Ugleeeee Midterms Comin' Up

Yesterday, the new chair of the DCCC, New Dem Sean Patrick Maloney announced that the committee will work extra hard to reelect 32 incumbents who they consider endangered. Most of them are just like Maloney, worthless conservaDems. This is all 32, which does include a small handful of good candidates:

• Tom O’Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)

• Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)

• Katie Porter (Progressive-CA)

• Mike Levin (Progressive-CA)

• Jahana Hayes (CT)

• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)

• Carolyn Bourdeaux (New Dem-GA)

• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)

• Lauren Underwood (IL)

• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)

• Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)

• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)

• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)

• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)

• Chris Pappas (New Dem-NH)

• Andy Kim (Progressive-NJ-03)

• Tom Malinowski (New Dem-NJ)

• Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)

• Susie Lee (New Dem-NV)

• Steven Horsford (New Dem-NV)

• Antonio Delgado (NY)

• Peter DeFazio (Progressive-OR)

• Susan Wild (New Dem-PA)

• Matt Cartwright (Progressive-PA)

• Conor Lamb (PA)

• Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem-TX)

• Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX)

• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)

• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)

• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)

• Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)

• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)
  

23 of the 32 are New Dems or Blue Dogs from the corporately owned and operated Republican wing of the Democratic Party and that doesn't even count Conor Lamb, who is more conservative than most of them but hasn't affiliated with either caucus. Most of them have ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote "F" scores. And one, Blue Dog Jared Golden, was one of only two Democrats to have voted against the COVID-rescue package last week, infuriating Maine Democrats. The DCCC reaction was to immediately promise him more money for his campaign, presumably to overcome a primary opponent. Many of the New Dems and Blue Dogs don't deserve reelection-- or to even be allowed to run as Democrats.

Just five of the 32 are in the Progressive Caucus, all of them in extremely tough districts. These are courageous Democrats unafraid to run as progressives despite representing districts with large numbers of Republicans. Here's the same list, in order of their win scores last November, from highest to lowest:

• Angie Craig- 48.2%

• Susie Lee- 48.8%

• Cindy Axne- 49.0%

• Haley Stevens- 50.2%

• Vicente Gonzalez- 50.5%

• Tom Malinowski- 50.6%

• Lauren Underwood- 50.7%

• Steven Horsford- 50.7%

• Lizzie Fletcher- 50.8%

• Elisse Slotkin- 50.9%

• Abigail Spanberger- 50.9%

• Conor Lamb- 51.1%

• Chris Pappas- 51.3%

• Ron Kind- 51.3%

• Carolyn Bourdeaux- 51.4%

• Tom O'Halleran- 51.6%

• Peter DeFazio- 51.6%

• Elaine Luria- 51.6%

• Kim Schrier- 51.7%

• Matt Cartwright- 51.8%

• Susan Wild- 51.9%

• Colin Allred- 51.9%

• Jared Golden- 53.0%

• Mike Levin- 53.1%

• Andy Kim- 53.2%

• Mikie Sherrill- 53.3%

• Katie Porter- 53.5%

• Sharice Davids- 53.6%

• Antonio Delgado- 54.5%

• Lucy McBath- 54.6%

• Jahana Hayes- 55.1%

• Josh Harder- 55.2%

How do garden variety Democrats win? Not because of anything that part does. They win because sometimes enough people realize that as bad as the Democrats are, the Republicans are actually worse. Yesterday Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler wrote a piece about the possible next GOP Speaker, Gym Jordan. It isn't a general profile but it gives a good picture of who he is and helps explain how Republicans inadvertently make these shitty Democrats look almost worth voting for. Jordan, like Trump, is a compulsive, reflexive liar. Kessler's particular beef is about how Jordan-- like Trump-- has been trying to blame the 1/6 failed coup attempt on Pelosi. "Without evidence," he wrote, "Jordan asserted that House Speaker Pelosi had denied a request for National Guard troops two days before the insurrection. Instead, public testimony shows she did not even hear about the request until two days later. Jordan also tried to pin the blame on the House sergeant-at-arms, but testimony shows the Senate sergeant-at-arms also was not keen about the idea... Jordan earns Four Pinocchios for his tweet. Speculation is not the same as evidence."