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'17 Specials & '18 Midterms Thread

Summary of races to watch:

Illinois primaries: GOP governor battles a challenge; Pritzker, Kennedy among Democratic contenders

Primary challenger in the 3rd congressional district:

No incumbent Democrat in Congress has lost a primary since 2014, when Massachusetts’s scandal-plagued Rep. John F. Tierney was defeated by Seth Moulton. No congressional Democrat has lost a primary seen as an ideological contest since 2008, when Maryland’s Donna F. Edwards ousted Rep. Albert R. Wynn.
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Other congressional races:

And they are watching the scrum in the 6th Congressional District, which Hillary Clinton won by seven points in 2016 after Barack Obama lost it twice. Seven Democrats are battling to challenge Rep. Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.) there, and five are fighting to challenge Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) in a central Illinois district evenly divided between the parties.
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several young and first-timers trying to take on the machine this year. Bernie did a good bit of face time with the progressive candidates. will be interesting to see how it shakes out.
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
several young and first-timers trying to take on the machine this year. Bernie did a good bit of face time with the progressive candidates. will be interesting to see how it shakes out.
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Any candidates we should keep an eye on?
 
The Ex-Con Coal Baron Running for Senate in West Virginia

In 2016, the former hard-charging chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co. went to federal prison for conspiring to evade safety laws in the lead-up to the worst coal mine disaster in a generation—a 2010 explosion at Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 miners. Manchin, the governor at the time, commissioned an independent probe that reached blistering conclusions about Blankenship’s tight grip over Massey and did a lot to seal public opinion about his role in the disaster.

Years later, as federal prosecutors zeroed in on Blankenship, Manchin, by then a senator, said on national TV that the ex-coal boss had “blood on his hands.”

During his year in prison, Blankenship maintained his innocence, even issuing a press release blaming the federal government for the explosion and referring to himself as a political prisoner. The day he got out in May 2017, he began tweeting insults at Manchin, accusing him of lying about the causes of the explosion and challenging him to a debate. Manchin said he hoped Blankenship would disappear from the public eye. Instead, Blankenship declared his candidacy for Manchin’s seat.

“Don Blankenship has entered this race because he has an ax to grind with Joe Manchin,” says Mike Caputo, Democratic minority whip of the West Virginia House of Delegates. “It’s more personal than politics.”
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The other two candidates for the Republican nominations have been fighting each other, and now this guy might win.
 
Picture posted on Facebook from a former student who works for Chicago Votes.
http://chicagovotes.com/
[h=4]Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government and politics to young people from all corners of the city. We're changing laws to make Chicago and Illinois a better place to be young, and in the process we're making democracy FUN.[/h]
29432782_10101231719770748_3142678745018531840_n.jpg
 
avalon said:
Any candidates we should keep an eye on?
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The Newman (1st time political race) vs. Lipinski race from the article above is the biggest

Anthony Clark (first-timer, vet, special ed teacher, 35 years old) vs. Danny Davis (22 years in office)

Chuy Garcia (took Rahm to a runoff in the 2015 mayoral election, kinda sold out the progressive cause for the US Rep seat, will win in a walk) vs. Sol Flores (community organizer)

Mike Quigley (incumbent since 2009) vs. Sameena Mustafa (would be first Muslim woman in Congress) vs. this douchebag


Lots of state and county races taking on the machine, including the county assessor. Current assessor charged with shifting $2.2 billion in tax burden from wealthy to working class.
 
If there is a critical mass of super-progressive Democrats, they can rise up and drive the party further to the left just like the Tea Party people (and, notably, their big money backers like the Kochs) drove the GOP to crazy-land. the blueprint is not exactly identical for the Democrats but it seems like the Bernie-bros want this to either (a) happen by magic when all the existing Dems have a road-to-Damascus conversion experience and join Bernie's crusade, or (b) happen via political revolution wherein a new, super progressive party appears and defeats both the Dems and Pubs at the polls. I don't see many Bernie-bros doing the hard work of standing up a Social Democrat party in the US - the Libertarian party is much farther along. And option (a) is just magical thinking. The only realistic path for progressives is to follow, generally speaking, the Tea Party blueprint and work on getting more progressive candidates to run in primaries. Even if they don't win, the threat of a primary from the left will at least threaten the existing Dems and cause them to move toward the allegedly more progressive base of primary voters. That's exactly what happened to dozens of Republican Senators who now support things that are way more right wing than anything they would have supported when first elected in the 80s or 90s.
 
PhDeac said:
Picture posted on Facebook from a former student who works for Chicago Votes.
http://chicagovotes.com/
[h=4]Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government and politics to young people from all corners of the city. We're changing laws to make Chicago and Illinois a better place to be young, and in the process we're making democracy FUN.[/h]
29432782_10101231719770748_3142678745018531840_n.jpg
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This made me laugh out loud, I think it was the "surprise!" at the end that got me.
 
Yeah. That got me too. She does some amazing work up there. She spent her 30th birthday registering voters in Cook County Jail.
 
