Tonight, we find out whether Jamaal Bowman will knock off 16 term incumbent Eliot Engel in New York's 16th congressional district. Bowman is a school principal and community activist. He has been endorsed by Justice Democrats, Democratic Socialists of America, the Sunrise Movement, the Working Families Party, Bernie Sanders, and AOC. Engel is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and has the full force of the Democratic establishment behind him. He has been endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, and even Hillary Clinton. Engel has outspent Bowman hugely, and has also been the beneficiary of millions of dollars worth of ads by "independent" Super PACs. Despite all that, a poll taken last week showed Bowman ahead 41-31 with 27% undecided. If Bowman wins, this will be a big step forward.
Jamaal Bowman: the next AOC?
I've been following this a bit too, great summary. Go Bowman!
Why Is GOP Money Going to Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel?
On foreign policy, the 16-term incumbent aligns with the Republicans.
However, Engel has been criticized for neglecting his district; he rode out the first two months of the pandemic in Washington, D.C., even as his Bronx- and Westchester County-based district became a coronavirus hotspot, and a hot mic caught him pleading to speak at a press conference about the anti-police-violence protests by saying, “if I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”
With 9% tallied McGrath leading Booker 43.1% to 40.4% in Kentucky Democratic Senate contest
Candidate backed by Trump, Meadows loses GOP primary for Meadows’ old seat in Congress
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article243752012.html
Early going but Jamaal has a big lead 61.6% vs 35.9%
As of this morning, NYT shows Bowman ahead 60.9% to 35.6% with 97% of precincts reporting. They still haven't called it for some reason, perhaps because there are many mail in ballots left to count, but it sure looks like Bowman will win.
..this is good.
This really won't make a big difference anyways. The "progressive" Democrats elected to Congress are a tiny minority, and the DNC continues to manage to shun progressive ideas no matter how strong they are becoming. Even so, AOC has been moving away from her more radical roots by replacing the more activist staffers with staffers more comfortable wtih politics on Capital Hill and calling Nancy Pelosi the "mama bear" of the Democratic Party after grandstanding about how Pelosi needed to be replaced. As for Kentucky, even if Brooks manages to pull ahead (results as of right now show McGrath in the lead) it is still heavily favoured for McConnell. It's true that Paula Swewaringin won her primary in West Virginia, however the Republicans are so favoured to win that state that she won't have a chance to have much sway at all.
Make no mistake, the DNC is very much in control of the process, even if a few of their favourites like Engel and Crowley can't hold on. You either bend to the Establishment, or you are marginalized and not given any actual clout. Far better to do as Kshama Sawant and Bernie Sanders did and win elections without being affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties.
This really won't make a big difference anyways. The "progressive" Democrats elected to Congress are a tiny minority, and the DNC continues to manage to shun progressive ideas no matter how strong they are becoming. Even so, AOC has been moving away from her more radical roots by replacing the more activist staffers with staffers more comfortable wtih politics on Capital Hill and calling Nancy Pelosi the "mama bear" of the Democratic Party after grandstanding about how Pelosi needed to be replaced. As for Kentucky, even if Brooks manages to pull ahead (results as of right now show McGrath in the lead) it is still heavily favoured for McConnell. It's true that Paula Swewaringin won her primary in West Virginia, however the Republicans are so favoured to win that state that she won't have a chance to have much sway at all.
Make no mistake, the DNC is very much in control of the process, even if a few of their favourites like Engel and Crowley can't hold on. You either bend to the Establishment, or you are marginalized and not given any actual clout. Far better to do as Kshama Sawant and Bernie Sanders did and win elections without being affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties.
Although Bernie did, in fact, run as a Democrat for the presidency, and that's the only reason he ever even got close to winning. It goes without saying that he'd have gone down to a humiliating, Henry Wallace-in-1948 style defeat if he'd accepted Jill Stein's offer to run on the Green ballot line in the general election.
At most, he'd have just taken the same 3%-5% that the Green ticket usually gets, and, as has been the case for all the Green presidential candidacies, nothing at all would have been built by doing that.
This really won't make a big difference anyways. The "progressive" Democrats elected to Congress are a tiny minority, and the DNC continues to manage to shun progressive ideas no matter how strong they are becoming. Even so, AOC has been moving away from her more radical roots by replacing the more activist staffers with staffers more comfortable wtih politics on Capital Hill and calling Nancy Pelosi the "mama bear" of the Democratic Party after grandstanding about how Pelosi needed to be replaced. As for Kentucky, even if Brooks manages to pull ahead (results as of right now show McGrath in the lead) it is still heavily favoured for McConnell. It's true that Paula Swewaringin won her primary in West Virginia, however the Republicans are so favoured to win that state that she won't have a chance to have much sway at all.
Make no mistake, the DNC is very much in control of the process, even if a few of their favourites like Engel and Crowley can't hold on. You either bend to the Establishment, or you are marginalized and not given any actual clout. Far better to do as Kshama Sawant and Bernie Sanders did and win elections without being affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties.
Although Bernie did, in fact, run as a Democrat for the presidency, and that's the only reason he ever even got close to winning. It goes without saying that he'd have gone down to a humiliating, Henry Wallace-in-1948 style defeat if he'd accepted Jill Stein's offer to run on the Green ballot line in the general election.
At most, he'd have just taken the same 3%-5% that the Green ticket usually gets, and, as has been the case for all the Green presidential candidacies, nothing at all would have been built by doing that.
Speaking of third party candidates, why won't Jesse Ventura run? He is very popular and well-respected across the spectrum. Instead of splitting the vote and allowing Trump to be re-elected, he would also take a huge chunk of support from Trump as well. That would make the race very interesting, whether he outright won, or took away enough votes to put safe states like Texas, Maryland, Georgia, California, New York, Georgia, and West Virginia in play for the Presidency.
Jamaal Bowman Is Just the Politician This Moment Needs
The former middle-school principal built a campaign around the Black Lives Matter movement. Now he’s heading to Congress
Although Bernie did, in fact, run as a Democrat for the presidency, and that's the only reason he ever even got close to winning. It goes without saying that he'd have gone down to a humiliating, Henry Wallace-in-1948 style defeat if he'd accepted Jill Stein's offer to run on the Green ballot line in the general election.
At most, he'd have just taken the same 3%-5% that the Green ticket usually gets, and, as has been the case for all the Green presidential candidacies, nothing at all would have been built by doing that.
as opposed to that wonderfull false house of cards bernie did build.
maybe next election will be the time to actually build and support a party that isn't crooked to it's core... nah.
over. and over. and over. as in, fucked over. why is this so hard to see?
bernie 2028! baaaa! baaaa!
I find this question of starting a new left party versus working to push the Dem party leftward a difficult and very interesting one. Here is an article in Jacobin from a couple of months ago, arguing strongly that creating a socialist movement which works within the Dem party is more likely to achieve concrete objectives such as M4A. It includes a lot of interesting history about how the duopoly has made creating a successful third party all but impossible. I think it is worth a read.
Although Bernie did, in fact, run as a Democrat for the presidency, and that's the only reason he ever even got close to winning. It goes without saying that he'd have gone down to a humiliating, Henry Wallace-in-1948 style defeat if he'd accepted Jill Stein's offer to run on the Green ballot line in the general election.
At most, he'd have just taken the same 3%-5% that the Green ticket usually gets, and, as has been the case for all the Green presidential candidacies, nothing at all would have been built by doing that.
as opposed to that wonderfull false house of cards bernie did build.
maybe next election will be the time to actually build and support a party that isn't crooked to it's core... nah.
over. and over. and over. as in, fucked over. why is this so hard to see?
bernie 2028! baaaa! baaaa!
First of all, I was the one who wrote what you quoted there, not Aristotleded24.
Secondly, I'm not a Bernie worshipper,
Thirdly, I'm not AGAINST building a new left party. All I've ever opposed is third-party PRESIDENTIAL campaigns, since the Electoral College makes it impossible for a third-party to win the presidency and since nothing positive can ever come from a losing third-party presidential campaign.
The way to build a third party is by running for winnable offices-local government, state legislative races, congressional and Senate races, governorships-not by running for the one office that is hopelessly out of reach as long as the Electoral College is still in place.
Why would anyone think a minor party presidential campaign everyone knew was doomed to lose even ever be worth trying again? It's not going to make any difference in the course of U.S. politics to get 5% of the vote or less, always be ignored by the media, always be kept out of the televised debates and never to have any impact on public opinion.
Build a new left party. It needs to happen. It's just that third-party presidential campaigns in the U.S. are totally ineffective in building one and can't be worth running again. Why not, instead, focuses on races that can actually be won, on initiative campaigns, and on a major push for electoral reform?
What possible good would it have done for Bernie to run and go down to what would have to have been a massive, humiliating defeat on the Green ballot line? Nobody would have celebrated him getting, at most 7% or 8% of the vote. Nothing in a showing like that would have led to the growth of the Greens. Nothing in a showing like that would have made anything better possible in future campaigns.
Presidential campaigns in the U.S. are where third parties go to die, and nothing can change that until the Electoral College is either repealed or at least made proportional.
And if the young didn't turn out for Bernie in the '20 Democratic primaries, they wouldn't have turned out for him on the Green ballot line either.
..people may never get control of the dem party. what is attainable is the municipal.
'Act locally, think globally.'
THE RISE OF THE LEFT (WITH MONDAIRE JONES)
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/25/deconstructed-podcast-mehdi-hasan-mondaire-jones-left/
I find this question of starting a new left party versus working to push the Dem party leftward a difficult and very interesting one. Here is an article in Jacobin from a couple of months ago, arguing strongly that creating a socialist movement which works within the Dem party is more likely to achieve concrete objectives such as M4A. It includes a lot of interesting history about how the duopoly has made creating a successful third party all but impossible. I think it is worth a read.
It is interesting history. It is ironic that he dismisses the idea of creating a third party, when the article notes that it was the presense of strong third parties in the 1930s which gave the left leverage over the Democrats. It was so strong that FDR told the business community that if they didn't accept his proposed reforms that there would be a communits revolution. There is also lots of history that he leaves out. Post-2004, there was all kinds of organizing in Democratic circles. Hurricane Katrina then hit, and Bush's popularity was destroyed to the point that a ham sandwich running as a Democrat would have won almost throughout the country. Knowing that the Democrats were about to take over, the leadership stacked the candidate field with conservative candidates. They claimed it was about matching candidates to their district, but it was really about keeping the centre of gravity from shifting too far to the left under the Obama Administration.
He also neglects the possibility of independent candidates gaining power by winning Senate seats in smaller states that have an independent streak, like Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii. Bernie Sanders won statewide office in Vermont by beating the Democratic and Republican establishments. Why not look at that kind of strategy? Done correctly, that is 12 Senate seats that can be pulled out of the D and R column. If that causes a situation where neither party can win a majority, then all of a sudden you have leverage.
I'm not down with co-operating with the Democratic Establishment. The Democratic leadership knows they have a losing strategy, which is why they try to block progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders, Charles Booker, and Paula Swearingin. A progressive agenda hurts their donor base, and if blocking progressive enables a Republican victory, that is a price they are willing to pay. They are very good at allowing left-wing token candidates to hold office (remember Dennis Kucinich) but marginalizing them in every way that counts.
Bowman will either be bent or marginalized, the same as happened with AOC. There is no hope for change within the Democratic Party. The sooner the left dumps the Dems and creates alternate political formations, the better life will be for all of us.
