Democrats trying to unseat each other

[lpetrich]

About MA-08,

Lynch, who has been in Congress for 20 years, is a low-profile target. He’s a centrist Democrat with a pretty unassuming record in Congress. His last major news cycle was when he voted against the Affordable Care Act in 2010 — a vote that cost him significantly when he tried to run for Senate against Markey in 2013.

Lynch’s record is all over the place. He’s an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, but once called global warming an “elitist” issue. He has a long record as a self-described anti-abortion Democrat — and voted to restrict abortions while in the state legislature — but has changed his tune over the last decade and now votes on party lines.

Local grassroots activists think Goldstein has an opening because Lynch isn’t campaigning like he’s facing a serious challenger. He’s raised less money this cycle than he has in the past three. The official campaign arm of the Democratic Party doesn’t appear to be helping him out. And in the coronavirus age, Goldstein’s career as an infectious disease doctor is compelling.

Is Rep. Stephen Lynch slacking off? Or is he getting complacent? That's what did in Joe Crowley. Along with the massive campaign effort and sheer determination of his opponent, AOC and her campaigners. So if Robbie Goldstein and his campaigners campaign hard enough, he may be able to win.

 

[lpetrich]

MA-04 was vacated by JKIII, and there are now 7 candidates running there. According to this poll on August 28, RABA_Jewish-Insider-MA04-August-2020-MQ.pdf

• Jake Auchincloss 23%
• Jesse Mermell 22%
• Becky Grossman 15%
• Ihssane Leckey 11%
• Alan Khazei 8%
• Natalia Linos 7%
• Ben Sigel 1%
• Someone else 3%
• Not sure 10%

The overwhelming majority of labor unions, progressive elected officials and grassroots activism groups have gotten behind Jesse Mermell, a former aide to then-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and senior Planned Parenthood official. Mermell, who supports “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal, goes about as far as left as one can in a district that has deeply moderate pockets.

Some progressives are concerned that the candidacy of Ihssane Leckey, a financial regulator and Muslim immigrant from Morocco, could prevent either progressive from triumphing in the race. In campaign videos and literature, Leckey casts herself as the next member of the House’s diverse “Squad” of progressive legislators, and she’s picked up the support of Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

But there is little evidence that Leckey has a shot at winning in the crowded field. She lost the support of the Boston chapter of Democratic Socialists of America following charges of a harsh management style at odds with progressive labor ideals. And a public poll that came out Friday showed her in a distant fourth place.

The divided progressive field has raised the prospect that Jake Auchincloss, a Marine veteran and business consultant who was previously a registered Republican, will replace the more-liberal Kennedy. Auchincloss was neck-and-neck with Mermell in Friday’s poll.

So that district has a risk of suffering a fate that was feared for NY-15, where a crowded field of progressives could have let a social conservative win.

 

[lpetrich]

Rep. Richie Neal's Campaign Sends Threatening Letter Demanding Removal of Ad About His Corporate PAC Cash - TMI - "Facing a tough primary challenge, the embattled congressman aims to block voters from seeing an ad about him being Congress’s #1 recipient of corporate PAC money."

Kennedy-Markey race takes nasty turn in Massachusetts | TheHill

This is fun.

The Kennedy family name was drawn into the battle after Markey in a campaign ad referenced President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address.

“We asked what we could do for our country. We went out, we did it,” Markey said in the three-minute ad, referencing Kennedy’s quote. “With all due respect, it's time to start asking what your country can do for you.” Markey did not directly address his primary opponent in the spot.

The congressman quickly hit back at Markey, accusing the senator of “weaponizing” his family’s history.

“I didn’t [bring my family into the race],” Joe Kennedy said. “The senator did.”

Kennedy then began featuring footage of JFK, RFK and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) in has ads. His grandmother, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, 92, even recorded a spot encouraging voters to support her grandson.

 

[lpetrich]

The Massachusetts Congressional primary is today, and I'm now watching the New York Times page on it for results.

Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy III were been neck-and-neck earlier in the count, but EM is now ahead of JKIII 55% - 45%.

The  Kennedy family has been involved in politics for a long time.

