4 New Democratic Candidates Launched Campaigns For Congress In Texas, Michigan, Oregon & Wisconsin

Quite a few candidates from both parties officially launched their campaigns over the weekend. There were 2 House announcements and 2 Senate announcements I was especially excited about. First is Jamie McLeod-Skinner running in OR-05, a blue leaning district (D+3 partisan lean) held by conservative Republican Lori Chavez-De-Remer. You may remember Jamie from last cycle, when she unseated corrupt Blue Dog Kurt Schrader and was then stabbed the back by his pals at the DCCC during the general, ceding the seat to the GOP. With a new DCCC chair in place, I don’t expect anything that would happen again.

In her announcement statement, she said "Oregonians want leaders who rise above partisan bickering to get the job done. Congress needs to focus on the basics-- helping working people and small business owners make ends meet while protecting our democracy, our environment, our communities, and our fundamental rights. Oregonians want to be able to put a roof over our heads, food on our tables, opportunities for our kids, and healthcare for our families, and I’ve dedicated my career to this type of service. I believe in accountability to Oregonians, not corporate PACs. And I’ll work with anyone to make government work for people." The primary won’t be easy though. There are two establishment candidates, state Rep. Janelle Bynum and Metro Council President Lynn Peterson. The other top candidate in the race, Kevin Easton, dropped out yesterday and endorsed Jamie.

We endorsed Jamie last time, and as you can see, we have endorsed her again. Please consider contributing to her campaign here. Another candidate who just announced is Rebecca Cooke, who is running against right-wing freshman Derrick Van Orden is a red-leaning western Wisconsin swing district with an R+9 partisan lean. Last cycle, a conservative, GOP-lite Democratic state Senator, Brad Pfaff, ran and, predictably, lost. (Who needs a Republican-lite politician when they have the real thing?)

• Derrick Van Orden- 164,743 (51.9%)

• Brad Pfaff- 152,977 (48.1%)

Trump won the district in 2020 by 4.7 points. Yesterday, Cooke sent a text to Democratic voters in her district, writing, in part, that she’s a local business owner and daughter of dairy farmers.

At the time of that primary that she lost to Pfaff, John Nichols reported that “Cooke embraces a rural progressive tradition that is deeply rooted in Wisconsin’s farm country. Although little noted by a media that, for the most part, can’t see beyond the narrow confines of the ‘urban-rural divide,’ this is old-school Wisconsin progressivism of the sort that animated Robert La Follette and the progressive movement of the early 20th century… Cooke has positioned herself as an ardent champion of the working farmers, small business owners and union members who provided essential support for La Follette and who— with leaders like Gaylord Nelson, John Reynolds and Carl Thompson, among many others— went on to form Wisconsin’s modern Democratic Party… Cooke eschews the talking points that consultants from Washington and Madison push Democratic candidates to adopt. ‘My issues page on my website, I wrote myself,’ she says. ‘I wanted it to sound like me, like who I am— someone from western Wisconsin.’ And it does. Cooke’s advocacy for health care as a human right is rooted in personal experience. ‘As a small business owner who relies on the exchange for my health care coverage, I know firsthand the limitations of our current system,’ she explains. Her detailed examination of farm policy begins with the observation: ‘My family has had a farm in this district for 150 years so when we had to sell our cows because of the price of milk and competition with larger dairies, it wasn’t just losing a job or a business, but a part of our identity and way of life. My family now raises Angus beef cattle. Here’s how I intend to protect our livelihood and the heritage of agriculture in this District …’”

The two Senate candidates are Hill Harper in Michigan (open seat)-- best known for playing a medical examiner on CSI: NY and a surgeon on The Good Doctor-- and Roland Gutierrez in Texas (vs Ted Cruz). Harper is running against establishment fave, New Dem Elissa Slotkin, who would be guaranteed to be another horrible character making the Senate untenable. She’s a crap member of Congress and will be worse if her already puffed up ego gets more puffed up. She has an “F” grade from ProgressivePunch and her voting record is the 196th “most” progressive. In other words, there are only 16 Democrats in the House worse than Slotkin of the 212 members. Sending her to the Senate would be a catastrophe, exactly what Schumer and the DSCC, neither capable of ever learning a lesson, hope to do. She’s the typical kind of garbage candidate that turns people off to the Democratic Party. She raises a lot of dirty special interest money though ($5.8 million since announcing).

John Wagner reported on the Hill Harper long-anticipated announcement in yesterday’s Washington Post. Hill, who was an Obama classmate in law school, comes right out and says he’s running “to Slotkin’s left, calling himself ‘the most progressive candidate’ in the field. ‘I believe our government should work for the people, be a force for good and protect our freedoms, and that won’t happen if we keep electing the same type of people to office,’ Harper said in an announcement video. ‘That’s why I’m running for the United States Senate, to represent Michigan.’ A campaign website lists his areas of focus as ‘universal healthcare,’ ‘end the filibuster,’ ‘climate justice’ and ‘jobs and economic dignity.’” He also said that “One thing I’ve learned from traveling all over the state of Michigan that I’m super happy about, and also encouraged by, is that Michiganders don’t want their next U.S. Senator chosen by the Washington, D.C. establishment... In recent election cycles, we’ve seen evidence that campaigns powered by the people can be very successful against campaigns that are powered by the establishment, powered by these big-dollar lobbyists and big-dollar donors.”

Gutierrez is a Texas state Senator who wants to take on Ted Cruz. He;’s going to get through conservative Democrat Colin Allred first— and Allred, a mediocre New Dem with a “C” ProgressivePunch score— has heavy backing from the DC establishment. Gutierrez made a name for himself in the aftermath of the Uvalde massacre that killed 19 children and 2 teachers in his district. He’s been pushing sensible gun restrictions ever since.

Allred has raised over $6.2 million in two months since he’s announced. Cruz’s campaign welcomed Gutierrez to the race by saying he is happy to see Allred and Gutierrez “slug it out for who can be the most radical leftist in the state.” Unfortunately, though both are to the left of the fascist-oriented Cruz, neither is remotely “left” or radical. Reporting for the Texas Tribune yesterday, Patrick Svitek wrote “Gutierrez has been in the Legislature since 2008, but he became more vocal than ever after the Uvalde tragedy. He spent the 2023 legislative session pushing for new gun restrictions, delivering passionate floor speeches and holding regular news conferences with families of the Uvalde victims.”

Svitek noted that “In an interview with WFAA, Gutierrez did not shy away from a contrast with Allred. Gutierrez said he is sure Allred is a ‘nice man’ but added that the ‘fact is, I've done a heck of a lot more than he has in public service.’ Allred’s campaign has brushed off talk of primary opponents, saying he is focused on defeating Cruz, who is seeking a third six-year term. Another Democrat in the Legislature, Rep. Carl Sherman of DeSoto, also is considering running for Senate. Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994. Democrat Beto O’Rourke came surprisingly close to defeating Cruz the last time the senator was on the ballot, in 2018, but the party has not been as competitive in a statewide contest since then.” Excellent video; really stupid instructions on YouTube bordering on campaign incompetence...