal = 0, conservative = 1).

 

[lpetrich]

Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader Is Campaigning Against Himself

WITH LOCAL OREGON DEMOCRATS ENDORSING HIS CHALLENGER, REP. KURT SCHRADER STARTS CAMPAIGNING AGAINST HIMSELF

Schrader’s new ads claim that he’s a champion of Democratic priorities. Local county parties went out of their way to endorse his challenger.

Endorsement Position Paper from Special Committee - DocumentCloud
Listing a lot of votes against Democratic Party priorities in a variety of things, like the minimum wage, a pro-union bill, COVID-19 relief like the American Rescue Plan, renewable-energy development, and the like. Also noting his acceptance of big-business PAC money.

He also was found guilty of violating a conflict-of=interest law on stock transactions, he called the second impeachment of Donald Trump a "lynching", and not only does he not live anywhere near his district, preferring DC, NY, and MD, he seldom visits it.

His govtrack.us ideology score is 0.45. Not surprising.

In the words of the Clackamas County Democrats, Schrader’s record reflects a representative who serves “the rich and powerful,” not one who works “to protect the disenfranchised, the environment, or our democracy.” With recent internal polling first reported by Politico showing Schrader and McLeod-Skinner in a dead heat, Schrader’s ad blitz indicates that he is hoping to spin his record to address the growing discontent of his constituents.

“I’ve spent my time in Congress fighting for the people of Oregon — from passing critical bills that support families, schools and small businesses through the COVID-19 crisis, to championing legislation that lowers the cost of prescription drugs, fights against dark money in politics, and cleans up corruption in Washington,” Schrader wrote in a statement provided to The Intercept. “These are the issues Oregonians tell me they need addressed, and I have delivered real results.”

Is he trying to get AOC's endorsement?

"ONE OF SCHRADER’S highest-profile conflicts with the party came in September, when Schrader was one of three House Democrats who voted to block a measure allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices in favor of a much narrower reform that would allow Medicare to negotiate only a few drugs and therefore result in only a fraction of the cost savings."

"Schrader — who used a family fortune largely composed of pharmaceutical profits to fund his first congressional race — was heavily criticized following the vote, which he explained by pointing to dissent in the Senate."

He's one of the top takers of pharm money in Congress, and he takes a lot of big-business money. Will he use the Francis Bacon defense? "Sure I took those bribes, but I didn't let them influence me."

 

[lpetrich]

AOC backed pol had affair with her high school teacher

Immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros, 28, apparently began sleeping with former teacher John Balli in 2011, when she was an 18-year-old college student and he was 40.

“Happy 3! <3,” Cisneros emailed Balli in September 2014. “9.10.11-9.10.14 ”

The next year, about 11 months after Balli married another woman, Cisneros sent him a lengthy, emotional email in which she bemoaned their breakup, which apparently came at his insistence.

“You’ve been such a big part of my life for the past 7 years, John,” she wrote.

“I’ll miss you making love to me. I’ll miss your kisses, cuddles, and snores…You were my first and my one and only, John. I’ll miss thinking I’m your one and only too.”

Nevertheless, JB got JC started in politics by recommending her to the Justice Democrats. JD, like BNC, works on a nomination system, where someone has to recommend you for running for office. This is a way of screening out anyone too egotistical.

When Cisneros first ran against her old boss in 2019, she said that Balli — who now works as a lawyer — had been her mentor at Early College High School in Laredo, Texas.

Cisneros also credited Balli for nominating her to run with the backing of the ultra-liberal “Justice Democrats,” whose ranks include Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow “Squad” members.

“He’s believed in me so much, and even through college, through law school, he’s just been there and has such a big impact on me, like so many educators here,” she told the Laredo Morning Times back then.

Meet Jessica Cisneros, the 26-year-old Laredo attorney running against Cuellar in Congress - June 14, 2019
That was for her first run.

What a scandal.

