Democrats trying to unseat each other III

[lpetrich]

More:

Another state representative, Janelle Bynum, won the Democratic primary in Oregon's 5th Congressional District with 68.9% of the vote, defeating progressive candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner in a race in which outside spending was also somewhat lopsided, according to OpenSecrets data. 314 Action Fund poured nearly $500,000 into the race. The Intercept's Ryan Grim argued that the PAC's involvement in this race revealed the hollowness of its claim to support scientists and pro-science candidates—Bynum is a McDonald's franchise owner.

Unlike Oregon's 3rd District, its 5th District will likely have a competitive race in November, with Bynum seeking to unseat incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who narrowly defeated McLeod-Skinner in 2022. National Democrats have their eyes on the seat, which is seen as highly winnable, with President Joe Biden having won the district handily in 2020. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee supported Bynum with more than $1 million in the primary, according to CNN.

As elsewhere, pro-Israel groups funded ads in Oregon that had nothing to do with Israel or Palestine.

JmLS ran in 2022, beating long-time incumbent Kurt Schrader in the D primary 54.6% - 44.8%, but losing in the general election to LCdR 50.9% - 48.8% - others 0.3%

But in JB, the Democratic party leadership has a candidate that it likes, not someone who unseated a long-time incumbent. AOC recalls that in her first term in Congress, many fellow Democrats were not very friendly to her, because she deposed a long-time friend of theirs.

 

[lpetrich]

Still more:

Commentators have pointed out that the resources that progressive groups must use to defend the seats of Bowman and Bush limits their ability to help newcomers such as Susheela Jayapal.

"In a different cycle, Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party might have been able to help Susheela Jayapal, but they have their hands full—and their wallets committed—as they seek to defend Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush," Daniel Marans, a politics reporter at HuffPost, wrote on social media Wednesday.

I've suspected that also. I've noticed how Justice Democrats has gone into a defensive crouch, not endorsing any new candidates.

 

[Derec]

As lpetrich likes to say, drama llama in NY:

Progressive groups rescind endorsements of former Rep. Mondaire Jones
The Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Working Families Party are mad at him for endorsing Latimer over Fire Marshal Jamaal.

The always disappointing Elizabeth Warren is endorsing Bowman though. Hopefully it will not work and he gets successfully primaried.
Jamaal Bowman Lands Endorsement From Elizabeth Warren

 

[Derec]

I've suspected that also. I've noticed how Justice Democrats has gone into a defensive crouch, not endorsing any new candidates.

Good. They are nothing but the Democratic version of the Tea Party. Herbal Tea Party if you will.
And I hope their defenses of both Bowman and Bush fail.

 

[lpetrich]

Sean Patrick Maloney offered to withdraw from 2022 NY-17 primary, but Mondaire Jones turned him down - City & State New York - "In a previously unreported conversation, Maloney offered to withdraw from the Democratic primary so that Jones could continue representing NY-17, but Jones declined so he could run in a different district."

For the last two years in New York politics, Mondaire Jones has been understood as the spurned ex-congressman caught in the blast radius of former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s ego.

After the redistricting of 2021, Sean Patrick Maloney, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was forced into the same district as Mondaire Jones, who had campaigned as a progressive when he won in 2020, AOC endorsement and all. He didn't want to run against Jamaal Bowman in NY-16, so he fled to NY-10 in Brooklyn.

But sources with direct knowledge of the Jones campaign’s inner workings told City & State that this narrative is essentially false. In May 2022, as progressives blasted Maloney for forcing Jones out of NY-17, Maloney contacted Jones and offered to pull out of the NY-17 race, only for Jones to turn him down because he preferred to run in a different district. And far from being reluctant to challenge Bowman, Jones was eager to primary his neighbor – at least until internal poll results showed that he had no hope of defeating him.

So why did MJ flee NY-17 to some place where he'd have to live out of carpetbags?

But the truth, according to a former senior staffer on Jones’ campaign, was that Jones did not want to run in NY-17, which had been redrawn to be significantly less friendly to Democrats. “The broader grassroots coalition was intent that he run in 17. And he would not entertain running in 17,” the former staffer said.

