Is this really a pro-Democratic group?

If they're actively working against Democrats, they are most certainly NOT pro-Democratic.

And here we go again.

Do you think they will accept responsibility?

Those folks are disgusting. Why are they fighting the Dems when trump is going to destroy us first? I am disgusted with these folks.

They had a huge hand in making the blue wave happen and followed working themselves to exhaustion before with starting right in on building our house majority in 2020.

As for the Just-Us radical group being pro-Democratic? Of course not. I've checked a bunch of their various social media posts over their existence, and that is very obvious. The constant theme is that the Democratic Party is corrupt, with their overwhelming focus being on attacking and replacing Democrats -- instead of Republicans -- with those who wave their flag. They've never displayed any interest in identifying and saving good Democrats in office. Apparently they don't see any.

I do notice they've brought the anti-Democrat rhetoric down a lot since Ocasio took office. The men are in DC as her employees now. Specifically, they've dialed it back since her "new office manager" described her new congressional seat as a "chip" that might need to be sacrificed to continue the important job of attacking other Democrats. Just guessing, but maybe that didn't go over well with her.

Btw, THIS is the new head of the DCCC whom JD regards with such contempt and whose hard work JD feels a compelling need to overset.

or who wields the influence? (will it be RWers? Domestic or.... Russian?)!!!

I don't know Cuellar that well, but as a 7-term Democrat and Latino he must be serving his district well-or at least perceived to be.

This is not how we take/maintain majorities.

As stated down thread, calling popular incumbent Democrats "vile" is something that bugs me enormously.

Originally, Justice Democrats listed two Board members on their website:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Saikat Chakrabarti (her campaign manager and now her chief of staff)

In mid-2018 their names were removed from the Justice Democrats website as board members.

They endorsed 78 candidates in 2018, 71 lost. Three of those who won were incumbents and one ran unopposed.

explains everything they're doing, trying to undermine the Democratic Party.

No thanks, Cenk. We have to look at each district...and preserve our majority.

He went to a Republican fundraiser.
He has an A rating from the NRA.
He is anti-abortion.

He does have a record. I've thought he was a disappointment for a long time.

we need to fight the repubs. We don't have time for their crap.

Your right we don't have time for that Crap

A left-leaning repub is not much help.

We can try governing with a minority, albeit "pure", by attacking dems in primaries.

We can do better.

Who told you voting records and policy matter? It's team above all. Even when the team offers collaboration to the Republicans and somehow pulls off miracles like losing a general election to the likes of Trump, at least it fends off grassroots challenges so that it can keep providing the same milquetoast policy that alienates the voting public.

This district is rural and heavily Hispanic, and over half of Hispanics are conservative. They first elected Cuellar in 2005 and have sent him back every two years since. There's a huge difference between being "Democrat-because-liberal" and being "Democrat to fight off Republican attacks."

Belief in government of, by and for the people is the closest I get to sacred belief. I'm happy to oust people who do not represent their districts, but not those who do. I cannot support any group characterized by profound contempt for the opinions of others. Rejection of the wishes of all voters but those who agree with oneself is massively incompatible with democracy.

On the plus side, now that Democrats lead the house Cuellar's record will undoubtedly be able to shift farther left as he now has Democratic-sponsored bills to vote for, including what he helps write himself, which he did not have most years before.

I hope locals have a GOOD alternative to vote for in 2020, not a far-left anti-Democrat ringer pushed on them by JD manipulations. Btw, Cuellar serves on the Appropriations Committee. Any connection between that and their desire to take him out?

Some people got involved who were much further left than the local union bosses and friends.

There was a bit of a power struggle. My mother became a SWP member and we received this newspaper-like thing for a while. I considered it fringy. But they said things she liked.