 

[Derec]

Reminds me of Kamala Harris sleeping with Willie Brown for career advancement. Except she was quite a bit older when she did it than JC.

 

[lpetrich]

This Texas City’s Water Crisis Is Shaping A Democratic Congressional Primary | HuffPost Latest News - "Jessica Cisneros, a progressive challenging Rep. Henry Cuellar (D), argues that Laredo’s water infrastructure should have improved more during Cuellar’s tenure."

That's an argument that AOC had made when she was running for office the first time. Joe Crowley was a big moneybags in the Democratic Party, and he got nicknamed "King of Queens".

Days before Texas’ Democratic primary elections on March 1, congressional candidate Jessica Cisneros was shuttling back and forth to a friend’s house to shower and draw water for cooking.

An estimated 125,000 Laredo residents had to boil their tap water for 13 days after the city’s main water line ruptured in late February. Cisneros and her family were part of a smaller subset of residents whose water was shut off completely for five days.

Laredo has issued a water boil notice six times since September 2019 for some or all residents because the local government was unable to guarantee the water’s safety.

Not surprisingly, JC has made a big issue out of these water-supply failures.

“He’s had 17, 18 years to show the improvements in the community that he’s been able to accomplish in his tenure,” Cisneros told HuffPost. “But we don’t even have water here.”

...
Although the federal government is obviously not responsible for Laredo’s water infrastructure, a core component of Cuellar’s pitch to voters is that his seat on the House Appropriations Committee has brought the struggling district a steady flow of much-needed federal dollars, she noted.

“Where’s that money going to?” Cisneros asked. “Because half of the city of Laredo didn’t have running water” as voters were casting ballots in Cuellar’s reelection race.

In response,

“Congressman Cuellar not only has secured hundreds of millions of dollars to address the Laredo water issue, but has worked with the City directly to apply for eligible funding,” Cuellar said in a statement. “Congressman Cuellar will continue to be in constant contact with the Mayor and the City to work hand in hand to solve this local issue.”

Cisneros has also sought to connect Laredo’s water struggles to Cuellar’s record of siding with the fossil-fuel industry against clean water regulation. ...

Asked why Cuellar’s support for a bill that only affected coal-mining regions was relevant to his record in Texas’ 28th, Cisneros told HuffPost it spoke to his callous approach to clean drinking water overall.

“If he’s willing to sell out the basic needs of those communities — drinkable, safe water — what would he do for this area as well?” she said.

Just like Joe Crowley, "King of Queens":

Not just an ordinary federal lawmaker, Cuellar’s roots in Laredo run so deep that he is sometimes called the “King of Laredo.” His brother Martin is the longtime sheriff of Webb County, where Laredo is located, and his sister Rosie served as county tax assessor.

 

[lpetrich]

More on Jason Mariner, who ran as a Republican against Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in FL-20

Exclusive: Ex-felon who won Republican CD20 Primary never applied for right to hold political office

'I guess I trusted the system a little too much.'

The winning Republican in this week’s congressional Primary in South Florida is a former felon who did not go through the state’s process to restore his civil rights after imprisonment, interviews and records show.

That step is required under Florida law for a candidate to hold political office.

He is a selt-described "America First" conservative.

Mariner had served roughly two years total in the Palm Beach County Jail over 2007 and 2012 on charges that included felony theft, burglary, cocaine possession, obstruction and violently resisting arrest, records show. He was open during his campaign about his criminal background, telling voters, “Before running for Congress, I ran from the law.” He also promised he will be tough on crime.

...
Mariner confirmed Thursday in an interview he did not go through the process to restore his right to hold office. “No, nothing,” he said. He said later he was confident he was a lawful candidate. “No, it’s not going to be an issue,” he said.

...
“As I am not an attorney or official in state government, it is not really my place to answer your legal or procedural questions about Florida law, applicable scenarios, etc., or advise you legally,” he said in an email.

