Democrats trying to unseat each other III

[lpetrich]

But government spending is bad, right?

No. Some government spending is essential.

The market will provide, right?

Usually, but not always.

Cutting it drastically will produce such an explosion of economic activity that it will become much easier to bring it back up, right?

Is it a lot of fun to knock down all these strawmen?

That's how Republicans have been selling their tax cuts for the last 40+ years. But it's never worked, and Republicans are, if anything, worse deficit spenders than Democrats over this time.

Being against massive expansion of spending like the 3.5 terabuck Spendapalooza does not mean one is also in favor of drastic spending cuts or that one opposes government spending in general.

I was taking swipes at your warmed-over Reaganism. As to $3.5T of spending, divide it up by years, and it becomes much more manageable. Just like Derec's favorite bits of government spending.

(lots of Israel/Palestine stuff snipped)

 

[lpetrich]

Both-sides-ism. As if AOC is as horrible as MTG.

I did not compare MTG with AOC. I was just saying that both Dems and GOP are responsible for polarization that is harming the country.

But it's Republicans who are the nastier of the two, while the Democratic leadership often seems like a bunch of whimpering cowards.

MTG is very fringe even for GOP. She was kicked out of the Freedom Caucus. On the other hand, AOC is the "sergeant" of the far-left "Squad" in the House that keeps growing.

I've seen a lot of speculation about why she was kicked out, and the theory I like the best is that she is too cozy with House leadership - she voted for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker unlike some other Freedom Caucus members. She also doesn't get along very well with Lauren Boebert, who is a more orthodox FC member.

If I would compare her with anybody it would be with Cynthia McKinney, my former congresswoman. But she hasn't been in Congress for a long time.

MTG's coziness with leadership has gotten her some nice committees, at least for her: the Oversight Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.

BTW, I checked on which committees the Progressive Squad members and like-minded ones tend to be in, and the biggest one is the Oversight Committee, well above the next ones.

 

[lpetrich]

I then tried to research which are the most and least desirable Congressional committees.

The Most (And Least) Lucrative Committees In Congress : Planet Money : NPR
Ways & Means / Financial Services / Energy & Commerce /// Natural Resources / House Administration / Judiciary

U.S. Congress: What is the hierarchy of Congressional and Senatorial committees? - Quora

Appropriations, Ways & Means, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, (for Midwesterners) Agriculture, Energy & Commerce, Judiciary

.just to add why it's committee hierarchy matters, a politician's ability to rake in the cash is closely tied with the committee they are on. If you're on Ways and Means, basically every corporation wants to be on your good side. Energy? Then the oil lobby will be packing your purse. Etc etc.

What are the least desirable Congressional committees? - Quora

"There are two: House Administration (basically office space and staff expenses) and House Ethics."

Michael Lee:

Lots of backwater Committees have their particular downsides, but there’s one in each chamber that stands above (below?) the rest: Ethics.

While it’s in some senses an honor to serve on the Ethics Committee, it also makes a Member a bit of a social pariah!

My understanding is that Members frequently have to be convinced to serve on their chambers’ respective Ethics Committees, and often rotate off as soon as practical.

So the Oversight Committee is an in-between sort of committee.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Meanwhile, out in California...

.....
Rep. Katie Porter narrowly leads the wide open race for California’s Senate seat, a new poll reported Friday. Porter, D-Calif., was the choice of 19% of likely voters, just ahead of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,, at 16% and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., at 13%, a June survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found. The other voter preferences were scattered among several candidates, topped by Republican Eric Early at 7%. Six percent were undecided.
.....

Katie Porter has slight lead over Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee in race to replace Dianne Feinstein

Rep. Katie Porter narrowly leads the wide open race for California’s Senate seat, a new poll reported Friday. Porter, D-Calif., was the choice of 19% of likely voters, just ahead of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,, at 16% and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., at 13%, a June survey by the Public Policy...

www.rawstory.com

 

[lpetrich]

First Brand New Congress goes kaput, and now Justice Democrats?