Which makes him a coward. Someone had to run as a Democrat in that district. But this new account agrees with the earlier accounts that MJ didn't want to run against JB in NY-16, and adds that from some polling, MJ would likely lose to JB there.

Jones’ allies later said that the congressman believed that the Working Families Party, which had already endorsed him in NY-17, would also endorse him in NY-10. But that did not happen; instead, the WFP endorsed Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou. In the end, Jones, Niou and New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera split the progressive vote, and Rep. Dan Goldman won the seat.

With Jones off in Brooklyn, Maloney won the Democratic nomination in NY-17 but lost the general election to Republican Rep. Mike Lawler. On Nov. 9, 2022, once Maloney’s race was called in favor of Lawler, Jones went on Twitter to rub it in. “Yikes,” he tweeted.

 

[lpetrich]

Mondaire Jones ought to have done what  Rana Abdelhamid did. When she decided that her electoral prospects were untenable, she quit.

Early in 2021, RAH announced her candidacy in NY-12, running against longtime incumbent Carolyn Maloney. But after redistricting, she decided that she did not have much of a chance, and she quit. Her statement:

"After nearly two years of putting together this effort, this was a very difficult decision to make. But because my community and I were cut out of our district, we were left with no other choice....The new NY-12…no longer includes Queens or Brooklyn. That means that my home and my community which includes, working class, Black and brown, Muslim and Arab immigrant communities of interest in Queens, were all divided into two districts, NY-7 and NY-14, diluting our opportunity for representation and political power.”

She also stated that the new maps were “reminiscent of an ongoing legacy of noninclusive gerrymandering which continues to rob communities of interest like my own of the opportunity for representation.”

I recall from somewhere that she also did not want to run against either Nydia Velázquez of NY-07 or AOC of NY-14, something very understandable - she has a lot of ideological overlap with these two politicians. In 2020, Badrun Khan ran as something of an AOC Lite candidate, and she didn't get very far.

I have to at someone who failed to consider a simple fix to this kind of problem: proportional representation. But RAH may not be any worse than all the US election reformers who steadfastly ignore PR.

 

[Janice Rael]

Maybe I have to at someone who failed to consider that no real changes can be made due to the makeup of the US Supreme Court. Zero people in this game are poor. Zero people can "fight" "Citizens United."

Some people's dads sent lawyers, guns, and money a long time ago, LP, and the kids were not alright.

Money changes everything, some unusual girl sang once.

The buck stops at SCOTUS. It's futile to think otherwise. Consider that the ACA was originally written by the Heritage Foundation for Mitt Romney as the Governor of Massachusetts, but, most reports refer to "Obamacare" and "President Obama's signature program" that is being chipped away at by the US (needs to GET) High Court rulings aimed at maintaining healthcare for profit.

Let's use the reason we reason with and the logic we like to draw things to their logical conclusions.

Too many people live in too many separate bubbles, LP. Little tiny pools of confusion on one big ball of confusion.

 

[lpetrich]

Two years after the disastrous 2022 election, everyone has moved on. Maloney now has a cushy gig in Paris as the U.S. ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Jones has moved back to the suburbs and is once again running to represent NY-17. He has rebranded himself as “pragmatic” instead of “progressive” in hopes of winning enough suburban support to unseat Lawler. The Republican congressman has attempted to paint Jones as a close ally of Bowman, who himself faces a strong primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer in NY-16.

A year ago, MJ was rather weaselly. “As Jamaal Bowman has shown time and time again, he does not need my endorsement to defeat his primary opponents. The suggestion that he does is offensive.” But more recently, he moved further than that.

On Tuesday, Jones took his strongest step yet to distance himself from Bowman, endorsing Latimer and harshly criticizing Bowman, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, for sowing “pain and anxiety” among Jewish New Yorkers. Aligning himself closely with Latimer, who has received more than $10 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC, may give Jones a boost in NY-17.

Progressive Caucus pulls Mondaire Jones endorsement after Bowman split

Mondaire Jones loses critical support from Working Families Party after blowing off Bowman - Gothamist

"I have always been, and always will be, pro-Israel and socially liberal,” Jones said on Wednesday. “I'll continue to fight for women's rights, including abortion, and for common-sense laws to get dangerous weapons off our streets. I've also fought for more police funding to keep our communities safe."