• Patrick Joseph Kennedy: Massachusetts state Representative 1884–1889; Massachusetts state Senator, 1889–1895.
  • Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr.: Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1934–1935; chairman of the United States Maritime Commission, 1936–1938; United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1938–1940.
    • John Fitzgerald Kennedy: United States Representative from Massachusetts, 1947–1953; United States Senator from Massachusetts, 1953–1960; President of the United States, 1961–1963
      • Caroline Kennedy: United States Ambassador to Japan, 2013–2017.
    • Eunice Kennedy Shriver
      • Bobby Shriver: Santa Monica, California City Council member, 2004–2012; Mayor of Santa Monica, 2010.
      • Mark Kennedy Shriver: Maryland state Delegate, 1995–2003.
    • Robert Francis Kennedy: United States Attorney General 1961–1964; United States Senator from New York, 1965–1968.
      • Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: Lieutenant governor of Maryland, 1995–2003.
      • Joseph P. Kennedy II: United States Representative from Massachusetts, 1987–1999.
        • Joseph P. Kennedy III: United States Representative from Massachusetts, 2013–present.
    • Jean Kennedy Smith: United States Ambassador to Ireland, 1993–1998.
    • Edward Moore Kennedy: United States Senator from Massachusetts, 1962–2009.
      • Edward M. Kennedy Jr.: Connecticut state Senator, 2015–2019.
      • Patrick J. Kennedy: Rhode Island state Representative, 1989–1993; United States Representative from Rhode Island, 1995–2011.

 

[lpetrich]

Here is the Kennedy family's electoral history in MA:

• JFK: US House 1946, 1948, 1950 US Senate 1952, 1958, US President MA primary 1960 -- 6 wins
• Ted K: US Senate 1962, 1964, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000, 2006 -- 10 wins
• Joe K II: US House 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996 -- 6 wins
• Joe K III: US House 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 -- 4 wins

That's 26 wins and 0 losses -- until now.

With 715K votes counted, Ed Markey* is at 54% and JKIII 46%.

(* = incumbent)

JKIII has become the first Kennedy to lose in his family's home state.

MA-01: 97K votes counted, Richard Neal* 59%, Alex Morse 41%

MA-04: a very crowded field. With 89K votes counted, it's Jesse Mermell 24.9%, Jake Auchincloss 22.3%, Becky Grossman 16.9%, Natalia Linos 11.3%, Ihssane Leckey 10.1%, Alan Khazei 8.5%, Christopher Zannetos 3.0%, Benjamin Sigel 1.5%, David Cavell 1.4%

MA-06: 60K votes counted, Seth Moulton* 78%, Jamie Belsito 12%, Angus McQuilken 10%

MA-08: 60K votes counted, Stephen Lynch* 67%, Robbie Goldstein 33%

 

[lpetrich]

I'm discussing Democratic primaries here, since they are effectively the main elections for much of the state.

MA-04 is JKIII's old seat with a wide open race for it. There are 7 currently in it, and 2 who have dropped out and who are still on the ballot: David Cavell and Christopher Zannetos. These two have endorsed Jesse Mermell.

There is some interesting ideological variation among the candidates. About healthcare reform, the candidates advocates an Obamacare public option (PO), "Medicare for All" single-payer (M4A), and pushing for a PO first, then going to M4A (PO-to-M4A).

• M4A: Ihssane Leckey, Natalia Linos, Jesse Mermell, (Dave Cavell)
• PO-to-M4A: Becky Grossman, Ben Sigel
• PO: Jake Auchincloss, Alan Khazei, (Chris Zannetos)

Jesse Mermell was endorsed by Ayanna Pressley, and Ihssane Leckey by Ilhan Omar and Brand New Congress.

The vote so far, with 111K votes: JM 23.3%, JA 22.2%, BG 17.2%, NL 11.4%, IL 10.7%, AK 8.9%, CZ 3.0%, BS 1.7%, DC 1.5%

This election seemed like NY-15, an election where progressive candidates risking letting a conservative win by splitting the ballot. But they seem to have avoided that. It must be noted that for MA-04, "conservative" is relative, because JA supports a public option for Obamacare and a Green New Deal.