Playbook: The new fissure dividing the GOP - POLITICO

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: MAJOR LAYOFFS AT JUSTICE DEMS — Justice Democrats, the progressive PAC that made waves in recent years by helping new-generation lefty candidates run against more establishment Dems, laid off nine of its 20 employees this week as the organization faces a major financial crunch, Daniel Lippman reports.

“It’s no secret that Democratic and progressive organizations like us are in a difficult fundraising environment right now,” Justice Dems executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement to Playbook. “We had to make tough decisions to remain one of the most impactful progressive organizations in the country for years to come.”

The group also separately lost its top spokesperson, Waleed Shahid, who left after six years and said in a tweet that he was proud to have played a role in building “one of the most impactful Democratic and progressive organizations from scratch.” Shahid is joining the board of the organization as he figures out his next steps.

 

[lpetrich]

But some of the departing ones seem rather happy about their JD years.

Becca Rose on Twitter: "Today is my last day at @justicedems. ..." / Twitter

Today is my last day at @justicedems.

3.5 years has left too much to reminisce about on Twitter… There’s a lot I’ll miss about this work, but I’m excited to see what’s next!
Spent my last days churning out TikToks ~ plz go follow and listen to Bloc Party if you haven’t yet

3.5 years has left too much to reminisce about on Twitter… There’s a lot I’ll miss about this work, but I’m excited to see what’s next!

Spent my last days churning out TikToks ~ plz go follow and listen to Bloc Party if you haven’t yet

And if you know anyone looking for a comms/media relations or public policy strategist, let a girl know!

I especially love reproductive healthcare, environmental justice, and workers’ rights… If ur fighting for these things, I would love to work with u

Waleed Shahid on Twitter: "After six years, ...." / Twitter

After six years, I’m sad to announce that I’m transitioning out of my position at @JusticeDems.

I’m leaving feeling incredibly proud of how @alexandrasiera and so many others built one of the most impactful Democratic and progressive organizations from scratch.

From helping elect The Squad to launching the Green New Deal, I’m grateful to have worked with some of the most courageous leaders in America: @AOC, @JamaalBowmanNY, @AyannaPressley, @SummerForPA, @CoriBush, @JCisnerosTX, @sunrisemvmt, @IlhanMN, @RashidaTlaib, @GregCasar, & more.

I’m excited to announce that @usamahandrabi will be taking at @JusticeDems as communications director. I can’t think of anyone else better suited for the role. After helping spearhead Summer Lee’s historic victory in Pittsburgh, I’m proud to see him step into a new role.

I've learned so much and not sure what I’ll do next! But I’ll be taking some time to reflect and will also be joining the @JusticeDems board.

If you hear of any interesting job opportunities (comms, writing, teaching, Thaddeus Stevens, medieval paintings, etc), let me know.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right.

usamah andrabi on Twitter: "I cannot begin to describe the impact @_waleedshahid has had on @justicedems, the progressive movement, and me personally, but he leaves massive shoes that I will try my best to fill. ..." / Twitter

Amira Hassan on Twitter: "Personal news ..." / Twitter

Personal newsI am transitioning out of my role as political director at @justicedems. I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible work I was able to be a part of and express my deepest gratitude to all the brilliant individuals I got to work with over the years.

This work really requires an incredible amount of teamwork and I’m thankful all the kind and low-ego folks I worked with over the years who made victories like @SummerForPA @JamaalBowmanNY @CoriBush possible. Thank you @alexandrasiera for your bold and fearless leadership.

Beyond the groundbreaking primary challenges, I'm proud of our many successful policy campaigns, from working with partners to protect social security to passing the American Rescue Plan and fighting for the many iterations of the Build Back Better agenda.

There's so much more to say but I will leave that for LinkedIn (which I just joined). I'm not sure what's next but I'm excited to rest and recalibrate before figuring it out!

