Democrats trying to unseat each other

[Jarhyn]

The heck it is.

She's using her public position to advance an agenda that she was put in office to represent. That doesn't make her Generalissimo Cortez, it makes her a democratic socialist with a Twitter platform. She doesn't need your permission, nor anyone else's, to leverage her popularity to help candidates she agrees with.

Except it risks actually moving an agenda forward if those trying to move it forward don't know what they are doing. Risking some seats so Republicans can take them doesn't progress the Progressive movement. So it is important to know what you are doing when you are challenging Democrat incumbents in areas that might suggest blueness, but are southern blue or the like.

Her actions of supporting incumbent opponents in the primary certainly seems to suggest that she thinks her opinion is very important.

She is well known, but again... clout is usually earned and I don't see anything behind her experience suggesting that she has any clout.

Then don't listen to her.

I'm worried about losing what little control the Democrats have at the moment. So it does matter.

Progressive politics is antithetical to the sort of credentialism you're pushing anyway.

You mean the whole pragmatic acceptance that America isn't this blue progressive utopia and that there are Democrats in the US that represent districts that can't get someone like Ocasio-Cortez elected? This, in most circles, is understanding reality.

AOC was a bartender, Joshua Collins is a truck driver, Shahid Buttar is a musician, and they are all miles ahead of almost anyone in Congress in terms of their ideological commitments on basically every issue.

That's wonderful. When does that equate progressive legislation being passed? You seem to be forgetting that majorities just don't happen in the House, and America is closer to moderate than they are left-wing, at least the GOP has convinced them they are.

Ocasio-Cortez's need to be in districts where they can actually get elected and not risk the seats.

Bullshit.

Straight. Up. Bullshit.

Think for a second, maybe? If a primary Challenger beats an incumbent, that means they have more democratic support than the incumbent.

 

[lpetrich]

Some people seem to be very charismatic, able to inspire a lot of admiration and loyalty and the like. Steve Jobs was like that, and AOC apparently is also.

I'm reminded of this oddity from Stormy Daniels's autobiography "Full Disclosure":

At school I was a leader. Not in a Mean Girls kind of way, but when we played games or pretended we were wild horses galloping around, I was always the leader and no one ever questioned it. There was never anyone saying, “I’m gonna be the leader today.” It was just natural that it be me.

It was natural to me, too. I always felt like there was some kind of magic around me. Maybe you could chalk it up to my having an exceptional imagination as a kid, but not all of it. There was a vibration that people picked up on. Like the universe had a plan for me.

So it's a sort of personality that makes other people think that one ought to be leading them.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Bullshit.

Straight. Up. Bullshit.

Think for a second, maybe? If a primary Challenger beats an incumbent, that means they have more democratic support than the incumbent.

You are aware of the General Election, right?

Some people seem to be very charismatic, able to inspire a lot of admiration and loyalty and the like. Steve Jobs was like that, and AOC apparently is also.

Is she? I'm not incredibly impressed, nor should anyone. She's been around for less than a single term in the House.

So it's a sort of personality that makes other people think that one ought to be leading them.

There needs to be more than charisma. Obama had a lot more than Ocasio-Cortez and he wasn't over qualified when he ran for President.

My fear in Ocasio-Cortez is she is developing a cult of personality and that is one of her only assets. Kind of like a first round pick in the NFL draft.

 

[Jarhyn]

You are aware of the General Election, right?

Is she? I'm not incredibly impressed, nor should anyone. She's been around for less than a single term in the House.

So it's a sort of personality that makes other people think that one ought to be leading them.

There needs to be more than charisma. Obama had a lot more than Ocasio-Cortez and he wasn't over qualified when he ran for President.

My fear in Ocasio-Cortez is she is developing a cult of personality and that is one of her only assets. Kind of like a first round pick in the NFL draft.

If a district is blue, and more of the blue in the district supports progressive, the district is progressive. Duh.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I counted endorsers and issues:

• M4A/SPS: 45
• EC/NC$: 33
• GND: 32
• DFC: 12
• $15/RMW: 10
• EDR/EDW/ML: 10
• ETW: 9
• HIR: 9
• GR: 7
• CJR: 7
• VER: 7
• AH: 5
• IRB: 4
• RCV: 1

• BNC: 16
• JD: 5

So Medicare for All, ending corruption, and a Green New Deal are the highest priorities.

