Democrats trying to unseat each other III

[lpetrich]

“Reject AIPAC” Fights Pro-Israel Attacks on Progressive Democrats - March 11 2024, 9:00 a.m. - "AIPAC has become the key force against progressives in Democratic primaries, but a new coalition is seeking to protect the party’s left flank."

After decades of avoiding direct involvement in electoral politics, the country’s flagship Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, formed a pair of political action committees in recent years and has been spending millions on political races.

Its targets have been progressives, with AIPAC becoming heavily involved in Democratic primaries. In addition to recruiting candidates to challenge incumbent Democrats, the group plans to spend at least $100 million on 2024 races.

It's REJECT AIPAC

Demand the Democratic Party reject AIPAC!

The pro-war, anti-Palestinian lobby group and their Super PAC are threatening to spend $100 million this election cycle in an attempt to unseat progressive, pro-peace members of Congress — and they’re doing it with millions of dollars from Republican billionaires, corporate interests, and Donald Trump’s donors.

So it’s no surprise that they endorse over 100 election-denying insurrectionists and 200+ anti-abortion Republican extremists.

It is sponsored by Justice Democrats and cosponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America, Progressive Democrats of America, Sunrise Movement, Our Revolution, IfNotNow, and several others.

 

[lpetrich]

Progressives seek to neutralize AIPAC’s spending threats - POLITICO - 04/17/2024 05:00 AM EDT - "The group’s promised flood of cash hasn’t yet arrived, but progressives are trying to defend against — and leverage — it anyway."

The promise of an onslaught of spending from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has loomed over Democratic primaries for months — but it hasn’t yet materialized.

Progressives critical of Israel, however, think they can exploit even the threat of AIPAC’s involvement in their races, in yet another sign of the schism among Democrats over the escalating Israel-Hamas war.

That's commendable foresight. Summer Lee barely squeaked in, and Donna Edwards, Andy Levin, and Marie Newman lost, all due to heavy AIPAC funding.

It’s an effort to neutralize AIPAC, which has vowed to drop $100 million this cycle to support pro-Israel candidates, including ousting progressives, in part, for their support for Palestinians amid the war. And there are some signs it may be working. Days after Iran’s attack on Israel, the deep-pocketed lobby group still has yet to turn on the spigots in primaries against some prominent progressives, like Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), the first member of the liberal “Squad” to face a primary this year.

 

[lpetrich]

Progressives seek to neutralize AIPAC’s spending threats - POLITICO - 04/17/2024 05:00 AM EDT - "The group’s promised flood of cash hasn’t yet arrived, but progressives are trying to defend against — and leverage — it anyway."
AIPAC hasn't spent all that much so far.

IPAC’s affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, has spent around $6 million on advertising this year, according to ad tracker AdImpact. Most of that — around $4 million — was against David Min, a progressive running for outgoing California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter‘s seat. Min ended up winning a spot in the top-two primary system anyway, and the candidate UDP backed didn’t. Though it hasn’t directly spent in their races yet, AIPAC has still bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions for the primary challengers to Squad members Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.).

Dave Min - Ballotpedia - the CA-47 primary vote: Scott Baugh R 32.8%, Dave Min D 25.8%, Joanna Weiss D 19.2%, R 14.7%, R 2.8%, none 1.6%, D 1.3%, none 0.9%, none 0.6%.

It looks like the general election will be a squeaker. But Katie Porter, who left that seat to run for Senate, has endorsed him.

What’s next for Rep. Katie Porter after she leaves Congress? – Orange County Register

he day after Rep. Katie Porter flipped an Orange County congressional seat blue in 2018, she set her sights on what would be a defining issue in her congressional career: campaign finance reform.

Money in politics, namely campaigns, is what she focused on after losing the primary for California’s open U.S. Senate seat last month — firing off a tweet and then having to field criticism over the language used in it — but it’s also a spot where she feels she can be helpful to other Democratic congressional candidates moving forward.

She supports not only David Min, but also Will Rollins in CA-41 and Josh Harder in CA-9, and she plans to continue her "Truth to Power" PAC. She is “focusing a lot right now on electing candidates who refuse corporate PAC money and understand how important it is to combat the influence of money in politics,” she said in an interview.

Shortly after it became clear Porter wouldn’t advance to the general election in November, she posted on social media gratitude to supporters and blasted “an onslaught of billionaires spending money to rig this election.”

The word "rig" seemed a lot like Trumpie election denialism. "She has since said that she regrets using that word, that the point was about how money influences politics."

She got famous for her use of her whiteboards in committee hearings, and I will miss that.

She will be returning to her law-professor position at the University of California at Irvine - Home | UCI Law - her home page there Katherine Porter

 

[lpetrich]

Progressives seek to neutralize AIPAC’s spending threats - POLITICO - 04/17/2024 05:00 AM EDT - "The group’s promised flood of cash hasn’t yet arrived, but progressives are trying to defend against — and leverage — it anyway."

AIPAC has Republican donors like former Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus and billionaire financier Paul Singer, though also some Democratic ones.

“Hopefully where we’ve been successful is in letting people know that their money should be considered toxic in a primary. Because this is not genuinely Democratic money coming into a Democratic primary to elect a Democrat,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a leader of the Progressive Caucus’ political arm who’s been vocal in opposition to the group’s influence.

AOC has talked about making AIPAC get the sort of reputation that the National Rifle Association has.

The full scope of AIPAC’s and UDP’s spending is yet to be seen, given that most primary campaigns are not in full swing yet. But there’s one particularly notable gap right now: Lee’s race in Pennsylvania’s 12th District. Lee had been a top AIPAC target in 2022, when it spent millions of dollars against her — but now, less than a week out from the Pennsylvania primary, she hasn’t faced any outside spending from the group.

That hasn’t stopped Lee from railing against the group. The campaign has warned of AIPAC’s ability to flood the race with money, and she criticizes her primary opponent, Edgewood Borough Council Member Bhavini Patel, for her links to deep-pocketed GOP donors.

Seems like she is taking no chances with AIPAC, because AIPAC might fund a last-minute burst of advertising against her.

Lee has, however, attracted negative spending from Moderate PAC, a group funded primarily by GOP megadonor Jeff Yass that has poured in hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting Patel. (At a debate earlier this month, Patel said she “denounces” Yass, who is linked to former President Donald Trump.)

AIPAC and UDP have gotten involved in races where the Israel-Hamas war has not attracted much attention.

United Democracy Project played in Illinois’ 7th District against gun violence prevention advocate Kina Collins, who unsuccessfully challenged longtime Democratic Rep. Danny Davis. The group spent around $500,000 on advertisements and mailers opposing her, according to campaign finance filings.

Kina Collins - Ballotpedia
Kina Collins had run against incumbent Danny K. Davis back in 2022, getting 45.7% to his 51.9%.

This year she got 18.4%, behind DKD at 52.8% and Melissa Conyears-Ervin at 21.4%.

 

[lpetrich]

Ayanna Pressley is a low-profile member of the Squad, and I found this interesting.
Pressley goes for Round 4 - POLITICO - 04/17/2024 07:25 AM EDT

... “The state of our movement is strong,” she told Playbook.

That can be difficult to see in the current Congress, one so dominated by infighting within the slim House Republican majority that last year it earned the title as one of the least productive in history. But Pressley points to the issues that Democrats all the way up to President Joe Biden are campaigning on — student debt cancellation chief among them.

“In three years’ time, we took an issue that people saw as fringe and marginal … [and] we’ve completely mainstreamed it,” Pressley said, sitting in a conference room in the Dorchester union hall where she held her reelection launch for a fourth term last weekend — the same place where she learned she had defeated then-Rep. Mike Capuano in 2018.

Like AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, and Marie Newman, she got into office by unseating an incumbent Democrat. So when she recently joked about running for Senate, some people took her seriously.

"As for 2026? The only plan in place, Pressley said, is her daughter Cora’s college application process."

There’s been a lot of concern in Massachusetts and other states about Biden’s efforts to push Israel to take humanitarian concerns more seriously in Gaza. Do you think he is doing enough?

President Joe Biden must do everything to ensure that Donald Trump is never the president again. And that includes a permanent, bilateral cease-fire and being full-throated in calling on that — and using the full weight of his presidential and diplomatic powers [to do so].

