Nerdy Van Nerdwinkle (WA), new New Dem chairMany of the same characters are in the BlueDogs, Problem Solvers, New Dems and other corporately-funded groups of "centrist" Democrats that make up the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Last week the New Dems elected their new leadership team. Derek Kilmer (WA) takes over from Jim Himes (CT) as chairman. And there are 4 vice-chairs: Scott Peters (CA), Suzann DelBene (WA), Terri Sewell (AL) and Ann Kuster (NH).But the big news is which newly elected freshmen had decided to declare themselves members of Congress' most corrupt entity, Wall Street's cat's paw inside the Democratic conference. There were few surprises for DWT since we've been warning about most of these 30 candidates alluring the cycle. Six of the seven freshmen who joined the Blue Dog Coalition last week also joined the New Dems, hard core rightist Jeff Van Drew (NJ) being the exception. There's not that big a difference between the Blue Dogs and the New Dems and most of the Blue Dogs are also New Dem members. Traditionall, the Blue Dogs have been more of a hate group (anti-gay, anti-Choice, anti-progressive, etc) and the New Dems just really been all about corruption-- but the two have almost entire melded now. These are the new Blue Dogs:
• Jeff Van Drew (NJ)• Mikie Sherrill (NJ)• Xochitl Small (NM)• Anthony Brindisi (NY)• Max Rose (NY)• Ben McAdams (UT)• Abigail Spanberger (VA)
Before we get to the list of New Dems, the Congressional Progressive Caucus also announced its new members-- 25 of 'em, although 5 are also New Dems, which is bizarre since it's literally impossible to be a progressive and a New Dem, although Mark Pocan seems to think bringing conservatives paying lip service to progressivism will be good for fundraising... or something like that. Among real-- all-in-- progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Rashida Tlaib (MI) and Ilhan Omar (MN), these are the ones who are... also New Dems:
• Katie Hill (CA)• Debbie Powell (FL)• Angie Craig (MN)• Susan Wild (PA)• Veronica Escobar (TX)
None of them have, for example, signed onto the Green New Deal (at least not yet), even though several of them campaigned very hard on global warming and on environmental issues. Here's the full list of the freshman New Dems. Warning: hope for the best/expect the worst:
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)• Greg Stanton (AZ)• Josh Harder (CA)• Katie Hill (CA)• Harley Rouda (CA)• Jason Crow (CO)• Debbie Powell (FL)• Sean Casten (IL)• Sharice Davids (KS)• Elissa Slotkin (MI)• Haley Stevens (MI)• Angie Craig (MN)• Sean Phillips (MN)• Susie Lee (NV)• Chris Pappas (NH)• Tom Malinowski (NJ)• Mikie Sherrill (NJ)• Xochitl Small (NM)• Max Rose (NY)• Anthony Brindisi (NY)• Chrissy Houlahan (PA)• Susan Wild (PA)• Lizzie Fletcher (TX)• Veronica Escobar (TX)• Colin Allred (TX)• en McAdams (UT)• Elaine Luria (VA)• Abigail Spanberger (VA)• Jennifer Wexton (VA)• Kim Schrier (WA)
Meanwhile, two Progressive Caucus freshmen who are already seated because of filling empty seats, Joe Morelle (D-NY) and Mary Scanlon (D-PA), are off to good PERFECT starts. Click on the graphic to be able to read which House members are voting the way all House members should be voting:
