Issue #61
Mark Warner should have gotten a primary challenge for that sandwich recipe video alone
Coronavirus Corner
MA-all
On Friday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court, ruled in favor of a bipartisan group of candidates who sought an emergency reduction of the state’s petition signature requirements due to the coronavirus. The court ordered a limited implementation of electronic petition signatures, but more importantly, the court cut the signature requirements in half for all offices. MA-08 primary challenger Robbie Goldstein and state House primary challenger Melissa Bower Smith were the Democratic candidates in the lawsuit; additionally, Sen. Ed Markey, the Green New Deal king himself, was struggling to meet the old petition requirements because of the dangers of obtaining physical signatures during a pandemic.
This ruling ensures that a number of progressive primary candidates, including Markey, will make the ballot without having to risk spreading COVID-19, which you’d think is something a legislature would act rapidly to do rather than forcing a court challenge, but nah, the Massachusetts legislature was twiddling its thumbs this whole time. The court also extended the deadline for state and local candidates to submit their signatures, giving them an extra week to collect signatures from registered voters; this doesn’t affect federal office, which already had a deadline a week later than state and local offices.
Incumbent Challenges
NY-16
Andom Ghebreghiorgis’s campaign has been in danger of serving as a spoiler by splitting the progressive vote for a while now; last week, in a development we missed at the time, he allegedly took it to a new level. According to a statement from minor candidate Chris Fink, Ghebreghiorgis filed challenges to all of his opponents--not just Fink, but also Rep. Eliot Engel and main progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman. Ghebreghiorgis, Fink says, is challenging the ballot petitions of all of his opponents, saying that the overwhelming majority of all signatures for other candidates are illegible. If Ghebreghiorgis does not withdraw his challenges, election workers will have to physically examine thousands of petitions.
During a pandemic, this is, obviously, quite dangerous, especially in New York City and Westchester County, which lie at the center of America’s worst COVID-19 outbreak. Petition challenges are a normal, if underhanded, part of politics in most circumstances; during a pandemic, they’re dangerous. Normally, we’d at least welcome the challenge to Engel; if nothing else, things like petition challenges keep political machines from getting complacent. However, under the present circumstances, any challenges are irresponsible and a danger to public health.
This week, Democracy For America issued only its fourth endorsement for a primary challenger of the cycle, after Marie Newman in IL-03, Jessica Cisneros in TX-28, and Mckayla Wilkes in MD-05, for Jamaal Bowman.
We’re issuing a correction here regarding the fundraising numbers we published last week for Andom Ghebreghiorgis. We wound up pulling his previous quarter’s numbers, not his current ones. The correct figures are
This quarter was one of the best for Engel’s in a while, both because of his uncharacteristically large intake, but also because both of his opponents did fairly well despite the tough circumstances, raising the likelihood of a split field that could allow Engel to win with far from a majority of the vote.
Open Primaries
Cabán/WFP
Tiffany Cabán, the former Queens district attorney candidate who lost to the Queens machine’s pick Melinda Katz by a tragic 55 votes, has come out with a slate of endorsements in New York state and congressional primaries. The congressional candidates on the list are Samelys López, running in the 292309389323-candidate race NY-15, and Jamaal Bowman, challenging Rep. Eliot Engel in NY-16. At the state level, Cabán is endorsing Assembly challenger Zohran Mamdani as well as the incumbent Assembly Members Yuh-Line Niou and Ron Kim, and incumbent Senators Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar. This slate represents a wide range of progressives from all four boroughs of New York City (that’s right, Staten Island doesn’t count). Most of these candidates supported and actively campaigned for Cabán last year — including all four of the incumbents and Mamdani, who was a lead DSA organizer for Cabán’s campaign — so, this list isn’t too surprising. Cabán’s support will likely provide the biggest boost to first-time candidates López, Bowman, and Mamdani, who will be fighting for name recognition in their respective races.
The Working Families Party also stepped up and endorsed López this week. She seems to be really accumulating a strong base at a crucial moment, from the support of high profile progressive champions like AOC and Cabán to that of powerful grassroots organizations like DSA and WFP. If she could pick up her fundraising a bit, she might be able to gain steam going into the last couple months of the campaign. Still, NY-15 has low primary turnout and a high density of grassroots outside organizations involved in electoral politics, so a little money can be stretched much further here than in many other districts around the country.
WA-10
State Rep. Beth Doglio was the last entrant into what now appears to be a settled 5 person race, and when she entered her position in the race was far from clear. She’s clearly to the left of the three centrists in the race (Kristine Reeves, Marilyn Strickland, and Phil Gardner), but to the right of DSA-endorsed self-identified Socialist-with-a-capital-S Joshua Collins, and how different advocacy groups would react to that ideological layout was far from clear. Much of that question was answered when she came out with the endorsement of over 100 politicians from the district, as well as that of the Washington State Progressive Caucus.
The WSPC endorsement is noteworthy, considering their previous endorsements of Bernie Sanders for President, Rebecca Parson in WA-06, Jason Call in WA-02, and Chris Armitage, a left wing candidate running for red-leaning swing district WA-05. In other words, the WSPC seemed like a much better fit for Collins than Doglio,and their endorsement of her suggests appeal to more stridently progressive groups who might otherwise be interested in Collins. On the other side of things, she was just endorsed this week by the League of Conservation Voters. Doglio’s consistent climate focus is right up their alley, but of the environmental groups, they are a much more establishment friendly bunch. This year’s endorsement slate includes no fewer than four Blue Dog endorsed House candidates and DSCC Maine Senate pick Sara Gideon instead of Betsy Sweet, who is favored by many progressive groups. Being able to appeal to both of those groups at once is a sign that Doglio has managed to stake a wide ideological space for herself instead of getting pressed on both sides.
Warren Democrats Endorsements
Warren Democrats, the post-campaign organizing arm of the Elizabeth Warren campaign, rolled out a slate of all-women endorsements today for several Congressional and state house seats. Unlike the campaign’s endorsements during the primary, Warren Democrats is mostly choosing to stay out of Democratic primaries, endorsing mainly in swing districts and in districts where the primary has already occurred. The only endorsement from this slate that has carried over from the primary campaign is Candace Valenzuela in Texas’s 24th Congressional District, who is on the ballot in the Democratic primary runoff on July 14 for this open seat but Republican-held seat. This isn’t to say that Warren Democrats won’t be endorsing every candidate that Elizabeth Warren did, since most of the candidates she endorsed in the primary have already had their election, and this slate was particularly all-women. Still, picking these swing district candidates, in contrast to the relatively aggressive endorsements of the primary campaign, is still striking.
Allegedly, this is just the first of future endorsement slates for the 2020 cycle, so we’re waiting to see if Warren Democrats chooses to get involved in upcoming primary battles, such as New York’s 17th (the primary campaign has already endorsed Mondaire Jones).