Sounds like they want 4 more years of His Flatulence. #2 and #3 are pipe dreams. (Not to say we shouldn't try to reduce corruption. Ending it is an obviously hopeless objective.)

 

[PyramidHead]

I counted endorsers and issues:

• M4A/SPS: 45
• EC/NC$: 33
• GND: 32
• DFC: 12
• $15/RMW: 10
• EDR/EDW/ML: 10
• ETW: 9
• HIR: 9
• GR: 7
• CJR: 7
• VER: 7
• AH: 5
• IRB: 4
• RCV: 1

• BNC: 16
• JD: 5

So Medicare for All, ending corruption, and a Green New Deal are the highest priorities.

Sounds like they want 4 more years of His Flatulence. #2 and #3 are pipe dreams. (Not to say we shouldn't try to reduce corruption. Ending it is an obviously hopeless objective.)

OK boomer

 

[PyramidHead]

That's wonderful. When does that equate progressive legislation being passed?

If the progressives AOC is campaigning for get elected in their districts, progressive legislation has a better chance of getting passed.

You seem to be forgetting that majorities just don't happen in the House, and America is closer to moderate than they are left-wing, at least the GOP has convinced them they are.

Ocasio-Cortez's need to be in districts where they can actually get elected and not risk the seats.

In other words, the existing political landscape (as described by the GOP, no less) must be reaffirmed at all costs.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

That's wonderful. When does that equate progressive legislation being passed?

If the progressives AOC is campaigning for get elected in their districts, progressive legislation has a better chance of getting passed.

And if their progressive candidate loses a seat the Dems did hold?

You seem to be forgetting that majorities just don't happen in the House, and America is closer to moderate than they are left-wing, at least the GOP has convinced them they are.

Ocasio-Cortez's need to be in districts where they can actually get elected and not risk the seats.

In other words, the existing political landscape (as described by the GOP, no less) must be reaffirmed at all costs.

Yeah, exactly... oh wait... no, I never said that. I asked where is the credibility in Ocasio-Cortez deciding where to primary existing elected Democrats?

 

[PyramidHead]

And if their progressive candidate loses a seat the Dems did hold?

Then they weren't what the voters wanted. That's true of any candidate of any persuasion, yet you only invoke it when scolding progressives. This is why we can't have nice things.

Yeah, exactly... oh wait... no, I never said that. I asked where is the credibility in Ocasio-Cortez deciding where to primary existing elected Democrats?

Do you imagine her at a switchboard wearing a headset, remotely directing her operatives to mindlessly carry out her decree? Democrats are getting primaried where there are progressives who think they would be better than the incumbent. Again, this is how politics is supposed to work. This is how political parties change over time. It's healthy and should be encouraged.

 

[Jarhyn]

And if their progressive candidate loses a seat the Dems did hold?

Then they weren't what the voters wanted. That's true of any candidate of any persuasion, yet you only invoke it when scolding progressives. This is why we can't have nice things.

Yeah, exactly... oh wait... no, I never said that. I asked where is the credibility in Ocasio-Cortez deciding where to primary existing elected Democrats?

Do you imagine her at a switchboard wearing a headset, remotely directing her operatives to mindlessly carry out her decree? Democrats are getting primaried where there are progressives who think they would be better than the incumbent. Again, this is how politics is supposed to work. This is how political parties change over time. It's healthy and should be encouraged.

I would guess that's because, big shocker here, he doesn't actually support progress.

It's the same classical two-faced bullshit where "be more conservative to court moderates!" + "Don't be more progressive to court young progressives, they should vote for democrats first!"

Edit: or "millennials are killing X industry".

If you want to sell someone something, you have to make your product something they want to buy.

 

[Derec]

Think for a second, maybe? If a primary Challenger beats an incumbent, that means they have more democratic support than the incumbent.

It could just have been a low-turnout primary election that benefited the extremist candidate.
But even if this candidate genuinely gets more Democratic support than the more moderate alternative, this culling of moderates on both sides only serves to polarize Congress even more. I do not think that's a good outcome.

