Confused and threatened by AOC’s particular brand of grass-roots politics, a rapidly dwindling contingent of establishment Democrats are sending not-so-subtle signals that they would rather go back to the cozy insider politics they’ve been accustomed to for decades.
AOC won her seat by running a hard fought primary against Rep. Joe Crowley, who was 4th in the House leadership. That’s about as clear a signal as one could send to incumbents and they’re responding to it.
Now some of those lawmakers are turning the tables on her and are discussing recruiting a primary challenger to run against the social media sensation.
At least one House Democrat has been privately urging members of the New York delegation to recruit a local politician from the Bronx or Queens to challenge Ocasio-Cortez.
“What I have recommended to the New York delegation is that you find her a primary opponent and make her a one-term congressperson,” the Democratic lawmaker, who requested anonymity, told The Hill. “You’ve got numerous council people and state legislators who’ve been waiting 20 years for that seat. I’m sure they can find numerous people who want that seat in that district.” — thehill.com/...
That last line is worth unpacking. New York, particularly downstate, is deep-blue. Democratic primaries, in most cases, determine the election, especially for low-profile races for judges and local elections. This means politicians spend a lot of energy on maneuvers to maintain a stranglehold oo the party apparatus. Many are not above deploying dirty tricks to maintain organizational control at the lowest levels. A particularly contentious example from earlier this cycle:
Members of the Brooklyn Democratic County Committee received phone calls, door-knocks and mailings this week urging them to turn over their votes to party boss Frank Seddio — including letters bearing the names of elected officials and district leaders who say they didn’t sign them. — www.nydailynews.com/...
Seddio eventually managed to maintain control of the county committee via these tainted proxies.
The twice-yearly Kings County Democratic County Committee meeting on Sept. 27 descended into chaos amid boos and shouts of “Shame!” when its chairman again pulled out handfuls of proxies from his back pocket to overrule the hundreds of rank-and-file members who packed the room — a tactic used all too often by the party machine to prevent much-needed reforms, especially during a time when democracy is being challenged across the country, according to one county committee member. — www.brooklynpaper.com/...
For decades, control of the state party committees has protected incumbents who play the internal party patronage game. This stranglehold is reinforced by a system that suppresses turnout by scheduling multiple primary and general elections each year. Yes, though NY is a deep blue state, it employs many of the voter suppression tactics that deep-red states do as well.
Corrupt maneuvers like this is why so much of the change in left-leaning politics has been driven from the outside. Activists frustrated by the insularity and self-dealing within the Democratic party has founded vibrant groups like Justice Democrats, Indivisible, Move On, Run for Something and others.
Of course, politicians more focused on internal party politics eventually lose touch with the electorate, which is why Joe Crowley was vulnerable to a challenge from a 29 year old willing to put in the enormous grassroots effort required to unseat him.
Incumbents who feel threatened are trying to figure out how to handle the threat of additional primary challenges. Matt Stoller, writing in the Washington Post does a great job of explaining how the culture of money and lobbying on Capitol Hill grounds down even well-intentioned new members.
Another subtle put-down — nicely encapsulating what voters hate about Washington — came from Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.): “Washington is a political animal where a lot of the work that you want to accomplish depends on relationships within the Democratic Caucus.” [...]
For six years, I worked on Capitol Hill as a staffer, and I saw how this deferential culture pushed the party out of touch with ordinary people and paved the way for Trump. I got an early lesson on my first week on the job, in early 2009, when I staffed a member on the Financial Services Committee during fights over the bailouts. A senior committee staffer offered me a guided tour of the committee operations, with a description of what I was supposed to do — and he explained whom the various trade associations represented. “Make sure you get the business card of every lobbyist,” he told me. “So you can give it to your fundraiser.” — www.washingtonpost.com/...
The new progressive voices have a delicate task ahead of them. To be successful, they will have to deliver meaningful results for their districts and begin reforming the culture of the party from the inside and help unseat incumbents who are too deeply entrenched to change.
Though many obstacles remain, our cohort has many advantages.
- The Democratic caucus is more progressive than ever.
- Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan are extremely effective CPC chairs, effectively translating our grassroots support into positions of power on the hill.
- Policies like Medicare For All, a more progressive tax rate, racial justice, a better social safety net, a return to free public college enjoy enormous support among Democrats.
The actual constituency for regressive, Republican-lite policies is small and dwindling within the Democratic party. We are driving out big donor influence and rebuilding the party with grassroots support. And it’s worth remembering that several veteran politicians are cheering on their new colleagues because they see in them powerful allies for policies they’ve championed for years. Glad to say my congressman is among that group.
“I love Alexandria Ocasio. I saw her in her ‘60 Minutes’ interview. I thought she was great,” said Representative Adriano Espaillat, a 64-year-old Democrat from a neighboring district that includes part of the Bronx. “She is like one of our daughters. You know, she could be my daughter, one of anybody’s children. She’s an adult, obviously. But you know I love her. She’s sharp, has a great smile, intelligent, is liberal, progressive. I think she has great ideas, bold ideas.” — www.nytimes.com/...
In the end, the young people will win.
— @subirgrewal