The following Democrats sit in blue seats compared to the nation as a whole (as measured by the Cook Partisan Voting Index), yet voted for the anti-choice Stupak amendment:
District | Representative | PVI |
---|
PA-14 | Doyle, Mike | D+19 |
AL-07 | Davis, Artur | D+18 |
CA-43 | Baca, Joe | D+13 |
OH-17 | Ryan, Timothy | D+12 |
IL-03 | Lipinski, Daniel | D+11 |
MI-05 | Kildee, Dale | D+11 |
MA-09 | Lynch, Stephen | D+11 |
TX-16 | Reyes, Silvestre | D+10 |
OH-09 | Kaptur, Marcy | D+10 |
RI-02 | Langevin, Jim | D+9 |
MA-02 | Neal, Richard | D+9 |
CA-20 | Costa, Jim | D+5 |
CA-18 | Cardoza, Dennis | D+4 |
PA-11 | Kanjorski, Paul | D+4 |
TN-05 | Cooper, Jim | D+3 |
WI-07 | Obey, David | D+3 |
ME-02 | Michaud, Michael | D+3 |
IL-12 | Costello, Jerry | D+3 |
MN-08 | Oberstar, James | D+3 |
OH-01 | Driehaus, Steve | D+1 |
GA-02 | Bishop, Sanford | D+1 |
GA-12 | Barrow, John | D+1 |
If groups like NARAL and EMILY's List ever want to start being effective, they would begin by using this list to find good primary targets. There's absolutely no reason why many of these districts (some of which gave Obama over 60% of their vote) should elect anti-choice representatives. Yet year after year, almost of these Congressmembers seem to get a pass from the pro-choice establishment.
Instead, we've seen NARAL waste money on hopeless Republicans like Dede Scozzafava just to preserve their "bipartisan" cred. They also infamously endorsed Joe "Short Ride" Lieberman over Ned Lamont. Meanwhile, EMILY's List supported a primary challenger last year named Nikki Tinker against a Congressman with a spotless pro-choice record, Rep. Steve Cohen. To give you a sense of how effective that challenge was, Tinker ran ads which were so offensive that EMILY wound up condemning its own candidate. Combined, Scozzafava and Tinker wound up with 24% of the vote. Simply put, the priorities of pro-choice organizations like this need to change.
It's exceptionally sad that a Democratic congress stands poised to deliver the worst blow to reproductive freedoms in many years. What's even more troubling, in its own way, is that it was possible at all. Many of the representatives on this list could be primaried without any risk of their seat falling to the GOP. It's high time we start. And groups like NARAL, EMILY's List, and all of their peer organizations have a duty to lead the way.