Democrats trying to unseat each other III

[Derec]

As a result,
Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District special election, 2023 - Ballotpedia
Primary election: September 5, 2023.
General election: November 7, 20231

Another very lopsided, safe district. Which means the primary is the defacto general election, effectively disenfranchising many voters.

Our Revolution on Twitter: "We're on track to add another member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - @AaronRegunberg: an environmental lawyer, climate champion, Medicare for All advocate, who also has Bernie's endorsement! (pic link)" / X

He already sounds like a douche.

Aaron Regunberg Wants To Fight Exxon And Chevron So You Won’t Have To – Blue America

Giant douche confirmed. He also wrote a piece advocating that lawyers, engineers and scientists working for fossil fuel companies should be harassed.

Even with best case scenarios on EV adoption, we will still need gasoline and diesel for decades to come. Demonizing oil companies is useless.
What should be first priority, regarding climate as well as air and water quality, is get rid of coal. And not only in the US, but worldwide, esp. China. But for some reason, fauxgressive Dems prefer to demonize oil and natural gas. Perhaps because of the socialist "coal miner" trope?

Rhode Island Special Election Coming Down To One Full-On Progressive And One Corporate Moderate – Blue America

Well then, let's hope the "corporate moderate" wins. According to the wiki page, the primary is crowded, and whoever wins might do so with a relatively small plurality (big reason why FPTP is not a good system even for single member districts), so anything is possible.

By the way, I see that you still haven't responded to my post about the GND. I guess your evidence is still ∅.

 

[ZiprHead]

As a result,
Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District special election, 2023 - Ballotpedia
Primary election: September 5, 2023.
General election: November 7, 20231

Another very lopsided, safe district. Which means the primary is the defacto general election, effectively disenfranchising many voters.

Our Revolution on Twitter: "We're on track to add another member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - @AaronRegunberg: an environmental lawyer, climate champion, Medicare for All advocate, who also has Bernie's endorsement! (pic link)" / X

He already sounds like a douche.

He's not the only one, Mr. Not-A-Right-Winger.

 

[lpetrich]

Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District special election, 2023 - Ballotpedia

Another very lopsided, safe district. Which means the primary is the defacto general election, effectively disenfranchising many voters.

There is a simple cure: proportional representation.

Our Revolution on Twitter: "We're on track to add another member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - @AaronRegunberg: an environmental lawyer, climate champion, Medicare for All advocate, who also has Bernie's endorsement! (pic link)" / X

He already sounds like a douche.

Aaron Regunberg Wants To Fight Exxon And Chevron So You Won’t Have To – Blue America

Giant douche confirmed.

Because he does not love fossil fuels or fossil-fuel oligarchies?

Even with best case scenarios on EV adoption, we will still need gasoline and diesel for decades to come. Demonizing oil companies is useless.

Ever heard of synfuels? The Fischer-Tropsch process?

 

[lpetrich]

From the second one,

Did Matos Think She Would Get Away With Handing In Forged Signatures? Well… She Did

...
This morning, Bernie, who won RI-01 when he ran for president, endorsed Aaron Regunberg: “I’m endorsing Aaron Regunberg for Congress because he understands the vital need to stand up against large corporations who have too much control over political and economic systems. He supports Medicare For All because he knows Big Pharma and the health insurance industry continue to put their own greed ahead of the lives of thousands of Americans. At a time when we’re living with record high temperatures and devastating flooding, Aaron understands that we can’t address catastrophic climate change without boldly taking on Big Oil. Aaron knows we have to focus on an economic agenda that improves the lives for working families, from expanding paid sick days to raising wages. Aaron’s candidacy is about making our government work for everyday people, rather than corporations and billionaires, and he deserves your vote.”

...
*Aaron's history as a state legislator, a community organizer, and a climate lawyer makes it clear that he will come to Washington ready to organize on behalf of working people. Like David, Aaron has direct experience overcoming gridlock and corruption to stand up to corporate power and win real progress. Aaron will fight to deliver bold and transformative policies in Congress and we are proud to endorse him as the best candidate to fill David Cicilline's seat."

-Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan, Jamie Raskin

Of the Congressional Progressive Caucus

 

[lpetrich]

Regunberg’s main competitors are Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, state Senator Sandra Cano, rich self-funding businessman Don Carlson (who’s trying to buy the seat with hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money) and conservative state Rep. Marvin Abney (who was just disqualified for handing in too few valid signatures). Polling has been mixed. One showed Regunberg leading and Matos immediately released her own showing her ahead. But that was before she became the most scandal-ridden politician in the state. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus PAC thrives on corruption so of course they endorsed her.

By dollars raised:

• Don Carlson: $600,000, with $750,000 on hand
• Aaron Regunberg: $415,000
• Gabe Amy: $310,000
• Sandra Cano: $250,000
• Sabina Matos: $215,000

Matos addresses media over alleged fraudulent signatures | ABC6

The Rhode Island Board of Elections voted five to one on Friday afternoon to approve a deeper investigation into the congressional campaign of Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos concerning allegations of fraudulent signatures turned in on behalf of her campaign.

She said “I think it was not right to give out any statement, any comments directly to the media before the board made their decision.”

Back to Blue America.

Her petitions kept getting caught filled with fraudulent signatures in one town after the other. And then this past Thursday… two more cities with her petitions filled with forgeries, making it a police matter. In East Providence, the signatures of the entire city council were forged. So many of her signatures were disqualified that she just barely made it onto the ballot— and in a very shady way that will haunt her if she wins the primary.

She is a Lieutenant Governor yet she resorted to fraud to get on the ballot?

Meanwhile, the most corporate and one of the most conservative of the candidates, former Republican Nick Autiello, quit the race, after releasing an internal poll showing him in 5th place with 5%.

He spent $127,000.

Some of the article's numerical figures were typos, I think, like Don Carlson's $6000,000, and Nick Autiello's $1127,000. What I'm showing here is my guessed fixes.

 

[lpetrich]

Over at the Federal Election Commission's site I found 2024 Election United States House - Rhode Island - District 01 | FEC and looked at "Total Receipts"

• Don Carlson: $913,405.83
• Aaron Regunberg: $470,665.45
• Gabriel Amo: $462,553.07
• Sabina Matos: $338,054.01
• Sandra Cano: $264,151.22
• Nicholas Autiello: $226,584.67
• Others: $147,812.23, $140,167.63, $77,050.00, $71,365.23, $49,557.01, $31,937.00, $15,708.70, $6,201.00, $970.00, 5 with $0.00

Seems like a reverse of NY-10 last year, where the progressive candidates split the vote among themselves, and here it's the centrists doing that.

Boston DSA on Twitter: "Boston DSA is proud to announce its first round of endorsed candidates for the 2023/2024 election cycle!" / X - three candidates for city-council seats. I couldn't find any others.

Still nothing at Justice Democrats or the Sunrise Movement.

 

[lpetrich]

More progressive policy wins:

Michigan officials react to Gov. Whitmer signing 2024 education budget

Michigan is set to make the largest per-student investment in the state’s history under its 2024 education budget.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the $24.3 billion budget Thursday, July 20, explaining $9,608 will be allocated per student, a $458 increase from the last year. The budget also ensured with a $160 million investment that all public school students get free breakfast and lunch.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Twitter: "Spoiler alert: ..." / X

Spoiler alert: My 5th bipartisan education budget is the best one yet! This real-world funding will help us build a brighter future.

With the highest per-student funding in Michigan history, our kids can be anything they want to be.

Showing a picture of her as a Barbie doll signing something at a desk.

“Additionally, the budget makes Michigan one of the lowest-cost states to become a teacher, with tuition-free training, student loan repayment and stipends for those who are completing their student teaching,” Whitmer said in a Thursday press release.

Also signed Thursday, Senate Bill 173 puts the state on the path toward free pre-K, according to Whitmer’s office in the release.