Coalescing the candidates by healthcare-reform vote, I find:

• M4A: 46.9%
• PO-to-M4A: 18.9%
• PO: 34.1%

So the progressives would have had a much stronger victory.

 

[lpetrich]

This November, the voters of Massachusetts will vote on a measure to implement Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff Voting for state elections. It has been adopted in several places, and it offers a good solution to the spoiler problem. One does not vote for a single candidate, but several, in order of one's preference. If one's first choice does not win, then one's second-choice vote will be counted.

Thus, for Presidential elections, if one likes the Green candidate but is not sure that that one will win, then one can vote first choice Green, second choice Democratic.

Massachusetts Question 2, Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2020) - Ballotpedia

WBUR Poll Finds Mass. Voters Split On Ranked-Choice Voting Ballot Question | WBUR News - 36% for, 36% against, implying 28% undecided. Margin of error: 4.4%

Question 2: Where the Mass. delegation stands on ranked choice voting | Boston.com

Advocacy of the measure: YES on Question 2 in Massachusetts - Vote Nov. 3, 2020


An impressive array of MA politicians have lined up behind it. Six of the nine members of MA's House delegation support it: Jim McGovern, Lori Trahan, Joe Kennedy III, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, and Ayanna Pressley. Bill Keating is undecided, and Richard Neal and Stephen Lynch did not respond to a question about it. Of MA's two Senators, Ed Markey supports it, while Elizabeth Warren seems unsure but sympathetic.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Massachusetts: You have one of the most progressive Senate delegations in the United States.
Today is the day to protect it & champion a Green New Deal**
🗳 VOTE @EdMarkey for US Senate 🗳 #GreenNewDealmaker https://t.co/E1ajyqEtiM" / Twitter
(with a video of an Ed Markey campaign ad)

Ayanna Pressley on Twitter: "Tomorrow, we vote. https://t.co/rdMPrbhZMQ" / Twitter
then
Ayanna Pressley on Twitter: "TODAY!" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It’s not your age that counts - it’s the age of your ideas.
-
Phonebank for @EdMarkey here: (links)" / Twitter
with some pictures of AOC with EM, like rolling out their Green New Deal, and eating ice cream together in the back of a car.

Ayanna Pressley on Twitter: "Our poll workers and our postal workers are essential to our communities & our democracy. Thank you for your service—and special thanks to Ms. Barbara who is celebrating her 35th year as a poll worker. https://t.co/8Xj2NRa3Xf" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "MA: Let’s run up the NUMBERS for @AyannaPressley’s re-election today!
She is one of the most gifted history makers, public servants, and policy minds that our country has today.
Let’s help her shatter turnout for #MA07 - get out your vote! 🗳" / Twitter
noting
NowThis on Twitter: "‘Another world is possible. Yes, it is possible to legislate justice and accountability, people over profits, joy over profits, freedom over fear … We will meet the moment.’ — Rep. Ayanna Pressley delivers soaring speech at the #MarchOnWashington https://t.co/8XXQ98gwf8" / Twitter

Though AP had no primary challengers.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Congratulations @EdMarkey - yours is a victory for the progressive movement, for 21st century policy, and for the Green New Deal
THANK YOU to every single voter, supporter, organizer, grassroots donor, & everyday person who helped make this happen. This win belongs to you " / Twitter

Markey overcomes Kennedy challenge in Massachusetts - POLITICO - "The 74-year-old senator held off a primary challenge from Rep. Joe Kennedy, while House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal also defeated a younger Democratic challenger."

Kennedy called Markey to concede the race shortly before The Associated Press declared a winner, according to Kennedy campaign spokesperson Michael Cummings. With about three-quarters of the vote tallied late Tuesday night, Markey had 54 percent of the vote to Kennedy's 46 percent.

POLITICO on Twitter: "Breaking: Sen. Ed Markey has defeated Rep. Joe Kennedy in the Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts, notching a big win for progressives who made Markey's campaign a national cause this summer (links)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "On a personal note, when I first got to Congress the reception I got in many spaces was v chilly. Ed Markey wasn’t afraid. He offered his expertise & partnership. He wasn’t scared of big policy & didn’t use kid gloves. It‘s great to watch him overcome the odds and win tonight." / Twitter

She seems to credit him with helping her out in her first few months in Congress.