That lasted for a year. After they said things she liked, they continued with things that she didn't like, and by then had moved into some positions of authority in the union and were lobbying politicians and pushing for policies that the union membership didn't much want--they were using the existing power structure for their own agenda. The union local was basically shattered as a result. Most of the workers couldn't stand those who had assumed some responsibility, but most of the workers had a completely hands-off approach to the union. Union elections had a really small turnout, which is why the SWP folk could win some offices--that, and not saying much of what they actually stood for. By the time the membership figured out what was going on and were able to get rid of the troublemakers there'd been some really contentious meetings between the union and the employer, the union had called for a series of strikes that the membership voted down by a huge margin, and the company basically said it had no negotiating partner. The union/SWP folk continued, though, to politic with legislators as though they really did have the backing of the membership. They spoke for 20,000 workers, most of whom disliked them intensely and most of whom the union/SWP folk had contempt for (although they expressed solidarity--the poor dears who worked in the plant, well, they just didn't know their *real* interests ... and other false consciousness BS).

A loud minority supported the SWP/union folk. And, of course, that loud minority was convinced they were both right and really deserved both power and the loyalty of the workers. They were fools, often under 35.

They didn't want to take the work of establishing their own structure, earn their own credibility and respect. They wanted to use, for their own purposes, the institution that other people built. Often without the approval of the other people. And in so doing weakened the institution--in this case the union local, and as they did so they squandered the political capital the union had built up.

"using the existing power structure for their own agenda," "the union local basically shattered," the contempt for and of all who "needed" to be lied to because they lacked the wisdom to join them without deception.

I know most people on DU are from Blue areas. But I am not. I would love him as my representative as opposed to the Tea Party asshole I have. Hell, I would be glad for a Lapenski representing me. Even though I oppose him on so many things.

Funny how all the people lamenting the lack of a 50 state strategy start bitching and complaining when we actually pull it off! Most of our new members are from districts that could swing back republican. Not an AOC type district.

A democrat in Rural Florida is not a democrat in Brooklyn. But both are a shit ton better that a republican.

Last edited Sat Jan 12, 2019, 07:17 AM - Edit history (1)

here in rural Florida who've abandoned scruples, decency, intellect, patriotism, and even the most vaunted precepts of their religion, to support extreme political partisanship, I can only completely agree.

One of my huge problems with these anti-Democratic establishment Democrats (those who are actually registered) is that these leaders are willing to lose seats held by Democrats, and majorities in congress, to Republicans, their delusion and deception being that there is little difference and destruction of Democratic Party power would possibly only be to the good. Pathetically, and very dangerously, there are those who believe them.

Shhh, Tammy Duckworth got bashed for saying something similar to that back in the summer.

No way an AOC style democrat gets elected there.

So had you rather a republican? Cause at the end of the day if we do not have Democratic representatives from these types of districts we will not hold the house.

Most Democratic voters are not on DU.

Most Democratic voters are religious

Most Democratic voters do not consider themselves socialist of any type.

I call myself a social democrat. And am not at all religious. But I realize most Democratic voters are not like me.

I’ll take a Democratic Member of Congress I disagree on sometimes to a republican any day of the week.

I'm saying he is a real disappointment, much like Joe Manchin.

They represent the district and the state they represent. But they are Democratic Party Members.

If you are disappointed that AOC type candidates can’t win in West Virginia be prepared for a life of disappointment.

America is not NYC. Wish it was. But I am way past disappointment. I just want Democratic representatives.

someone who says they are a democrat (not running-as-a-democrat), votes for democratic leadership in the house and votes with the democratic agenda 30% of the time. A republican gives you committee chairs like Jordan, Goodlatte and Nunes and votes with the democrats 0% of the time.

Replacing Cuellar with a republican or a bartender with no legislative experience could be worse. Legislating and governing are different and far more serious than just being mean on twitter as Trump found out.

Given what we've seen the past few years, we have to question the motives of anyone who appears to be trying to divide the party.

These people may be legit, but as someone else on this thread said, we have far more pressing issues right now.