‘It’s disgusting’: Progressives seethe after Mondaire Jones backs Jamaal Bowman challenger | Semafor

“I am appalled,” Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. said.

...
“It’s disgusting,” said Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who also faces a well-funded primary challenge this cycle. “Is that who he wants to be? Someone that the members can’t even trust? Someone that the members know will be your friend one day, and then as soon as it’s beneficial to him, will completely not only turn on you, but will go and support the person that is challenging you?”

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Penn. called the endorsement “incredibly disappointing.”

“Here we have a former CPC and CBC member who’s endorsing against both a Progressive and Black man who was the first Black man in his seat,” she said. “So it couldn’t be me. But I think and I hope that people will look at that for what that is.”

The Republican incumbent and candidate in NY-17:
Mike Lawler on X: "Yikes. Even the squad is angry at ⁦@MondaireJones for his duplicity⁩. Wonder how this will play out in his ⁦⁦@WorkingFamilies⁩ party primary on June 25th. ⁦⁦@NYWFP⁩ ⁦@JamaalBowmanNY⁩ (link)" / X

 

[Derec]

“I am appalled,” Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. said.

I am sure she is. She is the same brand of far-left, anti-Israel Democrat as the Fire Marshal.

“It’s disgusting,” said Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who also faces a well-funded primary challenge this cycle. “

And hopefully she will lose.

Is that who he wants to be? Someone that the members can’t even trust? Someone that the members know will be your friend one day, and then as soon as it’s beneficial to him, will completely not only turn on you, but will go and support the person that is challenging you?”

Which "members" is she talking about? Members of the Squad?
And she is quite hypocritical here. Both she and JB won their seats by "turning on" fellow Democrats holding their seats.

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Penn. called the endorsement “incredibly disappointing.”

I find it incredibly disappointing that she won her primary, but that's life.

“Here we have a former CPC and CBC member who’s endorsing against both a Progressive and Black man who was the first Black man in his seat,” she said. “So it couldn’t be me. But I think and I hope that people will look at that for what that is.”

This idea that blacks should support fellow blacks just because they share skin color is incredibly racist. Would a white congresswoman ever make this kind of argument against a fellow white congressman who is endorsing a black primary candidate in a neighboring district?

Mike Lawler on X: "Yikes. Even the squad is angry at ⁦@MondaireJones for his duplicity⁩. Wonder how this will play out in his ⁦⁦@WorkingFamilies⁩ party primary on June 25th. ⁦⁦@NYWFP⁩ ⁦@JamaalBowmanNY⁩ (link)" / X

Yeah, this internecine bickering will only help Lawler in November.

 

[Derec]

Mondaire Jones ought to have done what  Rana Abdelhamid did. When she decided that her electoral prospects were untenable, she quit.

Why do you think he has no chance? Because he stood by his principles over racial loyalty (which Summer Lee wanted him to follow)?
Who is running in that primary? Is there any polling?

Early in 2021, RAH announced her candidacy in NY-12, running against longtime incumbent Carolyn Maloney. But after redistricting, she decided that she did not have much of a chance, and she quit.

RAH, the founder of "Hijabis of New York" who dismissed oppression of Afghan women by the Taliban as "Islamophobic propaganda"? The socialists of DSA have some really strange bedfellows ...

I recall from somewhere that she also did not want to run against either Nydia Velázquez of NY-07 or AOC of NY-14, something very understandable - she has a lot of ideological overlap with these two politicians. In 2020, Badrun Khan ran as something of an AOC Lite candidate, and she didn't get very far.

NY really needs to change their rules to require candidates to live in the district they run for. That would discourage such district shopping. Have carpetbag, will travel.

I have to at someone who failed to consider a simple fix to this kind of problem: proportional representation. But RAH may not be any worse than all the US election reformers who steadfastly ignore PR.

It may be simple in principle, but difficult to implement in practice.

