The Illinois Progressive Out To Put A ‘Blue Dog’ Down

If this election year represents a potential crossroads for Democrats — wherein the party must choose to either embrace progressive principles or espouse moderation in the name of electability — Tuesday’s U.S. House primary contest in Illinois’s 10th Congressional District might well be instructive.

The contentious race pits Ilya Sheyman — a 25-year-old former community organizer who’s won the support of MoveOn, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Howard Dean — against Brad Schneider, a long-time management consultant backed by Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and a host of others within the Illinois and national party establishment.

Sheyman’s liberal supporters have characterized the race as a choice between a progressive and a “Blue Dog,” a reference to the coalition of conservative House Democrats and a swipe at Schneider’s alleged centrism. It’s a label the Schneider campaign has pushed back hard against.

“I think the other camp ran out of ideas and they had to go negative,” Jerrod Backous, Schneider’s campaign manager, told TPM. “Brad has never been asked and he would never join the Blue Dog Coalition.”



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