Deacon923 said:
If there is a critical mass of super-progressive Democrats, they can rise up and drive the party further to the left just like the Tea Party people (and, notably, their big money backers like the Kochs) drove the GOP to crazy-land. the blueprint is not exactly identical for the Democrats but it seems like the Bernie-bros want this to either (a) happen by magic when all the existing Dems have a road-to-Damascus conversion experience and join Bernie's crusade, or (b) happen via political revolution wherein a new, super progressive party appears and defeats both the Dems and Pubs at the polls. I don't see many Bernie-bros doing the hard work of standing up a Social Democrat party in the US - the Libertarian party is much farther along. And option (a) is just magical thinking. The only realistic path for progressives is to follow, generally speaking, the Tea Party blueprint and work on getting more progressive candidates to run in primaries. Even if they don't win, the threat of a primary from the left will at least threaten the existing Dems and cause them to move toward the allegedly more progressive base of primary voters. That's exactly what happened to dozens of Republican Senators who now support things that are way more right wing than anything they would have supported when first elected in the 80s or 90s.
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a lot less money on the far left than far right, but the work is taking place. it's gonna be slow.
 
DeaconSig said:
I'm sure MDMH will be here soon to castigate the republican party for playing favorites.
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Think this is the 2nd time you've posted this. You know that I don't care how Republicans run their party. They could draw straws or have a dick measuring contest for all I care. Anyway, why do you care what they do? Do you believe that Republicans have some sort of standard that Democrats have to measure themselves by?
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Think this is the 2nd time you've posted this. You know that I don't care how Republicans run their party. They could draw straws or have a dick measuring contest for all I care. Anyway, why do you care what they do? Do you believe that Republicans have some sort of standard that Democrats have to measure themselves by?
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i think the Republicans have drawn a clear road map on how a US political party gets pulled gradually but relatively quickly in a particular ideological direction. If progressives like you want to draw the Democratic party in a particular (but ideologically opposite) direction, the Republican/Tea Party road map is the most obvious one to follow. Our system simply does not allow for brand new parties to emerge spontaneously out of the air and become major players a la En Marche or the Five Star Movement, so it's really the only model you've got.
 
Deacon923 said:
If there is a critical mass of super-progressive Democrats, they can rise up and drive the party further to the left just like the Tea Party people (and, notably, their big money backers like the Kochs) drove the GOP to crazy-land. the blueprint is not exactly identical for the Democrats but it seems like the Bernie-bros want this to either (a) happen by magic when all the existing Dems have a road-to-Damascus conversion experience and join Bernie's crusade, or (b) happen via political revolution wherein a new, super progressive party appears and defeats both the Dems and Pubs at the polls. I don't see many Bernie-bros doing the hard work of standing up a Social Democrat party in the US - the Libertarian party is much farther along. And option (a) is just magical thinking. The only realistic path for progressives is to follow, generally speaking, the Tea Party blueprint and work on getting more progressive candidates to run in primaries. Even if they don't win, the threat of a primary from the left will at least threaten the existing Dems and cause them to move toward the allegedly more progressive base of primary voters. That's exactly what happened to dozens of Republican Senators who now support things that are way more right wing than anything they would have supported when first elected in the 80s or 90s.
Click to expand...

Can we retire "bernie-bros" as a catch-all for leftists? It's a stereotype that doesn't fit most of the people I've met since getting involved with the DSA, and it diminishes/erases people of color and women and LGBTQ people that are a part of the movement. I would say that most of my political education has come from black women like Angela Davis and Mariame Kaba and other activists within the BLM movement.
 
MHBDemon said:
Can we retire "bernie-bros" as a catch-all for leftists? It's a stereotype that doesn't fit most of the people I've met since getting involved with the DSA, and it diminishes/erases people of color and women and LGBTQ people that are a part of the movement. I would say that most of my political education has come from black women like Angela Davis and Mariame Kaba and other activists within the BLM movement.
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Agree with this. It also gives Bernie way too much credit. He didn't start a movement. He just stood in as an alternative for Hillary.
 
Deacon923 said:
i think the Republicans have drawn a clear road map on how a US political party gets pulled gradually but relatively quickly in a particular ideological direction. If progressives like you want to draw the Democratic party in a particular (but ideologically opposite) direction, the Republican/Tea Party road map is the most obvious one to follow. Our system simply does not allow for brand new parties to emerge spontaneously out of the air and become major players a la En Marche or the Five Star Movement, so it's really the only model you've got.
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It's not comparable. At all. De-regulatory pseudo-libertarian Tea Party efforts are fronts for corporate and big money influence. Just how in the hell do you think Occupy Wall St is going to use the same tactics as Exxon, DuPont, or Bank of America? 1/4 of the voters in this country, from both sides of the aisle, condemn socialist programs as tax burdens upon the working class, while conveniently ignoring the tax cost of the military industrial complex and corporate subsidization. It's that 1/4 of voters who spread the bullshit disinformation that socialized government programs are the "extreme liberal version of tea party politics" on some bullshit one dimensional political scale which doesn't even fucking exist.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
It's not comparable. At all. De-regulatory pseudo-libertarian Tea Party efforts are fronts for corporate and big money influence. Just how in the hell do you think Occupy Wall St is going to use the same tactics as Exxon, DuPont, or Bank of America? 1/4 of the voters in this country, from both sides of the aisle, condemn socialist programs as tax burdens upon the working class, while conveniently ignoring the tax cost of the military industrial complex and corporate subsidization. It's that 1/4 of voters who spread the bullshit disinformation that socialized government programs are the "extreme liberal version of tea party politics" on some bullshit one dimensional political scale which doesn't even fucking exist.
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This is true. Notice how nobody really talks about the tea party anymore.
 
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