 

[Derec]

After the redistricting of 2021, Sean Patrick Maloney, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was forced into the same district as Mondaire Jones, who had campaigned as a progressive when he won in 2020, AOC endorsement and all. He didn't want to run against Jamaal Bowman in NY-16, so he fled to NY-10 in Brooklyn.

MJ should have ran in NY-16 given that he lives there. I know that this is not a statutory requirement in NY, but it makes sense logically to live in the district you represent.

Which makes him a coward. Someone had to run as a Democrat in that district. But this new account agrees with the earlier accounts that MJ didn't want to run against JB in NY-16, and adds that from some polling, MJ would likely lose to JB there.

SPM was a better fit for NY-17 than MJ, being more moerate, and he had the advantage that he lived there. The only advantage MJ had is that he represented an extinct district with the same number as the new one.
MJ really should have challenged JB. Fleeing to Manhattan to join the busy NY-10 primary was a stupid decision.

once Maloney’s race was called in favor of Lawler, Jones went on Twitter to rub it in. “Yikes,” he tweeted.

He would have most likely not done any better, and probably worse.

... indeed.

 

[lpetrich]

Mondaire Jones ought to have done what  Rana Abdelhamid did. When she decided that her electoral prospects were untenable, she quit.

Why do you think he has no chance?

I explained it earlier. In 2022, MJ had three options, none of them good:

1. NY-17: Run against SPM, then face off against a Republican in a better position than earlier.
2. NY-16: Run against JB.
3. NY-10: Run in a very crowded primary.

RAH faced (3) in the new NY-12, and (2) in NY-07 (NV) and NY-14 (AOC), so unlike MJ, she had the good sense to quit.

I have to at someone who failed to consider a simple fix to this kind of problem: proportional representation. But RAH may not be any worse than all the US election reformers who steadfastly ignore PR.

It may be simple in principle, but difficult to implement in practice.

Difficult??? The only difficult part is getting the politicians to support it. The rest is relatively easy.

• Voting machines? Will have to be reprogrammed or replaced, but that's not much different from RCV.
• Districting? Should be easier than for single-member districts.
• Vote counting? Should be comparable to RCV -- at worst.

 

[Derec]

I explained it earlier. In 2022

I thought you meant in 2024.

, MJ had three options, none of them good:

1. NY-17: Run against SPM, then face off against a Republican in a better position than earlier.
2. NY-16: Run against JB.
3. NY-10: Run in a very crowded primary.

I think he should have ran in NY-16. Thaht's where he is from, and somebody should have seriously challenged that creep Bowman back in 2022.

RAH faced (3) in the new NY-12, and (2) in NY-07 (NV) and NY-14 (AOC), so unlike MJ, she had the good sense to quit.

AOC is a far-left superstar, so that's a no-go, but just because there is competition in other districts does not mean there was no avenue for her to win. Which district does she live in anyway? That would be her natural starting point, rather than taking her carpet bag on the subway ...

Difficult??? The only difficult part is getting the politicians to support it.

That's like saying that it's easy to buy a Ferrari; you just go down to the dealership. The only difficult part is getting the $300k ...

The rest is relatively easy.

I agree.

 

[lpetrich]

Doyle Canning on X: "Make a show of ..." / X

Make a show of your million dollar PAC to make headlines, stroke your ego, and intimidate. Then elect "moderate business friendly Dems" in deep blue primaries, then bow out from fighting MAGA in tough holds/flips in November. With "Democrats" like these...

"Oregonians Are Ready also pumped about $133,000 into Eugene Is Ready, formed by Clem in April specifically to pay for mailers and advertisements against legislative director and attorney Doyle Canning...“This PAC is really a primary PAC,” Clem said. “That’s the function of it.”

noting Former lawmaker Brian Clem reclaims majority of $1 million he pumped into Oregon politics this spring to elect moderate Democrats - oregonlive.com

That's sleazy. Pumping a lot of money into a primary and then showing much less interest in the general election. I recall some PAC's were like that back in 2022, spending a lot of money to defeat progressive candidates, then acting as if they don't care whether a Democrat or a Republican wins the general election.

 

[Derec]

Jamaal Bowman getting support from pro-Erdoğan Turkish groups.

