Democrats in safe seats asked donors for the Democrat’s campaign arm to help in fending off challengers from the far left during a party-sponsored Zoom call Wednesday, according to a report by the Huffington Post.
Two House Democrats considered to be in “safe seats” pleaded for help from the donors on a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)-sponsored call.
The two Democrats were reportedly Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) and Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), who are both members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). According to the Post, the call came after a far left-wing group called Justice Democrats announced they are backing Rana Abdelhamid’s primary bid against Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who is another member of the CPC.
A donor on the call allegedly told the Post, “it definitely shows the robustness of left-wing organizing, at least on a congressional level, in some of these more progressive districts.”
According to the Post, the two members were on a call with members of the DCCC’s “Frontline Program,” which helps signal to fellow members and donors the Democrats who need help the most to retain their seats in the upcoming election. Allegedly, swing-state members Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA), Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY) were also on the call.
Escobar allegedly “kept her comments general, simply requesting the donors’ support.” Gomez told the donors he’s “in a very tough race” for the midterm elections. He went in to detail about his situation, and “speculated that he elicited the ire of the activist left for continuing to accept donations from corporate political action committees,” claimed the report.
California has what is called a nonpartisan “jungle” primary system, where the top two candidates that garnish the most voters proceed to the general election, no matter which party the candidates are in, and many seats have been known to have Democrat versus Democrat in the general election.
Gomez reportedly described the tough race he had in the 2020 general. He described coming within six points of his challenger, who is backed by a far-left group called “Our Revolution.”
The Post reached out to the DCCC for comment, and their spokesperson Chris Taylor allegedly did not deny any part of their report when he was asked. “We are going to ensure Democratic incumbents have the resources they need to return to Congress to continue delivering for the American people,” Taylor said to the Post.
In early April, multiple vulnerable Democrats received surprise donations from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to support their reelection campaigns, Politico reports. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign wired $5,000 directly into the campaign accounts of several vulnerable Democrats after the DCCC provided wire transfer information and account numbers to her team.
The DCCC and Ocasio-Cortez apparently did not check with the vulnerable Democrats who got the cash before giving out the wire transfer account information. Now several of those Democrats are giving the money back, fearing that Ocasio-Cortez’s financial support could be more politically damaging to them than the money is worth.
The DCCC also ended its controversial consulting ban after Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s (D-NY) ascension to the chairmanship of the Democrat campaign arm. The committee originally banned the use of political consultants who work with candidates trying to challenge sitting Democrat incumbents in primaries.
Maloney campaigned for the chairmanship on reversing the policy, a promise he kept. The ban was put in place less than two years ago, during the last campaign cycle, and helped block some far-left primary challengers. Most notably, Ocasio-Cortez successfully primaried then-incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) in 2018, who was part of the Democrat leadership at the time.
The DCCC also announced recently they narrowed the number of seats to 22, which they are looking to target in order for Pelosi to widen her majority in the House.
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