Jamaal Bowman on NY Primary Upset, Rent Strikes, Police Brutality & Opposing West Bank Annexation
quote:
JAMAAL BOWMAN: Absolutely. You know, I had a front-row seat to the attack on public schools, attack on teachers’ unions, and the privatization of our schools and the taking of resources from public schools and investments in charter schools. I had a front-row seat to that throughout my 20-year career, and particularly throughout my 10 years as a middle school principal. And outside of serving as a principal, I also worked on education organizing, with organizations like AQE, CEJ, NYSAPE, pushing back against charter schools, calling for a national moratorium on charter schools, and pushing back against the overuse of standardized testing, because it’s been used, as you know, as a weapon to call schools and kids and teachers failing, so they can ultimately be closed and reopened as for-profit charter entities. So, it’s something I’ve been fighting for and against throughout my career, but particularly over the last 10 years.
But that privatization is not just happening in public schools. It’s happening in housing. It’s happening in healthcare. It’s happening when you look at utilities and when you look at the impact of fossil fuels on our environments and how we continue to support fossil fuels and not move towards clean, renewable energy. So, the corporatization, the privatization and the wealthy elite are attacking all of our public institutions. And it’s our time. It’s our job right now to fight against that.
quote:
AMY GOODMAN: So, Jamaal Bowman, do you think Governor Cuomo didn’t go far enough? He just signed this measure yesterday to prevent tenants from being evicted for nonpayment of rent during this period of the coronavirus. But, of course, they will have to pay that full rent soon.
JAMAAL BOWMAN: It needs to be canceled. As we deal with this coronavirus and we get a handle on it and people endure what’s happening in their lives, it needs to be canceled outright, not a moratorium, because they’re going to be held accountable for that on the backend, which is something we’re against.
quote:
AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about a challenge you got about a week before the primary election by Rabbi Avi Weiss in your district, when he wrote an open letter in the Riverdale Press condemning what he called your anti-Israel views. You replied to him in your own open letter. I want to read a part of it. You wrote, “The uprising across the country against police violence also makes me empathize with the everyday experience and fear that comes with living under occupation. Just as the police force is an intimidating force in so many black communities, I can connect to what it feels like for Palestinians to feel the presence of the military in their daily lives in the West Bank. I can also understand the crushing poverty and deprivation in the Gaza strip. I believe Palestinians have the same rights to freedom and dignity as my Jewish brothers and sisters. I will fight for their liberation just as hard as I will fight for yours,” you wrote.
I was wondering if you could expand on that and then comment on the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to annex the occupied West Bank, parts of the occupied West Bank — he has put it off for today — and the letter that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote, that was supported by Senator Sanders and others, saying that if he moves forward, the U.S. should cut military aid to Israel.
JAMAAL BOWMAN: Yes. So, first of all, I’m a Black man in America, and I know what it feels like to feel inferior because of the color of your skin or because of who you are, and to feel like you’re constantly under attack because of your race. I understand the history of this country completely, and I know what my ancestors have gone through in this country. In that understanding, you know, I can connect with Palestinian suffering, not just in Israel-Palestine, but across the world, and I can connect with Jewish suffering in terms of their safety and security in their history.
What I’ve talked about from the very beginning of this campaign is our common trauma and our common humanity. And that’s something — that’s what I’m trying to bridge — that’s how I’m trying to bridge these gaps and open doors to new understanding and new conversation amongst the Black community, the Jewish community, the Palestinian community and all communities, and everyone who’s felt oppressed in this country or throughout the world.
In terms of the annexation, it’s something we’ve been very critical of throughout our campaign — the annexation, the occupation and the detaining of Palestinian children. Palestinian people have the right to self-determination, to safety and security, and to their own country, which is why we support a two-state solution. And the annexation undermines us getting to a two-state solution, which is why we’ve been critical of it throughout our campaign.
Progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman has defeated House Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel in New York's 16th congressional district's Democratic primary, which took place on June 23, according to an AP call of the race on Friday.