President Biden needs to be accountable and responsive to the coalition of voters that elected him.

Then about immigration and Haiti.

 

[lpetrich]

Congressional Progressive Caucus Unveils New Legislative Agenda to Deliver Equality, Justice, and Economic Security for Working People | Press Releases | Congressional Progressive Caucus - April 18, 2024
noting
Progressive Caucus Agenda For 2025 - DocumentCloud

1. Lower the Cost of Living: Affording Care, Lowering Health Care Costs, Affording Housing, Supporting Working Families and Reducing Debt
2. Boost Wages and Worker Power
3. Advance Justice
4. Protect Our Planet and Our People
5. Make Our Democracy Work
6. Break Corporations’ Hold on Our Economy
7. Provide World-Class Public Education

House progressives release an agenda for 2025, with ideas for Biden to excite the base - "The agenda is heavy on economics and lighter on cultural issues, carrying echoes of FDR's New Deal. It omits some issues that lack Democratic consensus, like "Medicare for All.""

The seven-point agenda is heavily focused on economics and lighter on cultural issues, carrying echoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It begins with provisions to boost the federal minimum wage to $17 per hour by 2028 and pass the PRO Act to strengthen unions, as well as other provisions, such as guaranteeing overtime pay. It includes policies to reduce the cost of living — by capping child care costs at 7% of income for all families; expanding Social Security benefits by closing tax loopholes; adding dental, vision and hearing benefits to Medicare; and enacting a series of policies to protect renters and make housing more affordable.

“It’s really about worker power and raising wages and lowering costs for poor people, middle-class Americans and the working people across this country,” Jayapal said.

The five other planks are investments in education, including universal pre-K and kindergarten; aggressive clean energy standards to tackle climate change; “making our democracy work” with federal voting rights mandates, Washington, D.C., statehood and elimination of the Senate filibuster; taking on corporations and monopolies; and “advancing justice” though abortion rights, pro-LGBTQ measures, pro-immigrant policies and setting national policing standards.

However, no mention of Medicare for All or foreign-policy issues. Pramila Jayapal wanted to avoid divisive issues like Israel-Gaza.

A supermajority of the 103 lawmakers in the caucus weighed in on the agenda, and 98% supported it, a spokesperson said.

...
Some of the provisions in the new agenda represent items in Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda that were left on the cutting room floor because of the thin majorities. Others could spark intraparty disagreements, including a far-reaching liberalization of the immigration system with a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally. Yet other pieces resemble popular causes that progressives want Biden to get behind, like expanding Social Security and legalizing marijuana.

“We have to excite our base. We have to show them what the path forward is — not just say, ‘This is the most important election of your life, and we expect you to vote.’ I don’t think that’s going to turn people out. And so I think this agenda, really, speaks to the needs of poor people, working people, progressives across the country who want us to make that case to them,” Jayapal said. “We are not seeing the momentum that we would like to see. We’re going to have a tough election. ... We know we’re going to have to put together that progressive coalition. And I think this is the thing that allows us to say, ‘Look, here’s what we’re fighting for.’”

That's how AOC ran back in 2018, stating what she wanted to do in Congress, rather than run on how bad Donald Trump is.

 

[lpetrich]

House progressives unveil 2025 agenda | The Hill

The agenda carries a heavy focus on workers’ rights and wages and lowering the cost of living for Americans — initiatives that were already a focal point for the caucus. The caucus said it will push for major investments to address the housing crisis, expand social security and provide public banking services for everyone.

Progressives are also calling for an end to gender pay discrimination, more protections on striking workers and strengthening laws on “abusive employers.” Some of the other priorities outlined in the agenda include codifying the right to abortion and reproductive care, legalizing marijuana and abolishing the federal death penalty.

Congressional Progressives Unveil 'Bold' Agenda for Second Biden Term | Common Dreams

Progressive lawmakers have already introduced bills for many items on the agenda, including a Green New Deal for Public Schools, expanding the Supreme Court, comprehensive voting rights protection, and legalizing marijuana.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Unveils New Legislative Agenda | National Low Income Housing Coalition

Enacting $250 billion in affordable housing investments, ... Ending homelessness by permanently authorizing homeless assistance grant programs, ... Protecting renters by prohibiting landlords from discriminating against tenants, ..., protecting organizing tenants from retaliation or evictions, ... Codifying HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule ... Increasing the supply of affordable housing by eliminating the Faircloth Amendment to allow for needed expansion of the public housing stock. ... Greening public housing by financing weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades. ... Cracking down on private equity and hedge fund acquisitions in rental housing. ... Establishing an Affordable Housing Acquisition Fund ...