 

[Derec]

It's a nonsensical and insulting question. She's using her public position to advance an agenda that she was put in office to represent. That doesn't make her Generalissimo Cortez, it makes her a democratic socialist with a Twitter platform. She doesn't need your permission, nor anyone else's, to leverage her popularity to help candidates she agrees with.

She is not Generalissimo Cortez, she is Corporal Sandy, squad leader. Her regimental commanding officer is, of course, Colonel Sanders.

Then don't listen to her. Progressive politics is antithetical to the sort of credentialism you're pushing anyway. AOC was a bartender, Joshua Collins is a truck driver, Shahid Buttar is a musician, and they are all miles ahead of almost anyone in Congress in terms of their ideological commitments on basically every issue.

And Nicolas Maduro was a bus driver. What is it with hard left and elevating obviously unqualified people to ruling positions?

 

[Jarhyn]

Think for a second, maybe? If a primary Challenger beats an incumbent, that means they have more democratic support than the incumbent.

It could just have been a low-turnout primary election that benefited the extremist candidate.
But even if this candidate genuinely gets more Democratic support than the more moderate alternative, this culling of moderates on both sides only serves to polarize Congress even more. I do not think that's a good outcome.

Says the person with a vested interest in pushing the dialogue "right".

Excuse me if I don't buy into bad faith bullshit.

The culling of DINOS leads to the left becoming free as birds.

 

[ZiprHead]

Think for a second, maybe? If a primary Challenger beats an incumbent, that means they have more democratic support than the incumbent.

It could just have been a low-turnout primary election that benefited the extremist candidate.
But even if this candidate genuinely gets more Democratic support than the more moderate alternative, this culling of moderates on both sides only serves to polarize Congress even more. I do not think that's a good outcome.

I don't remember you complaining in a similar fashion when tea party types were doing that to moderate republicans.

 

[lpetrich]

What does what:

• ActBlue - no list of participating candidates
• All of Us or None - an activist organization that supports prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families - no candidate endorsements
• Brand New Congress - Congress: currently 2 Senators, 25 Representatives
• The Collective PAC - supports black candidates - Federal, state, local
• Emerge America - supports female candidates - Federal, state, local
• EMILY's List - supports pro-choice female candidates - Federal, state, local
• Flippable - state legislatures
• Forward Majority - state legislatures
• Indivisible - has a candidate endorsement program, but no list of endorsed candidates
• Justice Democrats - Congress: currently 1 Senator, 14 Representatives
• Our Revolution - unclear
• Run For Something - state, local
• Sister District Project - state legislatures
• Swing Left - unclear: Federal, state?
• We Will Replace You | Organization | Common Dreams - defunct?

So these organizations cover Congress, state governments, and local ones - the whole territory.

 

[lpetrich]

Rep. Peter King, a 14-term New York congressman, joins GOP retirement wave

• Rep. Peter King, a moderate Republican who has represented a Long Island congressional district for nearly 30 years, announced he won’t seek reelection.
• His decision presents Democrats with a fresh suburban target as they defend their majority in 2020.
• Voters flocked to Democratic candidates in state elections in Kentucky and Virginia, underscoring Republican vulnerability in a suburban revolt against President Donald Trump

...
The 14-term congressman, 75, said in a Facebook post that he’s retiring because he wants “flexibility to spend more time” with his children and grandchildren “after 28 years of spending 4 days a week in Washington, D.C.”
...
Twenty House Republicans have announced they will not seek reelection. Three other GOP lawmakers have resigned and already left Congress.

Another one bites the dust.

 

[lpetrich]

A Progressive Congressman’s Oversight Of Donald Trump Inspires Challenge From The Left | HuffPost - "Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio checks a lot of liberal boxes. But challenger Doyle Canning thinks he’s going easy on the president."

Some incumbent who is out of touch with his/her constituents while being in a safe seat is well worth primarying. AOC did it, and Marie Newman and Jessica Cisneros are now trying.

The theory behind challenging Rep. Peter DeFazio, who has, since 1987, represented a seat in rural Oregon that now leans just barely Democratic, is more complex.

DeFazio, who now serves as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and longtime supporter of, among other progressive touchstones, “Medicare for All,” otherwise known as single-payer health care.

But Doyle Canning, a 39-year-old community organizer and attorney who has announced a primary challenge against DeFazio, insists that the 72-year-old congressman is past his expiration date.

