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'An Enormous Win': Progressives Hail Official End of DCCC Consultant Blacklist
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the ban had "created a lot of dissuasion against candidates even considering grassroots organizing firms."
Mar 08, 2021
Progressives on Tuesday cheered news that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is officially lifting a controversial ban on political consultants or firms who worked for candidates mounting primary challenges against incumbent House lawmakers.
"We have primaries to make sure we have the best and the brightest in every party. So primaries should be unemcumbered by outside forces."
--Rep. Marie Newman (D-Ill.)
Politico reports DCCC chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) pronounced the end of the ban Tuesday morning, fulfilling a promise he made while campaigning for the position. The policy, which was implemented in 2019, prohibited the DCCC from hiring or even recommending contractors offering services to primary candidates running against Democratic House incumbents.
Progressives seethed at the proscription, which they said unfairly targeted them. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), then vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called the policy "an unprecedented grab of power" and "a slap in the face of Democratic voters."
Despite concerns that the policy could continue unofficially, leftist lawmakers applauded the shift. "It's an enormous win," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told Politico. "The escalation and aggression against the progressive wing of the party with an explicit forward-facing 'blacklist' created a lot of dissuasion against candidates even considering grassroots organizing firms."
Ocasio-Cortez--who got to Congress by defeating a 10-term Democratic incumbent in 2018--added that the ban's end would open "a door for our party to leverage strength from all parts of it."
\u201cNEW: @DCCC is officially reversing its controversial "blacklist" on Tuesday, ending a blanket ban on consultants/firms who work with primary challengers of House Dem incumbents\n\nThis is a HUGE win for progressives, who have lobbied for it for 2 years\n\nhttps://t.co/QGMqoH1SYY\u201d— Ally Mutnick (@Ally Mutnick) 1615299492
Rep. Marie Newman (D-Ill.), whose successful 2020 campaign against conservative Democratic incumbent Rep. Dan Lipinksi was beset by consultant cancellations due to the ban, also welcomed its demise.
"We have primaries to make sure we have the best and the brightest in every party," Newman told Politico. "So primaries should be unencumbered by outside forces."
Last month, Maloney told Politico that the ban--which was implemented under his DCCC predecessor, Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.)--never "made sense" to him.
However, Maloney also said that "no one should be looking for work around here if they want to go after one of our members at the same time," prompting concerns that the ban could still persist in practice.
\u201cThe DCCC is still planning to enforce its consultant ban against firms who work with primary challengers, but they've taken it out of their official paperwork. So...the ban is still in place. https://t.co/LFEuwhkreE\u201d— Ryan Grim (@Ryan Grim) 1615300362
The short-lived official ban was welcomed by centrist Democrats seeking to stymie progressive upstarts. It was embraced by members of the Congressional Black Caucus as entrenched incumbents tried--and sometimes failed--to ward off newcomers like Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), the Black Lives Matter activist who last year ousted Rep. Lacy Clay, a Democrat whose family had represented St. Louis in Congress for half a century.
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'No Tolerance': Union Urges DCCC to Cut Off Support to Dems Who Voted Against Pro-Labor Bill
"They must be denied the support of the Democratic Party for refusing to stand with working Americans."
Feb 19, 2020
The Communications Workers of America, a labor union with 700,000 members, called on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this week to cut off support to the seven House Democrats who "betrayed working people" by voting against a pro-labor bill that passed the House earlier this month.
"I urge the DCCC to no longer provide services for any incumbent House members who turn their back on working people."
--Christopher Shelton, CWA
The Democrats who voted against the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act--which would eliminate state-level "right-to-work" laws and expand workers' bargaining rights--are Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Lucy McBath (Ga.), Kendra Horn (Okla.), Kurt Schrader (Ore.), Joe Cunningham (S.C.), and Ben McAdams (Utah.).
"They must be denied the support of the Democratic Party for refusing to stand with working Americans," CWA president Christopher Shelton wrote to DCCC chair Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) in a letter (pdf) dated Feb. 18. "I urge the DCCC to no longer provide services for any incumbent House members who turn their back on working people."
"We have no tolerance for anti-worker electeds," CWA tweeted Thursday.
\u201cWe have no tolerance for anti-worker electeds. #1u\nhttps://t.co/WIU92y2nzd\u201d— CWA (@CWA) 1582212147
McBath, Horn, McAdams, and Cunningham are all freshmen in toss-up seats, Politico reported Wednesday.
Cuellar, a Koch-backed Democrat who has voted with President Donald Trump nearly 70% of the time, is facing a tough primary challenge from progressive attorney Jessica Cisneros in Texas' 28th District.
Cisneros has racked up union endorsements and nearly $1 million in donations despite the DCCC's blacklist policy, which cuts off funding and support for vendors that assist Democratic primary challengers.
CWA District 6 endorsed Cisneros last October.
"Jessica just exemplifies the kind of person we need more in Congress," Shane Larson, senior director of government affairs and policy for CWA, told The Intercept this week. "It's one thing for our union to want to see Henry Cuellar replaced because he votes with corporations and Wall Street time and time again, but Jessica is really such a phenomenal person and phenomenal candidate, and she represents the kind of people who just do not have representation in Congress today."
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'Not Normal' But in a Good Way: Ocasio-Cortez Raises $1 Million in One Month for Re-Election
"The energy of this movement is at an all-time high."
Jan 30, 2020
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the popular freshman Democrat from New York whose first year in office has shaken up the American political establishment, announced Friday that her re-election bid raised $1 million in January, a huge amount of money for a congressional campaign.
"That's not normal for the House," tweeted The Intercept's Ryan Grim of the congresswoman's haul.
\u201cEgged on by the DCCC's hostility to progressive candidates, small donors have given more than $1 million to @AOC in a single *month*. \n\nThat's not normal for the House.\u201d— Ryan Grim (@Ryan Grim) 1580486548
In early January, Ocasio-Cortez announced she was starting a political action committee aimed at supporting progressive candidates for Congress after a year of attacks on primary challengers to incumbents from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). As Common Dreams reported, the DCCC established a so-called "blacklist" banning vendors who work with primary challengers from DCCC-approved clients in March 2019.
The fallout from that decision--and the support for anti-choice, right-wing incumbents like Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) from party leaders despite both men having primary election challengers more aligned with the party's values--has exposed divisions in the party between the old guard and a progressive upswell from the grassroots.
The frustration was noted by progressive Democrat Eva Putzova, who is running to unseat incumbent Rep. Tom O'Halleran (D-Ariz.).
"The DCCC loves to tip the scales," said Putzova.
"They don't care about democracy," she added, "they care about power."
Ocasio-Cortez, as one of the most visible young progressives in the party, is being targeted by right-wing Democrats and Republicans alike in her re-election campaign.
But the congresswoman's January haul indicates Ocasio-Cortez is well-prepared to face her opponents.
"Our team is floored," the campaign told supporters in a press release announcing the $1 million in funds for January. "The energy of this movement is at an all-time high, and that foreshadows a lot of great things for our future."
Progressives welcomed the news as an indication they are winning the battle for the soul of the party.
"Shake this entire system to the core," tweeted radio host Benjamin Dixon.
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