Jason Mariner's criminal record at an official site: Inmate Release Information Detail

 

[lpetrich]

Primary election dates for which states, with maximum number of endorsements from the PAC's that I am tracking. A - means no candidates, and a -R means a runoff election.

Date	States w/ Max Endorse
Mar 1	TX 15
May 3	IN 1, OH 9
May 10	NE 2, WV -
May 17	ID -, KY 4, NC 11, OR 7, PA 7
May 24	AL 1, AR 0, GA 2, TX-R 15
Jun 7	CA 5, IA -, MS -, MT 2, NJ 3, nM 1, SD -
Jun 14	ME -, NV 2, ND -, SC -
Jun 21	DC 1, VA 3, AL-R 1, AR-R 0, GA-R 2
Jun 28	CO 4, IL 6, NY 9, OK 0, UT 0, MS-R -, SC-R -
Jul 19	MD 3
Jul 26	NC-R 11
Aug 2	AZ 2, KS -, MI 7, MO 7, WA 5
Aug 4	TN 6
Aug 9	CT 1, MN 6, VT 1, WI 8
Aug 13	HI 2
Aug 16	AK -, WY -
Aug 23	FL 4, OK-R 0
Sep 6	MA 4
Sep 13	DE -, NH -, RI 1
Nov 8	LA -

 

[lpetrich]

Nina Turner is trying again, and she thinks that redistricting has given her more of a chance of success. Her opponent, now incumbent, Shontel Brown, is again in the pay of big-money donors and PAC's.

An Oil Billionaire Is Trying to Crush Nina Turner in Ohio
also
Oil Mogul Bankrolls Attempt To Buy Democratic Primary

One month after Samson Energy mogul Stacy Schusterman poured $2 million into Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) PAC, the group purchased TV ads starting Monday to boost Representative Shontel Brown (D-OH) in her primary campaign rematch against former Ohio state senator Nina Turner in a newly redrawn Cleveland congressional district. The primary election date is May 3.

Last year, DMFI PAC spent $1.9 million attacking Turner and promoting Brown, helping the latter win the seat in a special election. The group also spent $1.4 million attacking Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during his 2020 presidential campaign.

Turner, who cochaired Senator Sanders’s 2020 campaign, has been campaigning for a Green New Deal and pressing the Biden administration to ban fracking. Brown has declined to cosponsor some of House Democrats’ most high-profile climate legislation, including the Climate Emergency Act — even after United Nations scientists’ recent dire warning about the crisis.

While Brown’s campaign website says she supports “the principles laid out in the Green New Deal,” she has not cosponsored the measure in Congress.

...
The race has also drawn pro-Brown spending from a billionaire whose fortune came from the cryptocurrency industry, which has become a significant driver of carbon emissions.

 

[lpetrich]

So This Is Pramila Jayapal’s Strategy - "The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ refusal to back Nina Turner may be in line with the rest of Jayapal’s strategy."

The campaign apparatus representing Washington, D.C.’s most prominent progressive lawmakers on Wednesday spurned Nina Turner, one of the highest-profile progressive candidates in the country.

The group, the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, has painted the decision as a pro forma one. But progressive lawmakers are now intervening in a hotly contested House race to back a corporate-aligned Democrat over a progressive candidate who co-chaired Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and who the party’s conservative wing set out to destroy last year.

Pro forma or not, the refusal to endorse Turner may be the logical endpoint of where progressive leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has led her caucus over the past year — prioritizing inside-game strategies and fealty to Democratic Party norms, even when such tactics conflict with progressive goals.

...
Brown joined the CPC when she took office in January, after defeating Turner in a primary battle in which Brown racked up support from the fossil fuel-funded, pro-Israel DMFI PAC (support she requested), Ohio Republicans, and a contractor that she had awarded $17 million to as a city councilor, a potential tit-for-tat that resulted in an ethics probe.