Meanwhile, a Democrat in Texas is probably going to be different than a Democrat in Massachusetts or New York. As you say, he is serving HIS district.

We need to focus on Trump and the nuts running the Senate. Get a grip.

change, not just a bunch of nutjobs screaming lock ..?... up. Also, any attacks on fascists is fine, be as dirty as needed, but no mud slinging within the party.

What's wrong with this picture? And what if more moderate members put together finds to take progressive members out? And I take exception to Dems calling another one vile. This does not bode well for the future.

Whether or not the person they target should be targeted this is the last group I would want replacing him.

Someday I may be able to explain why. I am not sure what the rules are as to JD, JD are NOT our friends AT ALL but I dont know what I can and cant say about them.

they think they can decide who is and is not a Democrat.

To be honest I dont think they care at all about the party, AT ALL but are using it.

Our country is on the verge of being destroyed and they think this is the best fight now?

aside from a small group of self-appointed people who don't speak for the DEms? Cause I don't hear anyone else. She should be careful for in politics what comes around very often goes around.

Definitely not the time to be pitting Dem against Dem. What if a rethug takes that seat because you've run a weak candidate?

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who then may sit at home for the general election and the repugs win and we lose a seat of our House majority.

And I don't expect these so-called Justice Democrats to stop at primarying just one Democrat.

This was my issue with AOC during the primaries when she was all over the Midwest primarying other Democrats.

Our enemies should be trump and the repugs not Democrats.

out here where we're fighting to take back our states from the Republicans, things are a little more complex.

arrayed against repugs, not other Dems.

And I like your "potted plant" analogy, but you have to be careful around here for critiquing certain people—aka as a certain senator from a small state, and now a certain rep. with a penchant for primarying Dems outside of her district.

He needs to go.

I honest to god dont know what I can say.

Let me do it this way, ANYTHING connected to Cenk Uyger, BAD

He needs to go but JD should not in charge of replacing him. We need a different, Hispanic candidate who is proud to vote like a Democrat.

I cannot watch any of The Young Turks broadcasts and there use to be a lot of them posted here a few months back. Reminds me too much of the Republican tea party. Anyway, I am concerned about the direction this movement is taking as well.

I don't know why it is even open for discussion.

what is going on with that group.

He didn't endorse the (R). In an email he linked to a fundraising page for Carter (R).

Cuellar is centrist. Carter is centrist from the other side. They've worked together and co-sponsored a number of bills.

In other words, perhaps he'd rather work with somebody he knew he could work across the aisle with than a stranger he didn't know he could work with.

Worse, the Republican in question was a paid up, participating member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That apparently has a storied history in who it supports and doesn't, but there it is, for what it's worth.

Not my district, not national, didn't pay a bit of attention to it last year.

(R) in liberal states are called RINOs. They're often to the left of (D) in conservative states. It happens--much less now than before, but in some parts of the country it does still happen. The idea of a national party can be difficult--and when you start pushing party purity, as opposed to unity, it's a question of which wing of the party will purge the other.

WASHINGTON – A new report has left many Democratic House insiders perplexed and frustrated with one of the most powerful Texas Democrats in Congress: U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.

Politico reported Tuesday that Cuellar had “invited supporters to a breakfast fundraiser” Tuesday morning for U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock. The invitation was “sent from a Cuellar political staffer,” according to the report.

“Although I was not a host of the event, I was honored to attend as I typically do for colleagues who visit my district,” Cuellar said in a statement. “Judge Carter is a dear friend and trusted colleague with whom I work on Appropriations. He is knowledgeable and supportive of issues important to South Texas. In today’s climate, more than ever, friendship is more powerful than partisanship.”

Cuellar, who has served in the U.S. House since 2005, has long had a reputation as one of the chamber's most conservative Democrats. But in both party's caucuses, actively helping a member of the other party is a highly frowned-upon practice.



https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/11/democrat-henry-cuellar-fundraising-republican-john-carter/

I am tired of Democrats acting like Republicans. How often does he vote with Republicans? How often has he supported Trump's crooked appointees and nominees? (Very serious questions!)

This does not (yet) sound like a purity issue. It sounds like trying to elect Democrats who act like Democrats most of the time. What does his overall record look like?

better not pick Sanders. He's not a member of the Democratic Party.

Don’t tell me how bad we need better than him. I would absolutely love to have him as my representative.

And I am a social democrat but would be happy with any Democratic house member representing me. Even a true centrist. Hell, even a conservative Democrat.

Most of the districts we picked up last year are represented by moderates and could easily swing back republican. AOC is not helping. Most states are not Brooklyn.

Are you real Democrats?

...and others affiliated with the two organizations, who campaigned actively against:

Sharice Davids, who defeated their candidate and won the general election over the republican
Lacy Clay, who defeated their candidate and won the general election over the republican
Gretchen Whitmer, who defeated their candidate and won the general election over the republican (they ultimately endorsed Whitmer)

There are other similar candidates, too.

it harder for Democrats to beat Republicans, and they got nothing out of it while the Republicans benefitted from the scrums.

That doesn’t sound like a very smart thing for them to be doing. Makes you wonder...... 🤔

In safe districts, Republicans ended up fearing a primary challenge more than a general election. So they moved right to guard their right flank. Now Democratic politicians will have to start guarding their left flank. If the strategy works, the result will be a more unified, more progressive party.

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rather than Democrats, be they left or centrist Dems.

50 state strategy calls for tailoring Democratic candidates to the particular district. A socialist Democrat would have a lesser chance of winning the general election in a red district than a centrist Democrat.

We need to maintain our House majority in 2020 so we can't give up seats by miscalculating who the district will elect. The calculus in red states is different that in AOC's deep blue state/district.

I think the primary voters in each district are better at deciding who is best for them than AOC is.

And this district is highly unlikely to elect a Republican.

Democrats generally benefit from there being a significant force to the left articulating demands and policy that might change the national conversation. What was once “radical” may become “mainstream.”

This group was founded by Cenk Uygur (The Young Turks) and others who want a sort of tea party of the left.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Democrats

Texas doesn't have that many Dems. So whoever runs in this primary should be able to win the general election or they shouldn't do this. So maybe an inspiring liberal Hispanic from that district, not just anyone.

So to have a realistic chance at unseating him, the JDs are going to have to find a Hispanic candidate to go up against him. There are two risks associated with that tactic: causing division within the Hispanic community in the district and spending money to replace one Democrat with another when that money could be better spent trying to replace a Republican with a Democrat elsewhere.

but the JDs are entirely hell bent on replacing moderate Dems with liberal Dems in what they claim to be reliably Dem districts

2004 against Ciro Rodriguez

I hope the electorate has gotten more liberal since then. Redistricting in Texas also pitted Dems against each other as the GOP tried to reduce the number of Dem districts. In such partisan areas, the real election is the party primary.

Oil and gas.

This election the Rio Grande Valley turned more conservative while the rest of Texas turned bluer.

According to the wiki article, "In the 2018 elections, 26 of the 79 candidates endorsed by Justice Democrats won their respective primary elections. Seven of these candidates won in the general election."

I'm on record against purity tests. It is bad for the party, and makes it very difficult to govern (among other things).

That said, Henry Cuellar does vote like a republican often. If a candidate that votes like a Democrat wins the primary (AND is viable in the general), that is a good thing. It may be that the district is so conservative, Cuellar has to take certain non-Democratic positions to remain a viable candidate. If that is the case, I've got no problem with him. Would rather have a conservative Democrat in that seat any day vs a rethug.

....it is far better than a republican who would vote 0% with Democrats.

A Democrat who might vote 100% with Democrats can only do so if elected, and obviously in this district that Democrat can't get elected, so he/she would wind up with the same voting record as the republican who defeats him/her - 0%.