Turkish groups looking for influence in New York found a new target: Jamaal Bowman

Members of the Turkish American Steering Committee — an organization representing the interests of the Turkish government and parts of its American diaspora — have visited Bowman in Washington, hosted a food distribution event attended by the two-term lawmaker and thrown a fundraiser for him.
The organization’s affiliation with Bowman appears to have been borne out of its fierce opposition to his predecessor, former Rep. Eliot Engel, who as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee had taken several stances in opposition to the Turkish government.
The pro-Turkey group had at least one reason to be happy with its overtures. While Bowman’s progressive politics do not comport with the authoritarian bent of the Erdoğan regime, he pursued legislation three years ago that would have forced U.S. troops out of northeast Syria — a policy long coveted by Erdoğan’s government. The measure garnered support from a bipartisan group of legislators in Congress.

Sounds about right. Erdoğan is also very hostile to Israel, just like the Fire Marshal.

 

[Derec]

Cori Bush, the faith healer.

Squad member Cori Bush claimed she performed miracles, cured tumors in autobiography

Far-left Squad member Rep. Cori Bush performed multiple miracles as a religious faith healer, according to her autobiography.
“As I learned how to apply God’s Word to my life in new ways, I better understood the power that was already residing in me,” Bush wrote of her abilities in “The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America.”
“It was there, waiting for me to acknowledge it, to use it. I had the confidence to heal others with God’s power.”
[...]
In another instance, Bush claimed she cured a woman racked with tumors.
“One woman whom we met had several visible tumors on her torso. She was due to have surgery but lacked health insurance and living in the park. One of the tumors was particularly painful to her. I laid hands on her and prayed, and I felt that my hand was no longer touching a tumor. It shrank along with the others on her body.
The book was released by Knopf in 2022. But despite a full court media blitz at the time, few people appear to have read it.

 

[lpetrich]

The Congressional Progressive Caucus Agenda for 2025 - The American Prospect - June 3, 2024 - by Pramila Jayapal - "Democrats got a lot done in President Biden’s first term. But more is needed."

Noting Congressional Progressive Caucus Proposition Agenda Executive Summary - I'd mentioned it earlier in this thread.

She concedes that it will require a Democratic trifecta, and she concedes that it will require weakening or abolishing the Senate filibuster.

 

[Derec]

lpetrich, you usually do analyses of races like this one. What do you think of the contentious primary in VA-10?

A Democratic Brawl in Virginia May Put a House Seat in Play

Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, in the suburbs of Washington, was never meant to be a linchpin in the battle for control of the House. But with the ugliest Democratic primary campaign of 2024 finally ending, national Democrats may be nervously watching as the results roll in on Tuesday night.

Here is the results page. It seems 12 candidates are in the race in the Democratic primary, which means that the winner could win with a pretty low percentage. All the more reasons to get rid of FPTP partisan primaries, especially if they require plurality, rather than majority, to win.

 

[Derec]

Cori Bush calls for race-based "reparations" in her Juneteenth tweets. For example this one:


In addition to things like "education equity" aka racial preferences.

I really hope she gets eliminated in the primary.

 

[Derec]

Sergeant Sandy, Colonel Bernie Sanders, and Fire Marshal Jamaal apparently do not hate Israel enough for some pro-Palestinian groups in NYC. They are now involved in an internecine warfare against an even more radical group.

AOC, Bernie Sanders dubbed ‘sellouts’ by far-left group at NYC Jamaal Bowman rally for not being pro-Palestinian enough

Socialists were eating their own at a rally for Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the Bronx Saturday as even more extreme leftists held a counter-event to rip “sellouts” Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for not backing Palestine enough to their liking.
[...]
However, outside the park, the anti-Israel group Within Our Lifetime, run by radicals Nerdeen Kiswani and Fatima Mousa, hosted their “Flood the Bronx for Gaza” to counter the rally, which about 150 attended.
Some banged drums while others held signs with slogans like “For class war to free Palestine! Dump Genocide Joe and the Squad.”

"Within Our Lifetime" is a far-left group that openly supports Palestinian terrorism. DOJ should investigate them for martial support.