CO Governor Jared Polis (D) supports Primary opponent to Ilhan Omar

[brooklynite]

Link to tweet

[Laelth]

1. Simple question.

Do you agree that the United States would benefit from being more liberal, as a whole?

If you said yes, then we should primary incumbent Democrats to the right of the party’s mainstream and not the ones to the party’s left.

That is all.

-Laelth

[onecaliberal]

2. That.

[jorgevlorgan]

6. +10,000

Unfortunately many don't agree.

[lapucelle]

7. I'm not sure where Ilhan Omar falls relative to the party's mainstream,

but she is to the right of Nancy Pelosi, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Eliot Engel, and William Lacy Clay all of whom faced primaries from "progressives".



Ilhan Omar is a Populist-Leaning Liberal

*******************************************************************************************************



Nancy Pelosi is a Hard-Core Liberal

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Jerrold Nadler is a Hard-Core Liberal.

******************************************************************************************************



Carolyn Maloney is a Hard-Core Liberal.

*****************************************************************************************************



William Lacy Clay is a Hard-Core Liberal.

*****************************************************************************************************



Eliot Engel is a Hard-Core Liberal.

https://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

[lapucelle]

11. Omar is even to the right of Joe Cowley who lost his seat to AOC.

Joseph Crowley is a Hard-Core Liberal.

https://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

[mcar]

9. You cannot be both for and against

primarying incumbents.

[lapucelle]

10. What about if the the incumbent falls to the right of Pelosi, Nadler, Maloney, Engel, and Clay? N/T

[mcar]

12. Interesting, that

Seems like, for some, it's more about image than reality.

[Demsrule86]

14. Um NO, We should not primary Democrats who win elections and replace them with those on

the left until the left does the hard work of winning hearts and minds and can win generals...and it is required for all Democrats to support the Democratic nominee...not doing so is ground for a primary...party loyalty matters.

[George II]

34. We came close to that in a few races in 2018 in the midwest, and thankfully the incumbent or...

..."centrist" candidates won the primaries and the general elections. Had the "progressive" won any of those primaries the seats would have been lost to the republicans.

[qazplm135]

15. pretty ridiculous

1. how do you determine "the party's mainstream?" Biden ran away with the nomination so is he the party's mainstream?

2. Primaries are the only manner in which constituents can express either their happiness with or disavowal of their current rep in this scenario. Your "no primaries unless they are to the right" rule tells them to fuck off if they happen to be upset with someone who you think is to the left of the mainstream.

Primary anyone. If they have the will of their people, they will win, easily. If they don't, they lose. That's how representative democracy works. And last time I checked, representative democracy was a pretty effing core democratic AND Democratic AND Liberal/progressive value.

[JI7]

17. Omar isn't liberal. She opposed criticizing Turkey for Armenian genocide

[George II]

35. Here is her progressive rating from "Progressive Punch":

#158 of 232 Democrats, far behind Democrats that some deem "not progressive enough" like Carolyn Maloney (#4), Eliot Engel (#31), Jerry Nadler (#36), and William Clay (#54)

[George II]

20. No, we should NOT primary incumbents who seemingly are "to the right of the party's mainstream"...

For one thing, there aren't many incumbents who meet that criteria.

For another, we have to consider the constituency of the incumbent which is an indication of their ability to WIN.

I'd much prefer a Democrat in office ("in office" being the key words) who is in sync with Democrats 80% of the time than a Democrat who would be 100% in sync but has no chance of being elected - resulting in a republican who would be 0% in sync with Democrats.

This isn't an all or nothing proposition. We saw that a number of times in 2018 when, thankfully, Democrats "to the right" (who judges that?) won their primaries against Democrats "to the left" and then went on to win their general elections.

A "non-pure" (in the eyes of some, not me) Democrat in office is 100% better than a "pure" Democrat sitting on the sidelines.

[George II]

24. One other point - according to Progressive Punch...

Of the roughly 235 Democrats in the House, Omar is rated #158 (67th percentile. 50% being "mainstream&quot so she is, as you put it, "to the right of the party's mainstream. Using your criteria she should be primaried.

For that matter, since someone mentioned them in this discussion, the rest of "the squad" are:

Pressley #113 (48th percentile)
Tlaib #129 (55th percentile)
Omar #158 (67th percentile)
Ocasio-Cortez #169 (72and percentile)

https://progressivepunch.org/scores.htm?topic=&house=house&sort=overall-current&order=down&party=

That is all.

[Laelth]

26. Thanks for that. It's useful.

I stand by my original position. If we want a more liberal America, we should avoid primarying Democrats on our left wing. That’s not to say I favor primarying any incumbent Democrats, per se, but if there are primaries against our incumbents, I would prefer to see our more conservative members primaried.

If representative Omar fits this bill, so be it, but I remain uncomfortable about the fact that the Governor of Colorado decided to tip the scales on this race. He has every right to do so, of course, but it strikes me as heavy-handed and undemocratic.



-Laelth

[George II]

28. Did you feel uncomfortable about Bernie Sanders "tipping the scales" by endorsing her?

Do you consider that "heavy-handed"? Endorsements are commonplace by politicians, both in office and out of office.

[Laelth]

29. An endorsement and a campaign contribution are different to me.

Somehow the campaign contribution seems unethical, coming from a sitting Democratic Governor of another state, but that’s just me.

I don’t want to fight with you about this, George. I avoided responding to anyone after I made my initial response in this thread. I did want to thank you, however, for some useful data on the voting habits of various members of our caucus.

Thanks again.

-Laelth

[George II]

30. One last comment, not pushing this, but there's a wealth of information in candidates'....

....campaign filings. I pore over them periodically.

[qazplm135]

3. the district will pick the person

that best represents them, and I will support whomever wins.

[redstatebluegirl]

4. Yes!

[bullimiami]

5. I don't see any problem with primary challenges and who may support who.

The people of the district will decide it at the ballot box.

If Polis makes a poor decision in the voters eyes then he can be primaried when his turn comes round.

[Raven123]

8. Why is Colorado governor opining on a Minnesota Congressional race?

Seems to me there is enough work to be done in Colorado.

[lapucelle]

13. He didn't "opine".

He made a campaign contribution.

[brooklynite]

16. Willing to bet most people opining in this thread are from the district either.

[George II]

22. (aren't)

[George II]

21. It's known as endorsing, which is cherished by candidates. Plus, regarding contributions...

Only 8%* of Omar's contributions came from people within Minnesota (probably much less from her District)

Why are contributors of 92% of her contributions getting involved?

*28% from California
*10% from New York

[maximusveritas]

18. There are probably better uses of our money, but don't blame him for it

I do think AOC and the Squad are a net negative for the party so if there is a good chance to defeat one of them, I'm all for it

[tritsofme]

19. So do I.

[liskddksil]

23. Polis has been on my bad-list ever since he called Diane Ravitch, one of our best education scholars

and defenders of public schools, evil on Twitter. I will never support him in a Presidential Primary.

http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/09/20/democratic-congressman-tweeted-ravitch-evil-goes-compare-koch-brothers/

[marmar]

25. Whatever. More crow for him to eat when Omar and the rest of the squad gets re-elected.

[MineralMan]

27. Who in the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota Cares

what the Governor of Colorado thinks? I can't imagine anyone at all cares who can vote in our August 11, primary in Minnesota. Nobody except voters in that district matter in that primary election.

[Happy Hoosier]

31. I don't favor primarying candidates who can win, in general, but...

Her refusal to endorse the Party nominee is a problem. I think a candidate who can't support the party nominee should not expect party support, and if someone primaries her for that? Hard to to argue with that, IMO.

[judeling]

33. The 5th is totally safe.

Whoever wins the primary will win the general.

[judeling]

32. FYI I have 15 family members in the 5th

of that 7 of us caucused, 4 ended up with Antoine and 3 with Omar.

Of that three, two have or will have switched to Antoine.

This will be closer then people think and I have no idea how it will come down. Being on Trump's list is a huge positive for her. But most of the rest is trending against her.