Texas has blue areas and blue congressional districts. If Cuellar's district is indeed solidly blue, there's no reason that he shouldn't be challenged in a primary by a more Democratic Democrat. There's a purpose to primaries. They can bring forth people who better represent their districts and are assets for the party -- AOC being an example.

But Uygar is a misogynistic bro, and deeply suspect. TYT's expansion was funded by millions of dollars from a right-wing Republican (ex)-politician, Buddy Roemer. Any organization that extends the influence of Uygar and his pals is toxic.

is she OK with that?

I grew up in the congressional district adjacent to Cuellar's district. It is an area where liberals never had any say. It's a poor decision by Justice Democrats to believe that they can get a more liberal candidate.

From their record, that doesn't seem to be what they're all about.

I'd rather have a centrist Dem who votes 65-70% with Dems than a repug who votes against Dems 100% of the time.

The danger is that a farther left Dem could lose the general election in that red district to a repug and shrink our majority in the House. And if the Justice Democrats pull more of their purity test primaryings in other districts and states, our House majority could go away after just two years.

Anyone associated with Cenk Uygur has to be viewed with suspicion as his so-called leftism is in doubt IMO as he's been funded in the past by repugs.

Trump did better in the 28th district than he did in all but one of the districts in Texas that elected a Democrat to Congress.

It also should be noted that Cuellar outperformed Clinton in 2016 -- she got 58 percent of the vote in the district, he got 66 percent.

....no by voters halfway across the country.

This harkens back to the mini-debate from this summer. Tammy Duckworth was asked a question during an interview, she said the politics of NYC wouldn't win in the midwest.

That was proven a number of times - many more "progressive" Democrats lost their primaries in midwestern states and the Democrats who defeated them went on to get elected.

It's just plain common sense.

I don't really get how some feel that primaring someone is a bad idea. We are Democrats, not Republicans who would say nice things about the devil if he had an R after his name.Here is his pro trump score.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/henry-cuellar/

I also don't think being primaried doesn't hurt a good candidate as it creates more press and can take media coverage from the opposition.

Hunting for districts other than your own is quite a different matter and who vets their candidate. Frankly, she and Senator Sanders did a lot of that last time around with poor results.

The media won't give any attention to an upstart liberal Democrat for fear of losing advertising revenue in the general election. Cuellar's brother is sheriff of Webb County (Laredo), so if they anger the family they lose advertising revenue from two different campaigns instead of one. The media realizes that they are cutting their own throats if they are perceived as favoring an opposition candidate.

It's a bad move by Justice Democrats to oppose a popular politician and it is also apparent that they know absolutely nothing about Cuellar's district which is dominated by the oil & gas sector and is heavily Roman Catholic. This move will backfire on Justice Democrats.

I don't trust anything TYT says. Period!

to find out foreign money is financing these Justice Democrats (and I'm a fan of AOC). Fucking purity police have ratfucking written all over them.

Whether she is or not.

Nonetheless, this is a group that wants change, if they don't represent a majority where they get involved, their candidate will not win the primary. All this pearl clutching and hand wringing is the problem with two party politics. It's not just us against them, it's voting for people who represent our beliefs as well as our party. Politics is messy and we have to work to support what we each believe. Why should any politician be free from being contested?

And even the NAME of the group is insulting. The implication and insinuation is clear, and is a backhanded slap of Democrats. It makes about as much sense as "Democratic Socialist"

Their philosophy that the Democratic party must be "destroyed" to be "rebuilt" (in their image?) is obscene. I fucking hate Cenk Uygur's group and anyone associated with it... well, I have doubts about their motives and intelligence. I mean, it's so obvious what JD is about... it's not like anyone's being fooled. And Cenk is a sexist jerk, too!

All I'm trying to say is, at this critical junction in our nation's history, the effort should be to "destroy" the GOP, not Democrats.

Stronger Together (or something) right?

We can do better than this guy.