Ed Markey on Twitter: "Growing up, my father told me, don’t beg for your rights, you organize, and you take them. So, to the young people fighting in this movement for change, here is my charge: march in the streets, protest, run for school committee or city council or the state legislature. And win." / Twitter

On a more whimsical note,
Leo Ashe - Comedy. Cats. Politics. on Twitter: "@AOC gives LIVE response to @SpeakerPelosi and @joekennedy as @EdMarkey prevails in the Massachusetts senate primary! (link)" / Twitter
showing a picture of her eating ice cream from a year ago.

 

[lpetrich]

In MA-04, JKIII's old seat, Jesse Mermell and Jake Auchincloss continue to be neck-and-neck, with JM 22.7% and JA 22.2% with 122,087 votes counted.

The defeat of JKIII brings to my mind what some people call the presidency of his granduncle.

Referring to JFK's presidency as 'Camelot' doesn't do him justice | Sarah-Jane Stratford | Opinion | The Guardian - "The source of the Camelot reference is a story of failed idealism. It, like all mythology, distracts us from the whole story of Kennedy"

The name "Camelot" is such an accepted sobriquet for the Kennedy Administration that many don't recognize it as a creation of Jackie Kennedy's during a Life magazine interview following JFK's assassination. It certainly evokes an image of a romantic fairy-tale … but, when considered in light of its origin, it's nowhere near as flattering a nickname as it was intended to be.

What prompted Jackie's analogy was the 1960 Lerner and Loewe musical "Camelot", which presents the kingdom ruled by King Arthur as a place built on lofty principles, more idyllic than Eden. The plot, however, focuses on the forces out to destroy Camelot – the adulterous romance between Lancelot and Arthur's queen, Guenevere, and the machinations of Arthur's bitter illegitimate son, Mordred. Arthur, though witty and idealistic, is not very adept at thinking for himself or dealing with the thornier aspects of government.

It's not exactly the most uplifting epitaph for a fallen leader. While Jackie meant the comparison to be positive, highlighting the hope and potential ushered in with the inauguration, it is unfortunately rooted in a story of a weak and cuckolded leader, whose best work barely warrants a mention.

Next week, RI and NH, and the week after that, the last, one, DE, with Jessica Scarane for Senate.

 

[lpetrich]

MA-04 is a nail-biter. At 124,808 votes, JM has 22.4%, JA 22.3%, with 105 votes difference. The difference between the two frontrunners was going down before it settled on this value for the night -- that was about 2 AM EDT.

At 132,570 votes, it's JA 22.4%, JM 21.7% -- 9:25 AM EDT.
At 146,192 votes, it's JA 22.3%, JM 21.5% -- 10 AM EDT

From the NYT's page on this race, "A crowded field is vying for the seat being vacated by Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III. Jesse Mermell and Ihssane Leckey have won key progressive endorsements. Alan Khazei and Jake Auchincloss — who has run toward the political center — have raised the most money."


JKIII's father was JKII, and JKII's father was RFK, Bobby Kennedy. RFK had brothers JFK and Teddy K.

The Unlikely Kennedy Who Ended the Kennedy Dynasty - POLITICO

The 74-year-old Markey, who was first elected to the House in 1972, was supposed to be the type of proud, uncharismatic incumbent whom Kennedys routinely dispatch to retirement homes or ambassadorships. Joe Kennedy’s grandfather, Robert, famously ended the 18-year political career of New York Sen. Kenneth Keating, a 64-year-old Rockefeller Republican, without even moving to the state until shortly before the election. In a 1962 debate, Massachusetts Attorney General Edward J. “Eddie” McCormack Jr. told political neophyte Edward Moore Kennedy that if his name had been Edward Moore, his Senate candidacy “would be a joke.” The joke, of course, was on Eddie McCormack, who lost the Democratic primary, 69-30.

