Issue #63
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Incumbent Challenges
DE-Sen
This newsletter dislikes Chris Coons, Delaware’s junior senator. How does he relate to a coronavirus outbreak at a Miami jail, though?
America’s jails and prisons have had alarmingly high rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths, because social distancing is all but impossible in a crowded prison, and inmates do not receive adequate hygiene products or medical care. One such jail with an outbreak was Miami-Dade County’s Metro West facility; last weekend, inmate Charles Hobbs died of COVID-19. He was the first of Metro West’s 163 (and climbing) confirmed COVID-19 cases to die. A lawsuit was filed against the county, seeking to require the facility to provide soap and testing to inmates; U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams quickly ruled in favor of the inmates. The county appealed, because of course a prison would object to doing anything to keep its inmates alive; a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the county, staying Williams’s order and allowing the jail to continue withholding soap and testing from inmates as litigation (and the pandemic) continues. Of the two judges who ruled that the county did not have a responsibility to do the absolute bare minimum to keep people alive, one was a Trump appointee--confirmed by a bipartisan vote, with Chris Coons among those voting to rubber-stamp the nomination of this ghoulish Federalist Society nutcase.
Chris Coons has a well-earned primary challenge from Jessica Scarane, who would be lightyears better than Coons even if she just promised to not vote for openly evil Trump appointees (which Coons does, a lot); however, she’s better than Coons on more than just a commitment not to acquiesce to stacking the federal judiciary with people who aren’t sure if Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark decision outlawing school segregation, was decided correctly. She supports the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and a $15-an-hour minimum wage, along with a long list of other great left-wing policies; Coons supports none of those things, is “the GOP’s favorite Democrat,” and knew of--but did not reveal--another sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh prior to his confirmation to the Supreme Court. Basically, he’s bad. Delaware is very blue; he has zero excuse for being like this.
MA-08
On Friday, Robbie Goldstein announced two new endorsements from former candidates for MA-08 Mohammad Dar and Mac D’Alessandro. D’Alessandro ran against Stephen Lynch in 2010 on a progressive, pro-labor platform, losing 65-35. The Massachusetts legislature surgically excised the two towns that D’Alessandro had carried that primary, Medfield and Needleham, during the next redistricting. Dar ran during this cycle but has since withdrawn from the race. These endorsements show that, especially with Brianna Wu out of the race as of last week, the progressive movement is beginning to unite behind Goldstein to take on Stephen Lynch (who we don’t need to remind you is one of the worst Democrats in Congress). A united progressive front is a good thing for Goldstein, who will have a tough time going up against Lynch’s fundraising machine without it. We’re hoping Brianna Wu, as the other major former challenger in the race, as well as the local progressive groups follow suit.
NJ-08
Once again, we’re here to talk about arcane ballot placement maneuvers in New Jersey. Sorry.
This time, our ballot shenanigans are happening in the industrial cities along the Hudson River. NJ-08 is a majority-Hispanic district covering parts or all of Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken, Union City, Newark (in Essex County), and Elizabeth (in Union County). Ryan Grim and Akela Lacy at the Intercept report that progressive challenger Hector Oseguera, an attorney and activist, has snagged Column A in Hudson and Union counties, the first column on a New Jersey ballot (for an explanation of what that even means, read this piece Nick wrote explaining the convoluted--and very powerful--ballot column system in New Jersey.)
Progressives managed to field full slates of candidates under the “Not Me. Us.” slogan; while Bernie Sanders did not bracket with the candidates using his campaign slogan, the party machine in the two counties initially chose to hold an open presidential primary (meaning no special ballot designation for Joe Biden) because they feared Sanders could drag challengers across the finish line thanks to his strength among Hispanic voters, Asian voters, and young white voters, who together constitute the vast majority of the Democratic primary electorate in this district. Anyone who fields a full slate is eligible for Column A, and since progressives did that--with candidates from U.S. Senate down to county freeholder (New Jersey’s fancy word for county commissioner)--they were eligible for Column A.
The machine is normally the only group to field a full slate of candidates--and that’s still technically true; Sanders did not bracket with the progressive slate, and the county machines quietly broke their vow to hold an open primary by bracketing with Biden at the last minute. However, for the purposes of ballot placement, the machines’ decision to hold an open primary made the presidential primary irrelevant for Column A eligibility; in county-by-county random drawings, Oseguera’s progressive slate went 2 for 2, snagging Column A in both Hudson and Union counties. (Nick here: as a Union County voter, I don’t believe Column A is as regularly reserved for the machine there; Hudson County’s Democratic machine is much stronger, and “vote Column A” is just about the extent of the campaigning they do. It works; the Hudson County machine is legendary.)
Because Biden bracketed at the last minute, the benefits of Column A may be muted; however, the district is already demographically primed for lots of post-dropout Bernie Sanders votes, and anyone who votes for Bernie Sanders will already have to split their columns to vote in the downballot primaries. Add to that a lot of voters who are used to pulling the lever for all of Column A, and Oseguera may have a chance--especially since the incumbent, Rep. Albio Sires, is about as anonymous as they come among members of Congress.
OR-05
The Oregon branch of the SEIU, the second largest union in the state, has now made its endorsements for the May 19 primary. Like the AFL-CIO, they carried through with their promise not to endorse any Democrat in the legislature who supported the pension cuts that made it through the legislature last year. But unlike the AFL-CIO, who didn’t get too aggressive Congressionally, staying out of the heated OR-05 race, the SEIU had some guts and endorsed Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba, which is a big deal for the campaign. That was the only race where the SEIU endorsed against a Democratic incumbent, so they are sending one hell of a message.
TX-SD-27
Eddie Lucio Jr. is probably the worst Democrat in Texas, but, perhaps because he’s spent the last two decades serving in the minority, is largely unknown outside of the state. His social arch-conservatism often puts him to the right of many Republicans, and his economic stances are rarely much better. This election, liberal groups finally decided to try and do something about it by challenging him in the primary: State Board of Education member Ruben Cortez, and lawyer Sara Stapleton-Barrera. Unfortunately, two different challengers emerged, prompting outside groups not to pick favorites. The exception was the state NEA, who got behind Cortez.
Lucio won the primary but fell just shy of a majority of votes, prompting a runoff with Stapleton Barrera. While Cortez backed her almost immediately, outside groups were more hesitant to jump into a race that Lucio had nearly already won. Until this week, that is. A coalition of five groups have waded in to support Stapleton Barrera: The state branches of the NEA, NARAL and Planned Parenthood, the Texas Equality PAC, a pro-LGBTQ rights organization, and the Texas Freedom Network, a grassroots progressive group.
Open Races
NY-17, NM-03, WA-10, IL-03
Over the past week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s PAC rolled out three useful endorsements and one very, very late endorsement. The useful ones were Mondaire Jones in NY-17, Beth Doglio in WA-10, and Teresa Leger Fernandez in NM-03; Jones and Leger Fernandez are unquestionably the best candidates in their respective races, and Doglio is probably the best, though socialist trucker/terminally online cringeposter Joshua Collins aka Joshua 4 Congress exists (but is probably headed for 2% of the vote, especially if he goes through with what appears to be a plan not to declare a Democratic preference on the ballot; then again, we don’t know, the WA-10 race is weird as hell.) At the very least the Doglio endorsement makes sense. The same can’t be said of the very, very late endorsement, which was of Marie Newman.
Newman, you may remember, defeated conservative, anti-abortion, anti-gay Rep. Dan Lipinski in Illinois’s Democratic primary--almost two months ago. A caucus of self-described progressives should have no qualms about opposing a Democrat who speaks at the March for Life, and if they’re too afraid to do that, they shouldn’t issue a cover-your-ass endorsement two months after he gets voted out without any help from the CPC. If congressional decorum means you won’t oppose a guy who wants to ban abortion just because he’s your colleague, you don’t have the backbone to serve in Congress.
Queens Borough President correction
In last week’s issue, we incorrectly stated that there would not be an election for Queens Borough President this year. There was a nonpartisan special election scheduled for April 28; Andrew Cuomo canceled that. However, there is also a special party primary, scheduled for June 23, and a special general election, scheduled for November 3, both on the same date as regular elections. Those elections will still proceed. (Why there were initially going to be two special elections for the same office in the same year is beyond us.) We regret the error, and we’re grateful to the readers who alerted us.
