Back on March 27, 2017, I published my first diary “Why I probably won't be politically active in 2020 (Hint: It's not about Hillary, Bernie or Trump).” In that diary, I posted about my hapless experience being a politically active Democrat during the 2016 campaign in which I volunteered for my preferred choice for the Democratic presidential nomination, my run to be that candidate’s delegate at the upcoming Democratic National Convention and my wish to be elected to my county party’s central committee. I mentioned that despite running a strong campaign, I encountered a lot of pushback from party regulars who felt threatened by me thinking I was going to be a threat to whatever their stupid agenda was and that I mentioned Republicans were not the only jerks in this country. I also mentioned that being attacked from within is a lot worse than being attacked by the other side. It looks like Democrats haven’t learned shit from 2016 and I predict 2018 (and possibly 2020) won’t be any different.
My congressional district has been electing a Republican incumbent for decades. Since Hillary Clinton became the first Democrat in decades to carry my congressional district, despite my Republican congressman’s cruising to reelection for the umpteenth time, Democrats have reason to believe they could make our district flip in 2018. The problem is my state is unusual in the sense that we don’t have partisan primaries. We have a “primary” in which candidates of all parties (yes, including the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, as well as independents) run against each other and the top two candidates, regardless of party, run against each other in the November election. This means we could get two candidates of the same party running against each other in November. The Democrats fear that because a Republican jumped in the race, there is the danger of having two Republicans to choose from in November.
Every election year, the Democrats in my state hold a two-prong endorsement process in which at first, registered Democrats who are elected delegates to the state convention meet in our state assembly districts to endorse Democratic candidates for local office whether it’s for Congress or the state legislature. If a candidate gets at least 70% of the delegates’ votes in the assembly district, that candidate gets the official endorsement from the state party, contingent on the state convention ratifying the assembly district’s endorsement. If the leading candidate fails to get 70%, then the candidates will need to get the endorsement from the state convention in which the leading candidate must get at least 60% of delegates’ votes (even if the candidate gets the assembly district’s endorsement, the state convention has the right to override the endorsement, but usually they don’t).
We have several Democrats and two Republicans (the Republican incumbent among them) running in our congressional district. One of the Democrats missed getting the 70% threshold in my local assembly district by one vote, so it had to go to the state convention. At the state convention, all the Democratic congressional candidates (with the exception of the leading candidate) urged a “no endorsement” vote, believing that the registered Democratic voters should have the final say in determining who should face the Republican incumbent in November. Keep in mind even if the leading candidate did get the party endorsement, the rest of the candidates can still run against that person in the primary. The feeling among those that didn't get the endorsement is that it gives the leading candidate an unfair boost. In any case, the leading candidate cleared the 60% threshold at the state convention, so that candidate does have the state party's endorsement, which in my state is not the same as winning the primary or the nomination.
So, what has happened since is that both my local county party and local Democratic clubs in my congressional district have followed suit and decided to endorse the candidate that got the state party's endorsement in an effort to "unify" behind one candidate and to avoid a split that could end up leaving us with two Republicans to choose from in November. Here’s the problem. The endorsed candidate is not my first choice. My first choice is the runner-up. I made that decision long before the endorsement process began by attending debates run by local party organizations and by Indivisible. As I mentioned in my first diary to Daily Kos, I expressed interest in running for my county party’s central committee only to be bullied, intimidated and threatened by one of the central committee’s incumbents telling me to drop out. This was a couple of years ago. Just this evening, I attended a local Democratic club in my congressional district and one of the henchwomen from the county party showed up at our meeting and demanded that we clubgoers follow suit of the county party and state party and unify behind the candidate that got the endorsement of the state party and encourage the other candidates to drop out as well, much like when that incumbent central committee person told me to drop out. She threatened unless we follow suit, we run the risk of having two Republicans in November. I was silent during the meeting but two people sitting behind me spoke up. One person objected to "this organization" telling us what to do. She replied there is no "organization" telling us what to do. This "organization," according to the henchlady, is all of us. The people elected delegates to the state convention and endorsing candidates in local assembly district meetings, as well as the state convention is, according to her, you, me, this person, that person, all of us. Another person berated the henchlady for being rude and abrasive to the first person who raised concerns.
Here’s my situation. After the way I was treated by my local county party when I wanted to run for central committee, I don’t feel I owe my county party anything. If I want to vote for the runner-up, I should be allowed to do so without intimidation or bullying from my local party. If it leads to two Republicans winning the primary, so be it because I cannot side with any organization that treated me like crap. My prediction is Democrats will not learn anything from 2016. In addition, both the former Hillary and former Bernie supporters will still be divided in 2020 and Donald Trump will cruise to a second term ensuring he’ll be our commander in chief until January 20, 2025.