House Progressives Unveil 2025 Agenda to Inspire Action for a More Equitable Nation - Inequality.org

In a few other areas as well, the agenda promotes policy innovations the Biden administration has not yet embraced. For example, the Caucus calls for low-cost public banking options, including postal banking. This would address the high fees millions of American families now have to pay to access their own money for paying bills, cashing checks, remittances, rent, and ATM withdrawals.

The U.S. Postal Service offered banking services for more than 30 years until private competitors squashed the program in 1967. With big Wall Street banks largely abandoning low-income communities, today’s vast postal network is still well-positioned to meet the need for affordable and trustworthy financial services.

 

[lpetrich]

Seems a lot like Build Back Better, but I don't have the patience or the inclination to do a line-by-line comparison. So I'll look through it myself.

For "true universal childcare", it proposes eliminating work requirements. Such requirements are a bureaucratic hassle best done without.

"Expand Medicare Drug Price Negotiation to Cover All Drugs" -- that would be welcome.

"Improving Medicare: Expand benefits to include dental, vision, and hearing." - recognizing that our eyes, ears, and teeth are parts of our bodies.

"Crack down on Private Equity Buy-Outs in Healthcare." - these are often vulture capitalists rather than anything good, like venture capitalists.

"Expand Initiatives to Provide Food as Medicine: Establish a pilot in Medicare to provide coverage for medically tailored meals to combat chronic diseases." - how does that work?

"Shield Patients with Medical Debt from Financial Devastation" - medical treatments are not something frivolous like yachts.

 

[lpetrich]

It talks about making housing more affordable and more abundant, including ending homeless.

It proposes to re-establish the American Rescue Plan's Child Tax Credit, with its monthly payments, complete with fully eliminating administrative burdens like work requirements.

Also stronger Pell grants and loan forgiveness, affordable broadband Internet access, affordable, renewable, and reliable electricity, and public banking -- check cashing and the like.

"Ban Forced Arbitration i Consumer, Antitrust, Employment, and Civil Rights Cases: Stop the use of unfair forced arbitration clauses, which are widely used to prevent Americans from seeking justice when corporations cheat and scam them." - many service contracts mandate arbitration by an arbitrator selected by the business. A way out would be to refuse to recognize such arbitration. We don't let people sell their children into slavery, for instance.

"Improve the IRS" - like increasing online filing of tax returns.

"Strengthen Labor Law" - like rolling back "right-to-work laws". Also, increasing the minimum wage to $17/hr by 2028 and eliminating a lower tipped minimum wage.

"Schedules That Work: Protect workers who ask for schedule changes from retaliation, require employers to consider their requests and provide schedules in advance, and provide compensation to employees when their schedules change abruptly." - that's good. We are not like our machines, easily started and stopped.

Protecting healthcare and unemployment insurance for striking workers. That's a very daring one.

"Crack Down on Abusive Employers" - like employers who cheat their employees out of wages: "wage theft".

 

[lpetrich]

"Improve Americans' Work-Life Balance and Wellbeing" - like shortening the workweek.

"Strong Updated Workplace Safety Measures"

"Strengthen Reproductive Rights" - codifying access to abortion, birth control, and IVF, and repealing the Hyde Amendment. That's a good one. The Democrats ought to run on that and rub it in about the Republicans' wanting the opposite.

"LGBTOI Equality" - the right wing is culture warring on trans people, and it's good that the CPC does not recommend running away. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were whimpering cowards in the face of right-wing culture warring.

"Comprehensive Policing Reform" - wanting police forces demilitarized. More lightly armed and mixing with communities more, and alternatives like social workers in many case.

"Marijuana Legalization" is good. Improving immigration is also good. Reparations for slavery? I'm reluctant to go there.

Abolishing the Federal death penalty is good. I'd only keep that penalty for someone who calmly decides to murder some people.