 

[lpetrich]

July 12, 2019:
Brooke Singman on Twitter: "NEW: on @justicedems plans to primary members, a senior Democratic source said: "
“No one is afraid of those nerds. They don't have the ability to primary anyone.”" / Twitter

But in 2021 and 2022, AIPAC and some oligarchs were scared enough to spend millions of dollars on their opponents.

As a JD supporter put it,
Max Berger on Twitter: "Let’s be perfectly clear what happened with @justicedems: a group of millennials elected a bartender, a nurse and a principal to Congress.
Then, AIPAC, Trump billionaires and Reid Hoffman spent $80 million to crush them with Dem leadership approval. Lib donors just stood by. (pic link)" / Twitter

Max Berger on Twitter: "If AIPAC and pro-Trump billionaires can just drop $10,000,000s of dollars to crush working class progressives from winning Dem primaries, we don’t live in a democracy.
How are young people and the left believe to believe “our democracy” is worth saving?" / Twitter

Visiting the Justice Democrats site, the latest news is from May 19, 2022, over a year ago, about Summer Lee's primary victory:

Alexandra Rojas: Outside spending groups would rather “light money on fire than invest in candidates that look like the base of the party” Press May 19th, 2022 MSNBC

Justice Democrats on Twitter: "Our Executive Director @alexandrasiera discusses @SummerForPA’s election in #PA12, AIPAC, and the Squad’s strategy moving forward at Justice Dems with @mehdirhasan. (vid link)" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

County Executive Latimer confirms he was approached to run in 16th Congressional District

Westchester County Executive George Latimer has confirmed to News 12's Tara Rosenblum that he has been approached by politically connected individuals to run in a primary against Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

"I am thinking about the advice I have been given and will have more to come," he told Rosenblum.

Tara Rosenblum on Twitter: "BREAKING VOTE 2024 Westchester Co. Executive George Latimer just confirmed to me he has been approached by politically-connected individuals to run in a primary vs. Rep. Jamaal Bowman. He told me - ‘I am thinking about the advice I have been given and will have more to come’ (link)" / Twitter

Jamaal Bowman’s anti-Israel posture fuels primary opposition back home - "Westchester County executive George Latimer has been courted by Israel supporters to challenge the second-term congressman"

AIPAC has met with Latimer in an effort to convince him to run, according to a source familiar with the outreach who was granted anonymity to discuss a confidential matter. (A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to comment.)

...
Last cycle, AIPAC’s PAC decided to stay on the sidelines as Bowman handily defeated two moderate Democratic challengers who had drawn support from local Jewish activists. The pro-Israel lobbying group had conducted polling in the district and correctly concluded that Bowman would win the nomination unless one of his opponents dropped out of the race. Neither was willing to do that.

In the next primary, local activists who are currently involved in recruitment efforts are eager to avoid another split field that some believe stymied their chances of defeating Bowman. Bowman won the 2022 primary with 54% of the vote, hardly a commanding total for an incumbent lawmaker.

Jamaal Bowman - Ballotpedia - in the 2022 primary, he got 54.4%, and the others 25.1%, 18.9%, and 1.5%. None of those others are running this time: Vedat Gashi, Catherine Parker, and Mark Jaffe.

 

[lpetrich]

Exclusive: MaryAnn Carr announces candidacy for 17th Congressional District

I'm excited to be in this race. I think I bring a lot to the table," she says. "This my official first time announcing it."

Tara Rosenblum on Twitter: " More Vote 2024 News MaryAnn Carr officially announces her candidacy for 17th Congressional District in an interview in our studio - joining primary that already includes ⁦@MondaireJones⁩ ⁦@LizforNY⁩ ⁦@News12hv ⁦@News12WC⁩ #ny17 (link)" / Twitter
Against Mondaire Jones and Liz Whitmer Gereghty

 

[lpetrich]

Unlike Other Democrats, Pervez Agwan Says He’s Unafraid of AIPAC - "Pervez Agwan is challenging AIPAC-endorsed Rep. Lizzie Fletcher in a recently redrawn Texas district."

