I am a donor to my county Democratic party and at times to the Texas Democratic Party. I am a precinct chair, and I perform any general act the party asks. I refuse however to tow the line on candidates or on who to engage put forth by the Democratic Establishment. Neither should any other Progressive.
The Democratic Establishment is attempting to choose candidates for specific districts instead of allowing Democracy to take its course. No infighting is needed; disregard.
The Intercept reported a sad incident between the number 2 Democrat in Congress, Steny Hoyer, and Progressive Colorado Candidate Levi Tillemann. The Democratic Establishment wants him out of the race.
The secretly taped audio recording, released here for the first time, reveals how senior Democratic officials have worked to crush competitive primaries and steer political resources, money, and other support to hand-picked candidates in key races across the country, long before the party publicly announces a preference. The invisible assistance boosts the preferred candidate in fundraising and endorsements, and then that fundraising success and those endorsements are used to justify national party support. Meanwhile, opponents of the party’s unspoken pick are driven into paranoia, wondering if they are merely imagining that unseen hands are working against them.
Hoyer bluntly told Tillemann that it wasn’t his imagination, and that mobilizing support for one Democratic candidate over another in a primary isn’t unusual. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., chair of the DCCC, has a “policy that early on, we’d try to agree on a candidate who we thought could win the general and give the candidate all the help we could give them,” Hoyer told Tillemann matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I’m for Crow,” Hoyer explained. “I am for Crow because a judgment was made very early on. I didn’t know Crow. I didn’t participate in the decision. But a decision was made early on by the Colorado delegation,” he said, referencing the three House Democrats elected from Colorado.
“So your position is, a decision was made very early on before voters had a say, and that’s fine because the DCCC knows better than the voters of the 6th Congressional District, and we should line up behind that candidate,” asked Tillemann during the conversation.
“That’s certainly a consequence of our decision,” responded Hoyer.
“Staying out of primaries sounds small-D democratic, very intellectual, and very interesting,” said Hoyer. “But if you stay out of primaries, and somebody wins in the primary who can’t possibly win in the general,” the Maryland representative said, citing the surprise victory of Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate election, “I’m not saying you’re that person.” But staying out of primaries, he argued, is “not very smart strategy.”
The above action isn’t unlike what the DCCC did in a Texas Congressional primary recently. They launched an all-out attack on Laura Moser in the Texas 7th Congressional District. You would think they would have learned their lesson.
Until a few weeks ago, Laura Moser was a little-known name, one of seven candidates running for the Democratic primary in Texas’s Seventh Congressional District.
That was, until the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee unleashed a scorched-earth campaign against the former freelance journalist and progressive activist, releasing an opposition memo highlighting past statements Moser made seemingly denigrating her home state.
The move may have helped propel Moser across the finish line in the first round of the primary and into a May runoff election, along with Houston attorney Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, who was endorsed by the pro-female candidate Super PAC Emily’s List.
It is evident that the Democratic Establishment would like to effect their will with candidates they claim to have a better chance of winning. After all, their record has been so successful, right? They’ve lost most state Senates and Houses as well as a presidency that should have been a Democratic landslide. But they had the chosen ones. Why then would the Progressives listen to anything they have to say? They must not.
Progressive need to keep their eyes on the ball working to get Progressive candidates elected in the primaries throughout the country. And then work like hell to get them elected. They need not get permission from the party nor do they need to fight or engage with the party. Engage and help voters make the Progressive choice. Let our acts speak.