But those victories were long ago. "And much of what remains in photos and video clips of the once-famous Kennedy style is obnoxious to the public mood: Sleekly dressed men with sometimes leering eyes, captive spouses, cocktails and cigarettes."

 

[lpetrich]

"Joseph P. Kennedy III was in high school when his mother wrote the book that effectively destroyed his father’s political career."

That was Joseph P. Kennedy II, the family's expected successor. Two years after getting divorced, he tried to get an annulment from the Catholic Church. He did that because he wanted to marry his secretary while continuing to be in good standing with the Church.

Sometimes called a "Catholic divorce", an annulment is where the Church decides that a marriage never really existed. But his ex-wife, Sheila Rauch Kennedy, was outraged about his attempt to argue that her former marriage never really existed. Four years later, in 1997, she wrote a book about that, "Shattered Faith".

Within a year, Joe II announced he would not seek re-election to the House seat he had held for 12 years. The decision was widely attributed both to the annulment and the death in a skiing accident of his brother Michael, whom he had made his successor as head of Citizens Energy, the non-profit company he founded to deliver low-cost heating oil to needy families. Michael himself had been the focus of a recent scandal over a longstanding affair with his children’s teenage babysitter.

Those weren’t the first reversals in Joe II’s life. The eldest son of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy carried the burden of having been deeply affected by his father’s death. His subsequent years included his expulsion from several private schools and an accident in which he was cited for reckless driving and a young woman was paralyzed. He was serving in Congress when his first cousin, William Kennedy Smith, was accused of raping a woman at the family compound in Palm Beach and later acquitted.

JKIII has had a more modest and diligent style. After Barney Frank retired, JKIII entered a crowded field and campaigned very diligently, meeting thousands of voters.

Over four terms in Congress, Joe III behaved like a scaled-down version of the family archetype. He championed health care, like his Uncle Ted, but seemed content to accept a lesser role on the crowded roster of Democrats scrambling to remake the system.

...
But being a Kennedy means being perpetually groomed for greater things. Ted Kennedy struggled with these kinds of expectations on a far grander scale.

Ted tried to run for President, but his Chappaquiddick scandal doomed him.

MA-04, 148,292 votes counted - JA 22.4%, JM 21.4%

 

[lpetrich]

In 2019, Ed Markey seemed vulnerable. He'd been in Congress a long time, and he seemed vulnerable, like Joe Crowley and Michael Capuano, unseated by AOC and Ayanna Pressley the year before. Could he also be unseated by a young upstart?

But Kennedy, his advisers and many other people underestimated Markey’s vitality, campaign skills and, especially, his sense of determination. Being put out to pasture by a Kennedy seemed to him the greatest affront, the height of indignity, and he made others see it that way, too. Soon, Markey was appearing in ads shooting baskets with a panther-like agility that Donald Trump and Joe Biden could only dream of; in recognition of Markey’s decades of support for clean energy, none other than Ocasio-Cortez offered her endorsement, cementing Markey’s position to Kennedy’s left—the key to a huge trove of votes in a Massachusetts Democratic primary.

Kennedy, meanwhile, struggled to articulate a reason for running. His politeness seemed to prevent him from offering the most plausible answer, that Markey had lost his effectiveness. Instead, he made oblique references to generational change, while Markey essentially accused him of running a vanity candidacy, funded in part by a PAC led by Joe II.

His father.

Late in the campaign, JKIII's campaigners released a campaign ad featuring his 92-year-old grandmother Ethel. She said in it “I hope with all my heart you vote for Joe. . . He reminds me of Bobby and Jack and Teddy.” The ad also showed pictures of the three brothers from over half a century ago. Seems like JKIII was trying to cash in on his family's legacy.

 

[lpetrich]

Why Joe Kennedy’s Senate campaign flopped - POLITICO

The question seemed to trail him everywhere, from the day Joe Kennedy announced he’d challenge Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary to the final hours of the campaign: Why are you running?

In a year of campaigning across Massachusetts, Kennedy never seemed to come up with a satisfactory answer. In the end, he simply gave up trying.

...
Kennedy’s failure to lay out a rationale for taking on Markey wasn’t the sole cause of his defeat. Rather, it was symptomatic of a campaign that was too confident, for too long — it didn’t think the usual rules applied, or that the 74-year-old Markey had enough fight in him to fend off one of the Democratic Party’s brightest young stars.

Almost as if his main argument was "I'm a Kennedy. I'll create Camelot in Congress." But he's been undistinguished in the House, and I doub that he'd do much better in the Senate.

His candidacy was designed around the idea that a vote for Kennedy was an investment in his seemingly limitless political future, while Markey was already on his way out the door.

What Kennedy didn't envision was the way Markey would reinvent himself as a darling of the progressive left over the course of the year, harnessing the energy of young voters and climate activists.

...
More important, Markey stepped into the political vacuum created by the departures of Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders from the presidential primary. Progressives were devastated by the collapse of the two campaigns, which came just before the coronavirus pandemic hit Massachusetts, leaving a cohort of newly unemployed presidential campaign staffers and volunteers — and young high school and college activists — stuck at home with time on their hands. They turned their attention to Markey.

They may also have helped Alex Morse, but he was less successful.

I thought about him that if he won, he could be a token Nordic member of The Squad. Like Doyle Canning and Melanie D'Arrigo.

"The Markey campaign did a masterful job convincing voters Ed is someone he is not," one Democratic strategist with Massachusetts ties said after the primary results were tallied.

That he is some AOCish progressive rather than some Bidenite centrist.

Kennedy advisers concede that the campaign should have gone negative earlier and defined the incumbent while his polling numbers were low. But the campaign also blamed the press and the left wing of the party for giving Markey a free pass to reinvent himself.

"This goes to show you that the left doesn't do their homework and they're easily won over by bright shiny objects," said one Kennedy ally.

JKIII's campaign was caught flat-footed by the negative press that it got, after JKIII being well-liked for a long time.

As part of an effort to frame the contest as a choice between a son of the working class and an entitled scion, Markey hammered Kennedy over reports that his father, former Rep. Joe Kennedy II, was prepared to pour money into a super PAC to help his son.

Markey's risky attack proved effective at rallying his progressive base and small-dollar donor operation

I don't see how that sort of attack is very Kennedy-specific.

But it did work. In part, I think, because JKIII was not very distinguished in Congress. So EM could make him seem like some nobody with only his father's wealth going for him.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Ever notice how primary challenges from progressives are derided as “divisive” and “bad for the party,” yet folks are oddly silent about how the center/conservative wing of the party just spent millions trying to unseat me, Ilhan, Rashida, & Ed Markey?
Funny how that works." / Twitter

I like this response:
Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "And usually, it’s the same folks who allege that resources used in progressive primary challenges are better used elsewhere.
Apparently, this complaint doesn’t apply to Democratic primary challenges from the right." / Twitter

Ilhan Omar on Twitter: "Congratulations on your big victory last night, sis @AyannaPressley!
Guess the Squad isn’t so “vulnerable” after all — we have the people on our side. And our progressive coalition is only growing! https://t.co/QxgUm3ArxP" / Twitter
AP didn't have any challengers, and that made it an easy win. But in fairness to her, one has to ask why no corporate Democrat challenged her. No MCC, no BJ, no AMM.

 

[lpetrich]

MA-04, all townships counted, from the New York Times.
[table="class:grid"]
[tr][td]Candidate[/td][td]Votes[/td][td]Pct[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Jake Auchincloss[/td][td]34,971[/td][td]22.4%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Jesse Mermell[/td][td]32,938[/td][td]21.1%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Becky Grossman[/td][td]28,311[/td][td]18.1%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Natalia Linos[/td][td]18,158[/td][td]11.6%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ihssane Leckey[/td][td]17,346[/td][td]11.1%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Alan Khazei[/td][td]14,305[/td][td]9.2%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Christopher Zannetos[/td][td]5,091[/td][td]3.3%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]David Cavell[/td][td]2,472[/td][td]1.6%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Benjamin Sigel[/td][td]2,437[/td][td]1.6%[/td][/tr]
[/table]
Total votes: 156,029
JA, a former Republican who ran as a centrist, won.