DC wants an assault-rifle ban, something that PDF opposes, and she refuses to accept money from corporate PAC's, something that PDF has done in abundance.

Doyle Canning | Canning for Congress OR-04 - sort of like Melanie D'Arrigo, running for NY-03.

Matt Stoller, author of the forthcoming book “Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy,” characterized DeFazio’s chairmanship unfavorably when compared to, among other colleagues, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline’s chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel.

“Cicilline is doing a great job investigating big tech. DeFazio needs to show that same urgency in investigating Boeing,” said Stoller, a former congressional aide, who now serves as a fellow at the antitrust-focused Open Markets Institute. “Being the party of the people means carrying on the legacy of [former California Rep.] Henry Waxman and [former Arkansas Rep.] Wright Patman, people who knew how to uncover the secrets powerful people don’t want the public to know.”

Members of DeFazio’s committee staff told HuffPost that they are now sifting through hundreds of thousands of documents that they have obtained since May from both Boeing and the FAA. To call Muilenburg, the Boeing CEO, before the committee prior to obtaining those documents would waste the opportunity to grill him in a more informed way, they argued.

"Then there is the matter of DeFazio’s relative inactivity in response to Secretary Chao’s shady conduct." - Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, whose husband is Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Such things as helping her father's shipping company (Did Elaine Chao’s DOT interviews help her family’s business? - POLITICO) and her husband's home state (Chao met 4 times as often with Kentucky officials as from any other state - POLITICO).

The House Oversight Committee has started investigation, but PDF's committee hasn't.

Then there is the issue of Trump International Hotel in DC. It was build in the Old Post Office Building, which the Trump organization leases from the Federal Government. Thus Congress having oversight over it. Has PDF's committee gone slow on that one in the hope of getting some big infrastructure deal? Maybe.

HuffPost pressed Canning on the difficulty of prevailing against DeFazio in a rural swing seat. Canning responded that, like many progressive challengers before her, she is betting that a principled fighter is capable of expanding the electorate by turning out nonvoters. Among other groups, she wants to appeal to the growing number of eligible Latinx voters who moved to the district for work.

“We’re building a coalition of the new face of the Democratic Party,” she said. “It’s younger, it’s more diverse, it’s more feminist, and it looks different than it did in ’86.”

That was AOC's strategy against Joe Crowley: seeking out new voters.

 

[lpetrich]

14 Progressive 2020 Candidates Who Could be the Next AOC
Progressives running for Congress in 2020 - Google My Maps

Uses emojis to tag the candidates.

Progressive Change Campaign Committee - boldprogressives.org - yet another activist organization.

 

[lpetrich]

People's Policy Project - this site has only three endorsements, but it has some rather interesting policy proposals: Issues – People's Policy Project

Welfare State

Family Fun Pack. This paper argues that the US should create a suite of universal welfare benefits for families with children. The benefits include a baby box, free child care and prek, free school lunches, paid parental leave, free health care for children, and a universal child allowance.

The Leisure Agenda. This paper argues that the US should make a suite of reforms aimed at increasing leisure time, including the creation of new federal holidays, mandated vacation and sick leave, more generous unemployment benefits, paid parental leave, and increases in benefits for the Social Security old-age pension.

Climate Change
Green TVA.
Global Green New Deal.
An Innovation Policy for the Green New Deal.
Carbon Tax and Dividend.

Housing

Social Housing for America. This paper argues that the US should construct 10 million units of mixed-income social housing to alleviate the housing crisis, increase the stock of housing that is publicly-owned, and promote integration, among other things.

Collective Ownership of Capital

Social Wealth Fund for America. This paper argues that the US should create a collective wealth fund and give every American adult one share of ownership in the fund. The principal for the fund would be built up each year through taxes on the wealthy and other mechanisms. Each year the investment return generated by the fund would be paid out as a universal basic dividend to every American adult.

Voting Rights
Prisoner Voting Rights.

General Analysis
The Destruction of Black Wealth During the Obama Presidency.
Mass Incarceration: New Jim Crow, Class War, or Both?

 

[lpetrich]

List Of Progressives Running For 2020 Congress(Update 11-21-19) : DemocraticSocialism - the list only contains challengers, including 3 challengers for Nancy Pelosi (CA-12).