Worse than Steve Israel? Worse than Ben Ray Lujan?Whether in the hiring of staff— the DCCC hires right-of-center hacks in it to line their pockets with not the slightest care about candidates winning or losing— the recruitment of candidates or the decisions about which candidates to support and which to leave bleeding on the side of the road— the DCCC has a lot of sway in the makeup of the Democratic caucus. This cycle, their resources, once again, were deployed omniscience’s behalf of New Dems and Blue Dogs from the Republican wing of the party and few progressives were elected— exactly what the DCCC was aiming at.They interfered against progressives in primaries and refused to support progressives who won primaries. Although races are still be finalized, let’s look at the freshman class. In races where the DCCC had no sway, replacements for retiring Democrats in blue districts, seats are split between progressives and less progressive Democrats: Ilhan Omar is replacing Keith Ellison in Minneapolis, Rashida Tlaib is replacing John Conyers in Detroit, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is replacing Joe Crowley in New York City, Chuy Garcia is replacing Luis Gutiérrez in Chicago, Joe Morelle is replacing Louise Slaughter in Rochester, and Ayanna Presley is replacing Mike Capuano in Boston. Less progressive winners are Greg Stanton (New Dem), who is replacing Kirsten Sinema in Phoenix, Chris Pappas (New Dem), who is replacing Carol Shea-Porter in eastern New Hampshire, Debra Haaland, who is replacing Michelle Lujan Grisham in Albuquerque, Veronica Escobar (New Dem), who is replacing Beto O’Rourke in El Paso, Sylvia Garcia, who is replacing Gene Green in Houston, Jahana Hayes (New Dem), who is replacing Elizabeth Esty in Connecticut, Madeleine Dean (New Dem) who is replacing Brendan Boyle in the Philly suburbs, David Trone, who is replacing John Delaney in western Maryland, Lori Trahan (New Dem) who is replacing Niki Tsongas in northern Massachusetts, Susie Lee (New Dem), who is replacing Jacky Rosen in southern Clark County, Steven Horsford, who is replacing Ruben Kihuen in northern Clark Co., and Ed Case (Blue Dog) who is replacing Colleen Hanabusa in Honolulu, Joe Neguse (New Dem), who is replacing Jared Polis in Boulder, and Andy Levin, who is replacing Sandy Levin in eastern Michigan.Here are the freshmen who were not running in blue districts to replace Democrats. The money next the their names is how much the DCCC + Pelosi’s SuperPAC spent in the race.
• AZ-02- Ann Kirkpatrick (New Dem)- $1.5 million• CA-10- Josh Harder (New Dem)- $5.1 million• CA-25- Katie Hill (New Dem)- $3.3 million• CA-48- Harley Rouda (New Dem)- $7 million• CA-49- Mike Levin (D)- $3.5 million• CO-06- Jason Crow (New Dem)- $3.2 million• FL-26- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (New Dem)- $7.1 million• FL-27- Donna Shalala (D)- $1.6 million• GA-06- Lucy McBath (D)- $5.8 million• IL-06- Sean Casten (New Dem)- $4.6 million• IL-14- Lauren Underwood (New Dem)- $1.8 million• IA-01- Abby Finkenauer (D) $0.8 million• IA-03- Cindy Axne (New Dem)- $3.0 million• KS-03- Sharice Davids (New Dem)- $1.6 million• MI-08- Elissa Slotkin (New Dem)- $3.8 million• MI-11- Haley Stevens (New Dem)- $2.1 million• MN-02- Angie Craig (New Dem)- $2.5 million• MN-03- Dean Phillips (New Dem)- $1.7 million• NJ-02- Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog)- 0• NJ-07- Tom Malinowski (New Dem)- $4.0 million• NJ-11- Mike Sherrill (Blue Dog)- $1.5 million• NM-02- Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog)- $1.9 million• NY-11- Max Rose (Blue Dog)- 0• NY-19- Antonio Delgado (New Dem)- $4.1 million• NY-22- Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog)- $4.6 million• OK-05- Kendra Horn (D)- 0• PA-05- Mary Scanlon (D)- 0• PA-06- Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem)- 0• PA-07- Susan Wild (New Dem)- $1.5 million- 0• SC-01- Joe Cunningham (New Dem)- 0• TX-07- Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem)- $2.4 million• TX-32- Colin Allred (New Dem)- $4.2 million• VA-02- Elaine Luria (New Dem)- $1.8 million• VA-07- Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog)- $1.4 million• VA-10- Jennifer Wexton (New Dem)- $2.9 million• WA-08- Kim Schrier (New Dem)- $6.1 million
Just for comparison’s sake, what did the DCCC + Pelosi’s PAC spend to help nine high-profile progressives who, without their money, lost?
• WI-01- Randy Bryce- 0• NE-02- Kara Eastman- 0• IA-04- J.D. Scholten- 0• KS-04- James Thompson- 0• CA-50- Ammar Campa-Najjar- 0• WA-05- Lisa Brown- 0• TX-10- Mike Siegel- 0• PA-11- Jess King- 0• CA-01- Audrey Denney- 0
And that brings us to… the battle over the chairmanship of the DCCC. As of Saturday there were 4 Democrats running for the post, each one worse than the other:Blue Dog Cheri Bustos- garbageNew Dem Suzan DelBene- not very goodNew Dem Denny Heck- garbageNew Dem Sean Patrick Maloney- really, really stinky garbageSo why not a progressive? Why never a progressive? There isn't even one-- at least not so far-- trying. What the hell is wrong with them?UPDATE: Inside InfoA senior Democrat and Pelosi pal, just responded to me by saying that "This may lead to a backlash against the idea of electing the DCCC Chair, especially since those are four very weak candidates. Maloney and Heck will be perceived as trying to run the DCCC for their own personal benefit. Maybe Pelosi will step in and take the decision back. If not, and there are no other candidates, I would expect DelBene to win with Pelosi’s behind-the-scenes support." Having read the full post, he also threw in "David Trone? Ed Case? Wow. Maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said that there are no second acts in American life!"