By preferred sort of medical insurance:
[table="class:grid"]
[tr][td]What[/td][td]Candidates[/td][td]Votes[/td][td]Pct[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]M4A[/td][td]Ihssane Leckey, Natalia Linos, Jesse Mermell, (Dave Cavell)[/td][td]70,914[/td][td]45.4%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]PO-to-M4A[/td][td]Becky Grossman, Ben Sigel[/td][td]30,748[/td][td]19.7%[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]PO[/td][td]Jake Auchincloss, Alan Khazei, (Chris Zannetos)[/td][td]54,367[/td][td]34.8%[/td][/tr]
[/table]
PO = public option, M4A = Medicare for All

Massachusetts House Primary Shows Need for Ranked Choice Voting - FairVote - "Yet another crowded primary has chosen a winner with less than a fourth of voters supporting them, adding to the sad litany of American elections that were won even though the majority of voters picked someone else."

In good part because of vote splitting among the candidates. The state does not have runoffs for cases of such low-fraction winners, unlike what some states have. There is a proposition to have Ranked Choice Voting in MA, Proposition 2, giving it RCV in all state elections, like for state offices and Congresspeople. Advocacy of it: YES on Question 2 in Massachusetts - Vote Nov. 3, 2020

The "ranked choice" in it is putting the candidates in preference order: first preference, second preference, etc. The usual way of counting them is called Instant Runoff Voting. It's a loser-dropping method. Count the top preferences, and if any candidate wins a majority, then that one wins. Otherwise, drop the top-preferences loser and repeat as if that loser is absent from the ballots.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Ever notice how primary challenges from progressives are derided as “divisive” and “bad for the party,” yet folks are oddly silent about how the center/conservative wing of the party just spent millions trying to unseat me, Ilhan, Rashida, & Ed Markey?
Funny how that works." / Twitter

I like this response:
Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "And usually, it’s the same folks who allege that resources used in progressive primary challenges are better used elsewhere.
Apparently, this complaint doesn’t apply to Democratic primary challenges from the right." / Twitter

Ilhan Omar on Twitter: "Congratulations on your big victory last night, sis @AyannaPressley!
Guess the Squad isn’t so “vulnerable” after all — we have the people on our side. And our progressive coalition is only growing! https://t.co/QxgUm3ArxP" / Twitter
AP didn't have any challengers, and that made it an easy win. But in fairness to her, one has to ask why no corporate Democrat challenged her. No MCC, no BJ, no AMM.

I really don't think that AOC is being picked on for focusing on primaries. I think that it's most democrats today are far more focused on November. The election. Like them or not, the republicans are formidable. They are the minority party in terms of size, by a large margin. And yet they have great power. They are united. The left hems and haws and gets all excited by our platform. The republicans just say, our platform is Trumps platform. That's why we need to come together to beat Trump, because, 4 more years of Trump would be a disaster for our economy, our health, the environment, the courts, and our long term foreign policy. AOC will get more respect when she graduates and begins helping in the elections.

 

[lpetrich]

Alex Thompson on Twitter: "Markey could be a model for Dem incumbent ..." / Twitter

Markey could be a model for Dem incumbent in Blue states/districts wary of 2022 primary challenges:

Publicly Support
Medicare for All
The Green New Deal

Build a policy partnership w/ AOC

Some Dem consultants are already talking about giving this advice to clients.

On cue (Schumer is up in 2022)

This would likely only apply to safe districts. Swing district Dems this cycle mostly want no part of Green New Deal.

Thus acting much like the Tea Party - it never succeeded in primarying many Republicans, but many of those who weren't primaried soon became Tea Party supporters.


Counting off the days to September 15, the date of the last primaries in this season. After that, the next Congressional primaries will be in 2022.

 

[lpetrich]

The Rhode Island and New Hampshire Congressional primaries are now done. On the Democratic side, victories of the incumbents.

But in the Rhode Island State House, some big victories for progressives.

• Rhode Island’s Progressive Wave Was Four Years in the Making
• Progressives oust multiple incumbent lawmakers in RI primary | WPRI.com

First a bit on Rhode Island itself. A New England state, it is one of the 13 original US states, and it was founded in 1636. It has the smallest area and seventh smallest population of the US states, and the second highest population density of them. It has 1.06 million people, roughly comparable to San Jose, the 10th most populous city, and also to the Rochester NY area, the 52nd most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area. It has 2 Representatives in the House, and like every other state, 2 Senators. It has a nickname, the Ocean State.

Back in 2016,

With the help of the Working Families Party, which began in New York City but had been slowly expanding to other states, four progressives ousted incumbent Democrats, including state House Majority Leader John DeSimone, a right-wing Democrat typical of the Rhode Island party establishment. A Jamaican-born teacher, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, beat him by just 21 votes.

Rhode Island’s Democratic Party leadership is famous for its corruption, but also for its grit. DeSimone mounted a write-in campaign in the general election. He fell short there too.

The progressives have been increasing their organization.

• Rhode Island Political Cooperative - 15 candidates
• Reclaim Rhode Island - 4 candidates
• Democratic Socialists of America - one of the RRI's candidates
• Working Families Party - 11 candidates, including 8 also backed by RIPC, RRI, or DSA

Of these 22 candidates, 15 won their primaries.

RIPC endorsed candidates all the way down to town councilmembers. Also effectively ran the campaigns of many of its candidates, and had the help of the Sunrise Movement's campaigners.

RRI was founded by Bernie Sanders campaigners who didn't want their effort gone to waste. Thus being like Our Revolution, also founded by Bernie Sanders campaigners, and thus avoiding the fate of Barack Obama's campaigners.

Something that helped is that many state and local elections have relatively low turnouts, so one can win by recruiting enough voters.

Cynthia Mendes, for instance, a health care worker and single mom was outspent several times over by Senate Finance Chair William Conley Jr., yet blew him out 62 percent to 38 — but her total haul of votes was just 1,727. Brianna Henries, a theater teacher in East Providence, similarly bested her incumbent opponent 62-39 for a House seat with just 727 votes.

One of the biggest upsets was pulled off by Leonela Felix, who won a House seat in the heavily white working class city of Pawtucket, showing that with the right message and enough work, a progressive woman who grew up in the Dominican Republic can win the votes of people who don’t look like her. Felix had long been active with the Working Families Party, which coaxed her to run this year. Her race was the top priority of Reclaim Rhode Island, which launched its largest canvassing operation for her. She knocked on plenty of doors herself; by the end of the campaign, her watch tallied more than 370 miles of walking the district’s blocks.

Something like AOC's first campaign. She was heavily outspent by Joe Crowley, but her campaigners outworked his ones. Campaigners including she herself. She won by recruiting voters, getting a turnout increase of some 68% over some comparable 2014 primary elections.

She brags that she won by outworking JC's campaigners, and that's what happened here also.

From WPRI, "The top two leaders in the Senate — Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, D-North Providence, and Senate Majority Leader Mike McCaffrey, D-Warwick — both survived competitive primaries in their home districts." But Senate Finance Committee Chairman William "Conley was one of 10 incumbents ousted by Democratic primary voters in Tuesday’s election, nine of whom had not conceded before the mail ballot results were released."

 

[lpetrich]

On Tuesday, September 15, will be the last Congressional primary of this election season, in Delaware. Jessica Scarane is running for Senate there, hoping to defeat Chris Coons, someone whom she considers a corporate Democrat.

One state does not have Congressional primaries: Louisiana. Instead, if no candidate gets a majority on Nov 3, then the top two will go into a runoff election on Dec 5.


But in CA-12, most of San Francisco, there will be a very interesting contest, courtesy of California's top-two system.

Nancy Pelosi Challenger Shahid Buttar Makes His Case to Join the Squad | Dear Joe Biden #09 - YouTube

Nancy Pelosi Challenger Shahid Buttar Makes His Case to Join the Squad | Dear Joe Biden #09 – Acronym TV - after debunking the sexual-harassment allegations against him, "Shahid then goes on to make a case for a Green New Deal, a radical restructuring of military spending and priorities, and Medicare for All— all issues that Nancy Pelosi opposes."