It gets into renewable energy and drinking water without lead or plastics in it, and it also supports rail transit and bus rapid transit.

 

[lpetrich]

"Strengthen Voting Rights" - supporting "same-day, automatic, and online voter registration" - I like making everybody automatically registered to vote. The document did not mention voter ID, however.

"Improve Representation: Create fairer, more efficient, and more representative elections by supporting ranked-choice voting and fix partisan gerrymandering by establishing multi-member districts for congressional elections and creating new requirements for congressional redistricting. Abolish the Electoral College." - such multimember districts would have to be proportional for this to be worthwhile: like using proportional ranked-choice voting.

DC Statehood - that would be most welcome.

"A Democratic Resolution to Puerto Rico's Political Status, which allows for a process for the people of Puerto Rico to determine the island's future political status." - like what AOC has worked on: choice between statehood, independence, and a halfway status: free association.

"Bold Campaign Finance Reform: Consistent with the For the People Act, end corruption and the dominance of big money and corporate interests by eliminating secret corporate spending in elections and implementing a campaign finance system that furthers the public good." - that would be great.

 

[lpetrich]

"Eliminate or Reform the Filibuster: Allow for the democratic consideration of essential legislation." - I'd like to see an end of this Taste-of-Armageddon "filibuster" - like the fake war in that ST:TOS episode.

"Ban on Congressional Stock Trading and Ownership." - good for avoiding conflicts of interest.

"Strengthen Ethics: Strengthen our nation's judiciary by imposing an enforceable code of conduct on the Supreme Court, banning federal judges from owning individual stocks, strengthen restrictions on judicial gifts and privately funded travel, improve disclosures, overhaul the judicial recusal process, and create new mechanisms for judicial accountability." - so someone like Clarence Thomas can't get away with being so blatantly corrupt.

"Structural Reforms: Expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court, implement term limits, and expand the federal judiciary by creating new judgeships." - Term limits? I think that the Supreme Court ought to have something like a 20-year term limit, with plenty of time to acquire expertise. At the end of their terms, SC Justices should be demoted into the Federal judiciary as senior judges, so we can still have their expertise.

 

[lpetrich]

"Promote Competition and Take on Monopolies" and "Increase Taxes on Stock Buybacks" and taxes on the very rich.

Taxing companies with excessive CEO-to-worker pay gaps? Seems too easy to wiggle out of, by establishing nominally independent companies that will employ the company's low-wage workers.

"Develop Strong Guardrails on Artificial Intelligence" and "Enact Comprehensive Online and Data Privacy Rights" - much better than trying to split off TikTok.

"Crack Down on Junk Fees and Malicious Pricing Practices."

"Pay Raises for Educators" - as an alternative to moaning and groaning about teacher shortages.

"Support Student Debt Cancellation and Relief."

"College for All: Provide free tuition for public colleges, universities and community colleges, and trade schools." - or at least low tuition, like what existed over half a century ago. Good that they mentioned trade schools. I'd make high school tracked, with at least an academic track and a vocational track for its students. The vocational track would make one able to take a variety of jobs, and the academic track would be preparation for college.

Talk about great ambition.

 

[lpetrich]

Candidates - Justice Democrats - 12 incumbents, no challengers

I would not be surprised if the AIPAC people are gloating about how they forced the JD's into a defensive crouch. I also haven't found many other new progressive Congressional candidates this time around.

 

[lpetrich]

Pennsylvania 12th Congressional District Primary Election Results 2024: Lee vs. Patel - The New York Times

• Summer Lee 60.6%
• Bhavini Patel 39.4%

Fraction of votes counted: >95%

Progressives 1, oligarchs 0

 

[Derec]

Pennsylvania 12th Congressional District Primary Election Results 2024: Lee vs. Patel - The New York Times

• Summer Lee 60.6%
• Bhavini Patel 39.4%

Fraction of votes counted: >95%

Progressives 1, oligarchs 0

This one is very disappointing. I hoped Philadelphians had more sense than this.

But your wording here is weird. Just because somebody does not support a far left Israel hater does not mean that one supports oligarchy.
Do you have any evidence that Bhavini Patel is a tool of the oligarchs?