primaries

For Blue America, primary season is rapidly coming to a close-- there are just a few left. We helped with some spectacular wins this cycle-- Kara Eastman in Omaha, Marie Newman in Chicago, Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones in New York, Liam O'Mara and Audrey Denney in California... Mike Siegel (TX-10) and Lisa Ring (GA-01) came in first in their primaries and Mike's runoff is next week (July 14) and Lisa's is August 11th.

Lee Zeldin and his boss-- undermining AmericaWhen I lived there is the 1960s, Suffolk County was still to some extent a rural backwater. It was still the biggest potato-growing county in the U.S., although Idaho was coming on strong. I was once dragged in front of a grand jury in Riverhead, the county seat and, judging by the cast of characters and their values, I could have easily have been in Kansas.

Ballots are still being counted almost everywhere. Kentucky has already announced that there will be no final vote count until June 30-- which is when the state's two biggest counties, Jefferson (Louisville) and Fayette (Lexington) plan to release their results.

New Hampshire's state legislature in probably the most democratic in the country. In a state with 1,359,711 people, the state House has 400 members, each one representing about, on average, 3,300 residents. Right now there are 233 Democrats and 165 Republicans and 1 independent. The members serve for 2 years-- and they get $200 for their term.The 25th district (Rockingham County) is in northern Portsmouth.

New Jersey's primary is July 7, two weeks from today. I wish it I could say it looks better for the progressives taking on the corrupt machine candidates up and down the state. But it doesn't. Too many candidates thinking a campaign is basically grabbing Bernie's platform and lounging around Twitter and Facebook. No one's ever won a race that way-- ever.

On Friday, Elizabeth Warren released a list of congressional candidates she had just endorsed. The list included progressive champions like Jamaal Bowman (NY), Mike Siegel (TX), Charles Booker (KY) and Julie Oliver (TX). I'm sure all of them are overjoyed at her backing-- even if it's a little late in the game for Bowman and Booker, whose primaries are tomorrow.

Through a Politico prism, the grassroots effort to elect Jamaal Bowman to Congress is a twisted power grab by "the left." Holly Otterbein wrote that "Desperate for victory after watching the presidential nomination slip through their fingers, progressives have found a new cause to rally around.

Will, Brigid and AmyThere's a red hot race for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey's 2nd congressional district, the one the South Jersey (Norcross) Machine and the DCCC screwed up when their repulsive Blue Dog pet-- Jeff Van Drew-- switched parties and (openly) became a Trump butt wipe. The same machine-- along with the DCCC-- has another candidate though...

IN-05 is an open seat. Rep. Susan Brooks-- a relatively mainstream conservative Republican-- is retiring. There are 15 Republicans running-- and 9 who have raised over the $5,000 that triggers an FEC report. The top-"raising" Republican, Victoria Spartz contributed $750,000 of her own money to her campaign, 98.7% of her funds.

Hasn't the Bronx suffered enough?If you're new around here, you may have missed our discussions over the years about Rubén Díaz., an ultra-conservative career politician in the South Bronx. As I mentioned last time, the south Bronx congressional district from which Jose Serrano is retiring, doesn't have many white Conservatives.