But contra the chilling effect AIPAC may be having nationwide, one challenger to an incumbent Democrat in Houston is taking the polar opposite approach. Pervez Agwan is running against the AIPAC-endorsed Rep. Lizzie Fletcher as an “unapologetically progressive Dem” and criticizing Fletcher for taking money from AIPAC, hoping to turn any impending spending against him into a weakness for Fletcher.

“To take money from a lobbying group that dictates your foreign policy, I think it’s completely unacceptable,” Agwan told The Intercept in an interview. “I do not think it’s OK to take money from a group that openly keeps an apartheid system and an open-air prison where people’s rights are violated.”

Agwan saw the influence of AIPAC in the response to Jayapal’s remarks. “Representative Jayapal’s remarks are clearly being taken out of context by Democrats and Republicans alike who refuse to allow criticism of Israel and its actions because of their ties with groups like AIPAC,” he said. “In reality, Israel is an apartheid state that commits atrocities against native Palestinians on a daily basis. That is something that should absolutely be criticized but unfortunately, Republicans and establishment Democrats are too concerned with offending the Israel lobby who bankrolls their campaigns to be honest about what’s going on.”

That's very daring of him. I can't help but think that AIPAC's campaign-support people are saying "We'll squash him like a bug!!!"

 

[lpetrich]

Fletcher has carved out a fairly standard pro-business, pro-Israel, socially liberal record as a Democrat. First elected to Congress in the 2018 blue wave, she beat a more progressive candidate in the primary, flipped a red seat blue, and quickly joined the New Democrat Coalition, the voice for the corporate wing of the party. A corporate attorney by training, she cast reliable Democratic votes in the House, and in 2020, she held onto her seat by a 3-point margin against her Republican opponent.

In 2018, she faced organized labor opposition to her candidacy based on her work as a partner at AZA Law, which largely represents employers and won a major case against local janitorial workers represented by the SEIU, who were predominantly immigrants. AZA Law boasted, in its effort to attract future business from employers, that it won the case in part by studying the social media feeds of the jury pool to make sure the jury was stacked with Donald Trump supporters.

The case was ideologically motivated to destroy labor: PJS, the Fletcher firm’s client, was involved with Empower Texans, a right-wing group working to undermine organized labor in Texas. She won her race regardless; union power remains weak in Texas.

From govtrack.us Lizzie Fletcher's ideology score is 2020 (#233, #204) 0.40, 2022 (#288, #149) 0.21 -- she's one of the most conservative Democrats in the House.

Agwan is Fletcher’s first primary challenger since winning office, and, with family spread from India to Pakistan, he shares a background with many of his potential constituents. Agwan said that his campaign is speaking for a broad base in the district that doesn’t feel represented.

 

[lpetrich]

Another article about what a blatant corporate stooge Kurt Schrader is.

Pharma Ally Kurt Schrader Cashes In on K Street – Sludge - "Schrader’s new lobbying employer works for numerous drug companies like Pfizer and Sanofi, plus industry trade association PhRMA."

In the previous Congress, Schrader was at the forefront of efforts by a handful of conservative Democrats who fought against the prescription drug pricing reforms that Democratic leaders were planning to include in the budget reconciliation legislation. In May 2021, shortly after President Biden called on Congress to pass legislation allowing the government to negotiate drug prices, Schrader joined a letter from conservative Democrats to Speaker Pelosi expressing their desire for the House to pass healthcare legislation with buy-in from private sector stakeholders that could lower costs for consumers while preserving “our invaluable innovation ecosystem.” In raising innovation, the Democrats on the letter appear to have been gently promoting the interests of the drug industry, arguing that the Democrats’ legislation on drug pricing could cause them to invest less in developing new drugs.

A report released by the House Administration Committee soon after Schrader signed the letter found that the largest pharmaceutical companies have spent more on stock buybacks and investor dividends than on research and development.

So much for their needing the money for R&D.

 

[lpetrich]

Checking on other notable unseated ones:

Joe Crowley - unseated by AOC
Can Joe Crowley Propel Dentons to More Lobbying Business? | National Law Journal - "The former congressman is central to Dentons' plans to increase its lobbying revenue and other DC public policy business."

Dentons - Dentons to welcome former Congressman Joe Crowley to lead growing of Public Policy practice - "Crowley to join Dentons as Firm commits to expand and further strengthen Public Policy practice"

Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, announces today that former United States Congressman Joe Crowley will be joining the Firm’s Public Policy practice as senior policy director. Crowley will lead efforts to bolster the Firm’s Public Policy practice and will serve as a strategic advisor on a range of issues, including tax, financial services and healthcare.

His page there: Dentons - Joe Crowley

Michael Capuano - unseated by Ayanna Pressley
The Honorable Michael E. Capuano | Professionals | Venable LLP - a consulting firm - "Senior Policy Advisor"

Mike Capuano leverages the experience and relationships he developed during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives to assist clients in achieving their objectives throughout the federal government. ... Mike previously served as the director of public affairs at an international law firm, where his clients included real estate developers, insurance companies, financial institutions, manufacturers, railroads, and nonprofit organizations.

That last one:
Michael Capuano has a new job - "The longtime congressman lost a re-election bid to fellow Democrat Ayanna Pressley last year." - "The law firm Foley & Lardner LLP announced Friday that the Democrat has joined the firm as a public affairs director and will be splitting his time between the firm’s Boston and Washington offices." - joining other former US Congresspeople at that law firm.

Eliot Engel - unseated by Jamaal Bowman
I couldn't find out anything about his post-politics career, if he has one.

Lacy Clay - unseated by Cori Bush
William Lacy Clay, Jr. | Senior Policy Advisor | Pillsbury - a law firm - "Former Missouri Congressman William Lacy Clay Jr. advises and advocates on behalf of clients whose interests intersect with the federal government."

 Dan Lipinski - unseated by Marie Newman

Lipinski has appeared on podcasts,[89] spoken publicly,[90] and published writing[91] about his experience in Congress.

In October 2021, he teased the possibility of running for his old Congressional seat again.,[92] but was not a candidate in the 2022 election.

Dan Lipinski – Teacher. Author. Problem Solver.

Finally someone unseated who did something other than get involved in corporate lobbying.

 

[lpetrich]

Opinion | Biden’s Democratic Party is to the left of Obama’s. Thank a progressive. - The Washington Post

Free lunch for all students. Student loan forgiveness. Hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending to increase the use of cleaner energy sources and fight climate change. A massive economic stimulus plan that showed little regard for the budget deficit. Specific policies to address the effects of systemic racism. A focus on improving the economy, instead of education reform, to increase the earnings of Black and Latino Americans in particular. Bans on non-compete clauses. Universal tax credits for parents. Unabashed support for abortion rights, labor unions and gender-affirming health care. Opposition to mergers of big corporations. Sharp criticism of companies for imposing complicated and unnecessary fees on customers. The appointments of civil rights lawyers and public defenders to federal judgeships instead of corporate lawyers and prosecutors. The removal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and a major rollback in the use of airstrikes abroad as part of antiterrorism efforts.

Those are some of the policies and political stances of President Biden, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, all of whom are generally considered part of the Democratic Party’s center-left wing, as opposed to its more progressive bloc. These views either weren’t pushed hard, or weren’t held at all, by President Barack Obama and the Democratic governors who were in office a decade ago.

Left-wing tendencies in US politics have been stronger than at any previous time since the Sixties Era, a tumultuous era of reform from the early 1960's to the mid 1970's.

Left-wing tendencies don't always win, but they are more and more mainstream. "These ideas have gotten traction for two reasons: They were solid on the merits and had a strong political coalition backing them."

The rich and major corporations have disproportionate power and wealth in the United States, so sweeping policy changes are necessary to make the country more equitable, particularly along racial lines. This general argument has been bolstered both by data and research and by events, most notably the police killings of Black people that have been captured on video.

“Progressives who work on economic policy can show in the data that inequality has increased, that markets are more concentrated, and that there have been bailouts for bankers and crisis for everyone else. Advocates for racial justice need only point to Charlottesville and smartphone videos of excessive force. These are facts that are hard to get around,” said Ganesh Sitaraman, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who was one of Warren’s top advisers during her presidential campaign.

 

[lpetrich]

Joe Biden is now more left-wing than he was during Jimmy Carter's, Bill Clinton's, and Barack Obama's Presidencies. Congressmembers and state politicians have also moved leftward. "A party that was very nervous about being too pro-labor, pro-feminist and pro-Black during the Carter, Clinton and Obama eras isn’t as afraid now. This is great news."

Nor is it just politicians. The news media covers inequality much more than before. Universities and major philanthropic organizations are fully on board with racial-justice initiatives, universally condemning the court’s affirmative action ruling even though opinions of Americans overall are quite divided on the consideration of race in college admissions.

Author Perry Bacon Jr. then concedes that we are not quite there yet, not quite at the level of New-Deal or Sixties reforms.

First, neither Biden nor Democratic governors are proposing super-bold policies in the mold of Franklin D. Roosevelt to dramatically restructure American government. ...

Second, the right is aggressively contesting this new progressivism. ...

Finally, voters haven’t wholeheartedly embraced this progressivism. ...

The good news is that many great policies are being implemented by the Biden administration, the 17 states run by Democrats and in large cities, which are overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled.

The bad news is that this progressive shift is very tenuous. With Republicans in strong opposition, voters lukewarm and even some Democrats not fully on board, the growing support for progressive ideas from 2013 to 2018 and their implementation from 2019 to 2023 could end up being a blip rather than a permanent change.

America is progressing in a positive direction, but we are still far from a progressive nation in terms of policy.

 

[ZiprHead]

Another article about what a blatant corporate stooge Kurt Schrader is.

Pharma Ally Kurt Schrader Cashes In on K Street – Sludge - "Schrader’s new lobbying employer works for numerous drug companies like Pfizer and Sanofi, plus industry trade association PhRMA."

In the previous Congress, Schrader was at the forefront of efforts by a handful of conservative Democrats who fought against the prescription drug pricing reforms that Democratic leaders were planning to include in the budget reconciliation legislation. In May 2021, shortly after President Biden called on Congress to pass legislation allowing the government to negotiate drug prices, Schrader joined a letter from conservative Democrats to Speaker Pelosi expressing their desire for the House to pass healthcare legislation with buy-in from private sector stakeholders that could lower costs for consumers while preserving “our invaluable innovation ecosystem.” In raising innovation, the Democrats on the letter appear to have been gently promoting the interests of the drug industry, arguing that the Democrats’ legislation on drug pricing could cause them to invest less in developing new drugs.

A report released by the House Administration Committee soon after Schrader signed the letter found that the largest pharmaceutical companies have spent more on stock buybacks and investor dividends than on research and development.

So much for their needing the money for R&D.

Schrader, Sinema, and a couple others whose names escape me at the moment love that big pharma money. Between the four of them, they've received 2 million dollars from big pharma, AFTER running for prescription pricing reform in their campaigns.

 

[Derec]

Meanwhile, out in California...
Rep. Katie Porter narrowly leads the wide open race for California’s Senate seat, a new poll reported Friday. Porter, D-Calif., was the choice of 19% of likely voters, just ahead of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,, at 16% and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., at 13%, a June survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found. The other voter preferences were scattered among several candidates, topped by Republican Eric Early at 7%. Six percent were undecided.

In California, it's the same concept as Q1 and Q2 in Formula 1. The objective is not to come in first, but to be in the top 2.
As long as the horrible Barbara Lee is eliminated, it's not that bad. Although it's a bad thing generally when a state becomes a quasi one party state like California has become.

 

[Derec]

County Executive Latimer confirms he was approached to run in 16th Congressional District

I hope he runs, and wins. We need to start turning the tide of radicalization of the Democratic Party.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer has confirmed to News 12's Tara Rosenblum that he has been approached by politically connected individuals to run in a primary against Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

He would certainly be an improvement over "defund the police", "capitalism is slavery" idiocy of Squad private Jamaal.

AIPAC has met with Latimer in an effort to convince him to run, according to a source familiar with the outreach who was granted anonymity to discuss a confidential matter. (A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to comment.)

Can you blame them, given Private Jamaal's open hostility toward Israel?

 

[Derec]

Unlike Other Democrats, Pervez Agwan Says He’s Unafraid of AIPAC - "Pervez Agwan is challenging AIPAC-endorsed Rep. Lizzie Fletcher in a recently redrawn Texas district."

The last thing we need is yet another Muslim Israel-hater in Congress. But of course the islamophilic The Intercept likes him.

But contra the chilling effect AIPAC may be having nationwide, one challenger to an incumbent Democrat in Houston is taking the polar opposite approach. Pervez Agwan is running against the AIPAC-endorsed Rep. Lizzie Fletcher as an “unapologetically progressive Dem” and criticizing Fletcher for taking money from AIPAC, hoping to turn any impending spending against him into a weakness for Fletcher.

How dare the Joos donate to a candidate? /sarcasm
And how much money is Agwan receiving from the likes of CAIR (which is close to Hamas)?

“To take money from a lobbying group that dictates your foreign policy, I think it’s completely unacceptable,” Agwan told The Intercept in an interview. “I do not think it’s OK to take money from a group that openly keeps an apartheid system and an open-air prison where people’s rights are violated.”

Apartheid system? Open-air prison? He already has the Hamas talking points down pat.
Calling Gaza "open air prison" is particularly rich.

Agwan saw the influence of AIPAC in the response to Jayapal’s remarks. “Representative Jayapal’s remarks are clearly being taken out of context

What possible context would make Jayapal's ignant remarks ok?

“In reality, Israel is an apartheid state

No, it is not.

that commits atrocities

Going after terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups is not an "atrocity"
And why is Agwan (and other Israel haters in the Democratic Party) ignoring Palestinian atrocities? They routinely target Israeli civilians.

against native Palestinians on a daily basis.

"Native"? Even UNRWA defines so-called "Palestinian refugees" based on a 2 year residency in the area, not any "native" status.
Note also that they call themselves based on a colonial Roman name for themselves. Would a real native population not have a native name for themselves? You know, like Israelites do. Or take so-called Nablus. That is the corruption of colonial "Neopolis" since Arabs can't say "p" (which is also why "Palestinian" is obviously not a "native" "Palestinian" word and is actually derived from Philistines (think Goliath) with whom they are not related). The native name for the city is Shechem.

That is something that should absolutely be criticized but unfortunately, Republicans and establishment Democrats are too concerned with offending the Israel lobby who bankrolls their campaigns to be honest about what’s going on.”

And people like Agwar and the Squad are beholden to the Balestinian lobby.

That's very daring of him. I can't help but think that AIPAC's campaign-support people are saying "We'll squash him like a bug!!!"

I hope they do!

 

[Derec]

A tidbit from that The Intercept puff piece:

The large Pakistani community, he said, is also concerned about democratic backsliding there amid the ongoing repression of the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

I do not know exactly how Agwar hopes to influence Pakistani politics from the House floor.
However, I do not think it is a safe assumption that Pakistani-Americans will necessarily support him or the Democrats.

Rep. Greg Casar of Austin recently introduced legislation to pressure the State Department on the unfolding turmoil, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who is running for mayor of Houston, is a founder of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus.

First of all, I had no idea that SJL, one of the dimmest bulbs in the already underpowered chandelier that is US Congress, was running for mayor. Second, she founded the Pakistan caucus. She is not even Pakistani.