I'd rather have a someone who votes with Dems 65-70% of the time than a repug who goes against us 100% of the time.

His district keeps sending him back to Congress so it makes you wonder if the district will elect a more leftist candidate over a repug?

Gotta tailor the candidate to the voters in red states.

But whatever. In the real world that makes it your group

She will soon learn America is not just NYC. Her fellow Democratic Congress members will make that clear.

She is apparently not concerned with doing the hard work it takes to become a member of Congress that works in the trenches to get things done but a visible national figure. There are others that have made a career of doing the same.

...and her filing address are the same (as is Brand New Congress') The address for all three is a single family home in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Seems to think she's entitled to committee positions, doesn't seem to actually know how the sausage is made, but she's ready to explain how her ideas would make it so much better, and doesn't seem willing to put in the hard work to get the job done that everyone else did.

That's really stupid

Okay, so this particular person votes more GOP and DNC. Yes, he should be put out to pasture. But not by the Democratic equivalent of the Tea Party. If anything should be done, the DNC/DCCC should have a nice discussion with him and get him to retire and anoint a successor.

There are more factors than just a voting record which must be considered.

....the primary anyway. Laredo Texas isn't San Francisco, there aren't a whole lot of left leaning people in Laredo, republican or Democratic.

Anoint indeed.

Why not have a primary? You know, how he unseated the Democrat he took the seat away from.

and find someone mildly more progressive only compared to the current office holder.
Why? Because clearly most people are happy in that district with the candidate and someone to different might have a harder time winning.

It appears that their main goal is to destroy the democratic party rather than have any agenda whatsoever.

After today's revelations about Trump and Putin and how the 2016 primaries and GE went .... one could only speculate.

...."progressives" were all over him because he was too "centrist", wasn't "pure" enough, etc. etc. He wound up winning one of the more conservative seats in the state and was recently re-elected.

Had he been a little more to the left or more pure, he would have been defeated and the republicans would still have that seat. He won that special election by 626 votes.

I also remember JD and people associated with them actively (and in some cases viciously) campaigning against a number of less progressive Democratic candidates in the midwest in primaries this past spring and summer, including incumbents. Thankfully most of their candidates lost and many of the Democrats who won their primaries won their general elections, too.

in many areas.

Think big people!!

She earned an "F" rating by Progressive Punch, and is ranked #123 of 179 Democratic members with ratings. She's from a strong Democratic District where a more progressive option to the incumbent would be more likely to win than in Cuellar's District.

They seem to have some unusual, unexplained priorities for their targeted Districts/Representatives.

Interesting.

Didn't Brand New Congress also run Republican candidates in primaries and an independent challenger to the Democratic candidate in a general election in Tennessee?

Here's screenshot of an archived page from their website. (For some mysterious reason, many of the archived pages have disappeared. I'm so glad I have screenshots.)

https://web.archive.org/web/*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_New_Congress

....an Independent in Tennessee, who got a whopping 0.2% of the vote in the primary. Both of whom ran against Democrats.

Justice Democrats (and Our Revolution) also endorsed a number of candidates running against Democratic incumbents in 2018. For example, they endorsed Alison Hartson, who was running against Dianne Feinstein. Others who endorsed Hartson were Cenk Uygur, Kyle Kulinski (co-founder of Justice Democrats), three local Our Revolution chapters, and California for Bernie. Thankfully Feinstein prevailed ("nevertheless she persisted" ) - Hartson finished 8th with 2.2% of the vote.

Yes, Cortez was endorsed by Brand New Congress, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, People for Bernie Sanders and others.

This is interesting - in her Statement of Candidacy filed with the FEC in 2017, her address was in Knoxville Tennessee! That address is the same address as that for both Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress.

Her 2017 Statement of Candidacy can be found here:

http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/H8NY15148/1161740/

I wonder when she moved back to the Bronx.

BNC candidates might have been contractually obligated to relinquish control of their campaigns.

From the archived Brand New Congress FAQ page: