"Meddling"
Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and the various party organizations are not (in theory) in charge of selecting primary candidates. In practice things aren't so neat and nobody really denies that, but it does mean that they shouldn't be handed the presumption of power over the issue, either by journalists or, of course, themselves.Sen. Bernie Sanders had just announced his intent to unseat a sitting House Democrat — this time, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus from North Carolina — when Rep. Hakeem Jeffries decided it was time to confront Sanders himself.The House Democratic leader warned Sanders against meddling in House primaries, particularly one involving a Black Democrat, in such a critical midterm election year, according to three Democrats familiar with the conversation.“He seemed to not care,” Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, a Jeffries ally who was also on the call, said of Sanders, recalling the previously unreported phone call. The intervention from those powerful Washington Democrats came just before incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee edged out her challenger, Nida Allam, in the March primary.There is the norm of House members not trying to other House incumbents, and the same for Senators and the Senate, but we have recent examples of House members supporting challenges against sitting Senators. Such as:Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Rep. Joe Kennedy in his Senate challenge Thursday, a surprise move that could provide a significant boost over incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey as the contentious Massachusetts race comes to a close in less than two weeks.Pelosi wasn't just some backbencher. She was (as it says) Speaker!Also this is internalizing some assumptions that aren't always true:At the heart of the debate: whether to nominate candidates more friendly to the party establishment and seen as wooing swing voters, or to pick democratic socialists or further-left progressives who can energize a restive party base but who risk alienating independents.Amusingly, the problem is actually right there in the text. I am open to the idea that candidates who are more centrist in some sense are better able to woo swing voters (though this is very debatable!), but there is basically no reason to think candidates who are more friendly to the party establishment are better able to do that.The party establishment is notable for its ability to woo donors! These are not the same things.
2 days ago