More on Minnesota:
‘You’re able to vote now’: Minnesota Democrats pass raft of progressive reforms | Minnesota | The Guardian

Reese, now the executive director of the Minnesota-based organizing group Until We Are All Free, is one of more than 55,000 people who gained the right to vote after Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, signed a bill restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions. The Restore the Vote law, which passed in March, guaranteed that anyone not in prison can vote.

The Minnesota legislature passed the bill during a historic session that saw a wide range of progressive bills signed into law – including a collection of laws to protect workers, abortion rights legislation, and a raft of voting rights and democracy reform legislation.

...
During the same session that the felony re-enfranchisement bill passed, the state passed the Democracy for the People Act, which, among other reforms, allows 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote, establishes automatic voter registration in some state agencies, requires voting materials be available in the three most commonly spoken languages in the state, and penalizes voter intimidation and lies.

I may have mentioned this earlier, but also in MN: Minnesota Becomes the 23rd Legal Marijuana State - NORML

 

[lpetrich]

Why do liberals fight for the rights of conservative minorities? - Quora

Ke'Aun Charles has a very interesting response. He proposes that the two sides have a deal:

White Liberals: We’ll protect your right to cultural autonomy and also encourage DEI here and there (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion).

Conservative Minorities: In return, we’ll support Liberal causes (so long as you don’t impose them on us) and, where we hold power, will allow y’all your own cultural autonomy.

How does this deal work out?

This is why conservative minority-run cities usually have White Liberal spaces where hardcore Social Liberalism reigns, while White Liberalism in White Conservative spaces withers — minorities will protect the rights of White Liberals to do their own thing, White Conservatives don’t.

He then notes that minorities aren't all alike, that they have a third player in this deal: Minority Liberals, a faction that is partially like both factions. They do double duty in keeping this coalition together:

• admonishing their tribe for not doing enough for the alliance and/or requesting that their tribe invest in a particular cause for an outside tribe
• demanding White Liberals hold up their end of the bargain better

I find that an interesting perspective, and IMO it explains a lot.

 

[Derec]

Why do liberals fight for the rights of conservative minorities? - Quora

What? Quora? Scraping the bottom of the barrel there a bit?

Ke'Aun Charles has a very interesting response. He proposes that the two sides have a deal:

Who's he other than some random poster? He seems to be a "black ultranationalist" and black power racist according to his Quora profile.

White Liberals: We’ll protect your right to cultural autonomy and also encourage DEI here and there (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion).

All the more reason why this DEI nonsense is divisive.

Conservative Minorities: In return, we’ll support Liberal causes (so long as you don’t impose them on us) and, where we hold power, will allow y’all your own cultural autonomy.

Doesn't really end up working, as you can see Hamtramckabad, MI, a city that is now completely run by Muslims.

 

[Derec]

Michigan is set to make the largest per-student investment in the state’s history under its 2024 education budget.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the $24.3 billion budget Thursday, July 20, explaining $9,608 will be allocated per student, a $458 increase from the last year. The budget also ensured with a $160 million investment that all public school students get free breakfast and lunch.

These investments should focus on academics, not providing even more taxpayer funded meals.
Schools should be places of learning, not primarily state-run cafeterias. I think fauxgressives are forgetting that.

School performance of US kids is lacking and getting worse. A lot of it was due to the Pandemic, but it is also due to misguided policies that are politicizing the curriculum (even injecting politics into math curriculum as California, Seattle etc. are doing).

 

[Derec]

There is a simple cure: proportional representation.

And I would be in favor of that, as I have written in the thread on that.

Because he does not love fossil fuels or fossil-fuel oligarchies?

He does not need to "love" them, but he should recognize that they are needed and will be needed for some time.

Ever heard of synfuels?

Carbon-neutral synfuels are still ways off as far as large scale production. And what companies do you think would have the know-how to produce synfuels for modern engines? It would be the companies that make conventional fuels for those same engines.
I think for passenger cars and light trucks BEVs will be the best solution in most cases.
For airplanes, ships and terrestrial vehicles that are difficult to electrify we will need synfuels. But we will need companies like Exxon, Shell and BP to make them. They should be treated as partners in the energy transition, not enemies!

The Fischer-Tropsch process?

FT was used by Nazi Germany that had plentiful coal fields but was cut off from Middle Eastern oil fields. It was also contemplated as a solution for peak oil, but predictions of peak oilers failed spectacularly.
So in its historic form, it would be anything but carbon neutral.
You could, of course, use carbon-neutral hydrogen and CO made by reducing atmospheric CO₂, but that would require a lot of energy. Maybe if we were to build a lot of nuclear power plants it could work at scale.

 

[lpetrich]

Michigan is set to make the largest per-student investment in the state’s history under its 2024 education budget.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the $24.3 billion budget Thursday, July 20, explaining $9,608 will be allocated per student, a $458 increase from the last year. The budget also ensured with a $160 million investment that all public school students get free breakfast and lunch.

These investments should focus on academics, not providing even more taxpayer funded meals.

As if those are mutually exclusive.

Schools should be places of learning, not primarily state-run cafeterias. I think fauxgressives are forgetting that.

Primarily??? There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

Massachusetts is next: Lawmakers make free school meals permanent | News | salemnews.com

A provision in the $56.2 billion state budget for the next fiscal year would, if it survives Gov. Maura Healey’s veto pen, require the state to provide breakfast and lunch free for all K-12 school students.

The move, which will cost $171.5 million in the next fiscal year, would make permanent a pandemic-related policy that provided free school meals for students in the past three years.

 

[lpetrich]

Layoffs At Justice Democrats Raise Worries For Progressives | HuffPost Latest News

A Progressive Powerhouse’s Surprise Layoffs Fuel Concerns About The Left’s Future

Justice Democrats played a critical role in electing "The Squad.” Now it will have to do more with less.

From 2018 to 2020, the activist left experienced something of an electoral renaissance.

Mentioning Justice Democrats being involved in the elections of AOC and some other progressives, and mentioning the Biden Admin going leftward as a result.

Just over six years since its founding, however, Justice Democrats’ opposition is more organized while its mission is more muddled and its coffers depleted. Faced with a shortage of funds, the group laid off nine of its 20 staff members in mid-July, a move that took many prominent progressives by surprise.

On Capitol Hill and elsewhere, those progressives are anxious about what a smaller “JD,” as the group is affectionately known, could mean for the left as a whole.

“Without a threat of a primary and a weakening of JD, we go back to corporate interests and a lack of accountability from the progressive movement,” a progressive senior House aide, who requested anonymity to speak freely, told HuffPost.

A second progressive House aide summed up the contradictions of a progressive movement that has larger-than-life celebrity lawmakers but lacks an institutional infrastructure comparable in size and scope.

“We have huge champions like Bernie Sanders, AOC, Ilhan Omar, who are able to be successful political fundraisers,” the second aide said. “But movement-wise, we’re not in a great place right now.”

AOC herself:

“JD has punched far beyond its weight and accomplished significant victories in just a few years,” she said. “I’m confident they’ll make it through this transition and continue to be successful in the future.”

 

[lpetrich]

The JD's have supported

• 2003-: Raul Grijalva AZ-07,03
• 2017-: Ro Khanna CA-17, Pramila Jayapal WA-7
• 2019-: AOC NY-14, Ilhan Omar MN-05, Ayanna Pressley MA-07, Rashida Tlaib MI-13
• 2021-2023: Marie Newman IL-03
• 2021-: Jamaal Bowman NY-16, Cori Bush MO-01
• 2023-: Greg Casar TX-35, Summer Lee PA-12

There are some notable progressives who got into office independently of JD, however, like Mondaire Jones, Maxwell Frost, Delia Ramirez, and Becca Balint.

What happened? An overall decline in political donations? Unwillingness to fund a group that likes to finance challenges to incumbents?

The group’s critics, however, argue that the left has failed to organize its incumbents on Capitol Hill or develop a coherent strategy for extracting concessions from Biden and other Democratic leaders. They also wonder why Justice Democrats did not go public sooner about the scope of its financial troubles.

Growing pains? A symptom of a deeper decline?

 

[lpetrich]

The Sunrise Movement, a climate action group closely aligned with Justice Democrats that was influential in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, began laying off 35% of its 100-person staff in April 2022. And Middle Seat, the digital fundraising firm behind many progressive success stories, laid off about one-third of its staff earlier this year, though it has grown its workforce since then.

“We are vulnerable to sudden changes in grassroots giving,” Alexandra Rojas, Justice Democrats’ executive director, told HuffPost. “The ebbs and flows for us are bigger.”

...
What’s more, unlike some progressive groups with financial problems, the salaries for Justice Democrats’ top staff members are quite modest. Rojas earned about $81,000 in pay from the group’s PAC in 2022.

noting
Wine tasting in Napa and a staff revolt: How a progressive powerhouse went kaput - POLITICO - "Founded after the 2004 Howard Dean presidential campaign, Democracy for America was felled by poor fundraising and what many former employees described as shoddy management."

As the liberal group Democracy for America approached insolvency following the midterm elections, staffers faced a related problem: their CEO, Yvette Simpson, was on vacation at a vineyard in California.

Weeks earlier Simpson had told two members of the development team that $320,000 needed to be raised for DFA to make it through the year, according to two former employees. But as the group’s dire financial state started to become clear to staff, she attended a leadership training paid for by the organization and a personal multi-day sommelier education course in Napa Valley, according to five former employees.

“Is this heaven? No, but it’s pretty close!” Simpson posted on Instagram while there. Eventually, she held an all-staff Zoom call while in Napa, in which she announced that DFA was running out of cash, according to an audio recording.

“We didn’t get major donations as we expected last month so we ended up using $100,000 from our reserve just to cover expenses,” she said. “If I were you, I would be looking for another job. … I want every member of this team to go out into the marketplace to see if they can get another job just in case.”

Extravagance that would make Kyrsten Sinema proud.

 

[lpetrich]

A dark-money group affiliated with Democratic Party leaders provided critical funding for Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) to ward off a close challenge from Kina Collins, who was backed by Justice Democrats. Mainstream Democrats, a super PAC bankrolled by LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman, helped Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) narrowly beat Justice Democrats-backed attorney Jessica Cisneros.

And a newly created super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, a right-leaning group that seeks to ensure unconditional U.S. support for Israel, spent copiously against left-leaning Democratic candidates. In 2022, the group’s super PAC spent nearly $4 million to try to defeat then-state Rep. Summer Lee, a Justice Democrats candidate in an open Pennsylvania seat, in both the primary and the general election. As part of a multimillion-dollar progressive ad blitz that helped now-U.S. Rep. Lee pull out a win, Justice Democrats’ super PAC alone spent $1.1 million on her behalf.

That’s out of the about $2.4 million in super PAC spending that Justice Democrats invested overall in the 2022 cycle, which was itself not a dramatic increase over the nearly $2.3 million it devoted for that purpose in the 2020 cycle.

AR was rather brave about that squeaker of a victory.

May 19, 2022 | MSNBC

Alexandra Rojas: Outside spending groups would rather “light money on fire than invest in candidates that look like the base of the party”

noting
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)" / X

 

[lpetrich]

Oil and Gas Heir Funding Super PAC Attacking Nina Turner - July 16 2021, 8:00 a.m. - "Samson Energy’s chair has donated $1.25 million to the Democratic Majority for Israel super PAC, which endorsed Turner’s opponent Shontel Brown."

Progressives, “Massively Outgunned,” Ditched Nina Turner - May 3 2022, 10:47 p.m. - "Justice Democrats blamed pro-Israel super PACs run by DMFI and AIPAC for its decision to stay out of the rematch with Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown."

AIPAC Spent Big to Defeat Progressives This Election Cycle - November 15, 2022 - "The lobbying group’s $28.5 million blitz could make Democrats think twice about criticizing Israel."

WHEN NIDA ALLAM launched her bid for Congress last November, she had reason to be confident. Allam, a commissioner of Durham County, North Carolina, and the first Muslim woman to hold office in the state, raised $700,000 in just the first six months of her campaign. The Working Families Party endorsed her in January. In April, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both popular among progressives in the district, endorsed her.

But then AIPAC, the most influential Israel lobby group in Washington, intervened. Allam had called for an end to “Israel’s violent, illegal occupation,” a stance anathema to AIPAC’s interests. From March to May, the United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s Super PAC, spent over $2 million on mailers and advertisements in support of Valerie Foushee, Allam’s main opponent in the Democratic primary. Such groups are allowed to spend unlimited sums of money for or against a candidate but are barred from coordinating with candidates themselves. AIPAC’s political action committee (PAC) bundled another $460,000 from individual contributors for Foushee’s campaign, constituting about 39% of Foushee’s total fundraising. Foushee also benefited from about $1 million in spending by Protect Our Future, a Super PAC bankrolled by Sam Bankman-Fried—the 30-year-old crypto tycoon and philanthropist whose multibillion-dollar fortune vaporized last week amid a still-unfolding scandal—and another $290,000 from the AIPAC-tied group Democratic Majority for Israel, among other groups. Allam, by contrast, was boosted by just $240,000 in total spending by progressive groups, and raised about $1.2 million in total, according to her campaign.

On May 17th, Foushee beat Allam by a nine-point margin.

A problem with democracy: winning by outshouting one's opponents.

 

[lpetrich]

However, AIPAC did not go after incumbents like AOC, Rashida Tlaib, or Cori Bush, or J-street-endorsed newcomers like Becca Balint and Delia Ramirez.

UFP = United Democracy Project, AIPAC's super PAC

UDP intervened in ten separate Democratic primaries to back centrist candidates supportive of Israel against progressives—mostly by spending millions on advertisements—and helped seven of them win. (An eighth candidate backed by UDP went on to win in the general election.) In four of those races, UDP’s spending helped replace an outgoing lawmaker who had criticized Israel in some fashion with a candidate backed by AIPAC. Foushee is taking over from the retiring David Price, a close ally of J Street. With the help of over $4 million in UDP spending, Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan defeated Andy Levin, the author of a bill that would prevent US military aid from going toward demolitions of Palestinian homes or evictions of Palestinians. UDP spent another $2 million to boost Don Davis in North Carolina to replace the retiring GK Butterfield who was further to the left on Israel policy than AIPAC.

UDP also supported Dan Goldman in the NY-10 race, where progressive candidates split their vote like crazy and let him win.

"In addition, UDP spent about $590,000 to back Kevin Mullin, who went up against progressive Democrat David Canepa." That was in the second round, and KM beat DC. "Mullin will replace Jackie Speier, another J Street ally."

Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, said that AIPAC's big spending will have a "chilling effect" on members of Congress.

"Waleed Shahid, the spokesman for Justice Democrats, a group that supports progressive candidates, said he’s already heard evidence of such a chilling effect on calls with Democratic Party consultants working for progressive candidates."

“AIPAC got overly cocky with the Summer Lee race in a way that may have ruined what little reputation they have among center-left Democrats,” Shahid said. “It’s just a matter of time until AIPAC fully goes the route of the NRA, and becomes an entirely partisan right-wing organization.”

Though an AIPAC spokesman state sthat AIPAC “supported 148 Democratic candidates, the Democratic leadership and almost half of the Congressional Progressive Caucus—demonstrating that it is entirely consistent with progressive values to stand with the Jewish state.”

But there’s some evidence of Democratic alienation from AIPAC: In a poll conducted on election day, J Street found that 72% of American Jews—and 89% of Jews who voted for Democrats—disagreed with AIPAC’s endorsement of Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election.

“Combine how much they’ve alienated American Jews and Democrats with their support for far-right Republicans and their aggressive spending against progressive Democrats, and their standing in the Democratic Party is significantly lower than it was before the cycle started,” said Logan Bayroff, J Street’s vice president of communications. “They had some good wins. They splashed some money around. They made a big impression. But they’ve also angered people who for a long time were willing to look the other way about their activities.”

 

[lpetrich]

Aipac hails Democrat’s defeat for not being sufficiently pro-Israel | Maryland | The Guardian - "Donna Edwards, leading contender in Maryland primary for safe seat, lost after pro-Israeli groups poured millions to block her"

Donna Edwards, who was for months the favourite to win the primary for a safe seat in Maryland, lost to Glenn Ivey on Tuesday after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and allied groups waded into the race.

Aipac proclaimed Ivey’s victory, by 51% to 35%, as evidence that “being pro-Israel is both good policy and good politics”.

AIPAC and its allies spent nearly $7 million to block DE. She was the first black woman elected to Congress from MD, and she served 8 years before running for the Senate in 2016 and failing. She was endorsed by Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats.

But she angered some pro-Israel groups during her earlier stint in Congress by failing to back Israeli attacks on Gaza and for her support of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran when it was strongly opposed by the Israeli government.

Following Ivey’s victory, Aipac declared it had helped nine “pro-Israel Democrats defeat their anti-Israel opponents in 2022!”.

Another group, Pro-Israel America, also heralded Edwards defeat.

It said: “Ivey’s victory once again demonstrates that strong pro-Israel stances are both good policy and politics, as his commitment to advancing the US-Israel relationship starkly contrasted with the positions of the candidate he defeated.”

More like they successfully bought her defeat.

However, the campaign against Edwards rarely focused on her positions on Israel and much of the spending that went to saturate the airwaves with hostile advertising questioning her work ethic came from Republican billionaires.

Rather typical of AIPAC's recent campaigning, like saying that Summer Lee and Nina Turner are not loyal Democrats.

Pro-Israel hardliners spend millions to transform Democratic primaries | US politics | The Guardian

UDP-funded television ads criticising Edwards make no mention of Israel and instead attack her as an ineffective politician who got nothing done during her stint in Congress. Over the past two months, Edwards has lost a significant lead in opinion polls over her rival, Glenn Ivey, who is now marginally ahead.

GI won by 17%.

The UDP helped defeat six of seven contenders it opposed. Other pro-Israel Pacs, led by the Democratic Majority for Israel, also funded opposition to the co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ most recent presidential campaign, Nina Turner, in a solid Democratic seat in Ohio. Turner, who has argued that substantial US aid to Israel should not be used to perpetuate the occupation of Palestinian land, at one point held a lead of 30 percentage points – but lost.

 

[lpetrich]

Layoffs At Justice Democrats Raise Worries For Progressives | HuffPost Latest News

JD is gearing up to support Jamaal Bowman against a possible AIPAC-backed challenger.

Bowman, who is a supporter of the two-state solution and has visited Israel as part of a trip sponsored by the liberal Jewish group J Street, has nonetheless been an outspoken critic of Israeli government policies and an advocate for stricter conditions on U.S. aid to the Jewish state.

He also boycotted Israeli President Isaac Herzog's speech in Congress, and he voted against a resolution that states that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state.

H.Con.Res.57 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Expressing the sense of Congress supporting the State of Israel. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress - "This resolution affirms that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state. The resolution also (1) rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia, and (2) affirms that the United States will always be a staunch partner of Israel."

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives - Vote Details
R: Y 217, nv 4
D: Y 195, N 9, P 1, nv 7
Ttl: Y 412, N 9, P 1, nv 11

No on it: Bowman, Bush, Carson, Lee (PA), Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, Ramirez, Tlaib