After Turner aired an advertisement touting her support for Medicare for All, corporate lobbyists — including those representing Big Pharma — held a fundraiser for Brown, and the anti-Medicare for All lawmaker Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) intervened to support her campaign.

DMFI PAC and the corporatist dark money group Third Way spent $2.4 million promoting Brown and opposing Turner.

I checked on how much overlap the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition have. Caucus Members | Congressional Progressive Caucus and Members | New Democrat Coalition

I count 98 members of both caucuses and 18 who are members of both: Adam Smith WA-09 0.18, André Carson IN-07 0.12, Brenda Lawrence MI-14 0.19, Brendan Boyle PA-02 0.30, Darren Soto FL-09 0.28, Don Beyer VA-08 0.25, Donald Norcross NJ-01 0.35, Jimmy Panetta CA-20 0.33, Joe Morelle NY-25 0.28, Juan Vargas CA-51 0.24, Lisa Blunt Rochester DE-01 0.30, Lori Trahan MA-03 0.26, Madeleine Dean PA-04 0.26, Nikema Williams GA-05 -, Sara Jacobs CA-53 -, Shontel Brown OH-11 -, Steven Horsford NV-04 0.25, Veronica Escobar TX-16 0.24

I've added the govtrack.us ideology scores for 2019-20 -- I've thought of collecting the ideology scores for every member of these two caucuses.

 

[lpetrich]

Crypto PACs Create New Obstacle for Progressive Candidates - "Progressives are confronting a new obstacle as big spending from the crypto industry reshapes the electoral calculus."

Like in OH-11, supporting Shontel Brown over Nina Turner

A super PAC bankrolled by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, Protect Our Future, has already spent more than $1 million backing Brown, according to Federal Election Commission reports. And this week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC endorsed Brown after having backed Turner last year.

In Oregon’s newly drawn 6th District, a handful of local candidates were vying for the nomination before Carrick Flynn barreled into the race with an ungodly amount of support from Bankman-Fried’s super PAC.

So far, the super PAC backing Flynn has dropped some $6 million on the sleepy race, followed by a startling $1 million cash infusion on the part of House Majority PAC, the super PAC linked to House Democrats themselves. In the process, they have undercut multiple progressive candidates — three of them women of color — with deep roots in the area and political bases of support that would make them formidable general election opponents. (House Majority PAC did not respond to a request for comment.)

Andrea Salinas on Twitter: "I have put out the following statement along with five other Democratic candidates in the OR-06 race in response to House Majority PAC’s nearly $1 million ad buy. We are united in our condemnation of this unprecedented and inappropriate attempt to influence Oregon voters. #OR06 (pic link)" / Twitter
OR-06 Dem candidates Andrea Salinas, Kathleen Harder, Teresa Alonso Leon, Loretta Smith, Cody Reynolds, and Matt West:

We strongly condemn House Majority PAC's unprecedented and inappropriate decision to spend nearly a million dollars in this Democratic primary. House Majority PAC - House Democratic leadership's Super PAC, allegedly tasked with holding Republicans accountable and electing Democrats to Congress should not be spending resources to divide Democrats.

This is a highly competitive Democratic primary with many strong candidates. The field includes four women - three of which are women of color d two men who all have substantive experience working in the legislature, local office, science, the military, and healthcare. This effort by the political arm of the Democratic establishment to buy this race for one candidate is a slap in the face to every Democratic voter and volunteer in Oregon - and is especially concerning in a year when all resources must go to protecting the Democratic majority.

Carrick Flynn, the candidate receiving this financial support, has already benefited from nearly $5 million in support from cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, at a time when the cryptocurrency industry seeks to increase its influence in Washington. House Majority PAC's troubling decision to meddle in a Democratic primary in support of this candidate begs the question: With so much needed to defend the House, how can they afford involvement in a primary? Why is this happening? Where is this money coming from? And what does its source want in exchange?