During the primary for Henry Waxman's congressional seat (the legendary CA-33-- Malibu, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Venice, Beverly Hills, Westwood, Bel Air, Brentwood, Rancho Palos Verdes, Marina del Rey, El Segundo), Blue America did a first-ever dual endorsement. It wasn't just because Establishment favorites Wendy Greuel and Matt Miller were such atrocious candidates, but because the two dogged progressive candidates we did endorse-- out of the dozen or so running-- were both so exceptional. Marianne Williamson is a charismatic, out-of-the-box visionary thinker who knows how to get things done in the real world. And Ted Lieu is an outstanding state Senator who doesn't have to make promises about what he'll do-- just show his record for what he's already done-- from authoring the first bill in the country to prevent a state from cooperating with NSA unconstitutional domestic spying on citizens and putting a check on avaricious banksters ripping off consumers on mortgages to a law prohibiting gay-conversion therapy. And, as though in his spare time he wrote the ballot measure asking voters if they want to overturn Citizens United.These were the results of the June 3rd jungle primary. Because so many plausible Democrats were in the race, a Republican, Sheldon Adelson protégé, Elan Carr, managed to wind up in the top two, meaning he will face-off against Ted Lieu in November.
• Elan Carr- 23,476 (21.6%)- $581,336• Ted Lieu- 20,432 (18.8%)- $1,059,133• Wendy Greuel- 17,988 (16.9%)- $1,234,830• Marianne Williamson- 14,335 (13.2%)- $1,791,641• Matt Miller- 13,005 (12%)- $832,654• Lily Gilani- 7,673 (7.1%)- less than $5,000• Kevin Mottus- 2,561 (2.4%)- $73,277• Barbara Mulvaney- 2,516 (2.3%)- $149,712• David Kanuth- 1,554 (1.4%)- $1,033,721
9 more candidates split around 5% of the vote between them. The amount next to each name above is how much each candidate spent during the primary.Marianne ran the most positive congressional campaign I've ever seen. Even though she was viciously and relentless attacked by the machine hacks running Wendy Greuel's campaign (including the EMILY's List Death Squad), she not only kept it positive at all times, she insisted her allies do likewise. Every time I tweeted something deservedly nasty about Greuel, I felt like I was letting Marianne down and pissing her off. When she talked about the other candidates, she always-- really, always-- could only come up with something good to say about them. And one candidate I knew very little about when the race began, Ted Lieu, was someone Marianne was raving about. She told me he was supportive or her, interested in her ideas and that he was someone who always went out of his way on the campaign trail to be accommodating to her. (Picture this kind of goodwill while Greuel's sleazy operatives were just about putting bubble gum on her chair seat, nausea drugs in her water and claiming to the media that she was a woman hater. Note: this is the now the core of Hillary Clinton's California campaign team.) Anyway, at Marianne's urging I did check out Ted Lieu and got to know him over the course of the primary campaign.After the race was over, I asked Marianne if she planned to endorse him for the general, since I know she had a positive personal relationship with Elan Carr as well, even if they didn't agree on many policy matters. Yesterday she sent me a written endorsement of Ted Lieu, probably because of their shared concern about getting money out of politics.
My run for Congress was in most ways an exhilarating experience, and I'm glad I did it. Most of the candidates were respectful and kind to me throughout the process, and that includes both Elan Carr and Ted Lieu.I like both men. I think both of their hearts are in the right place, and they would both do their best to be strong Congressional Representatives. Today, I'm endorsing Ted Lieu not because I think he's a better man than Elan Carr, but because he has a proven record of taking courageous legislative stands for progressive values. He has done this on a State level, and I feel confident he would do this on a federal level as well. I particularly appreciate his proactive stance on getting the money out of politics.I hope those who believe as I do that Ted Lieu represents a vision of America in keeping with our highest yearnings for our nation's future, will enthusiastically support his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, CA District 33. He has earned our trust and now he needs our support. Let's give him both.
If you'd like to contribute to Ted's race against Sheldon Adelson's favorite candidate-- virtually all Carr's money is coming from the Adelsons and their network-- you can do that here on the main Blue America page.
