Progressive Democrats are going on record with their displeasure over the establishment higher-up’s decision to protect incumbents, a reflection of the party’s division over a vendor blacklist.
“The only time they support getting more women is when male incumbents leave or die.”
—Lizz Winstead
On Sunday, The New York Times published an article from reporter Jennifer Steinhauer in which a number of the party’s rising stars took public positions against a March decision by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to blacklist vendors who work with anyone—including primary challengers—who run against an incumbent Democrat.
As Common Dreams reported at the time, the policy says the DCCC “will not conduct business with, nor recommend to any of its targeted campaigns, any consultant that works with an opponent of a sitting member of the House Democratic Caucus.”
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), who won her seat by beating fellow political newcomer Mary Glassman in a primary contest for retiring Rep. Elizabeth Esty in 2018 before winning the general election, said that the policy is choking off the possibility of fresh ideas and and a new generation of leaders.
“If I waited my turn, I wouldn’t be here,” Hayes told the Times. “There is a gatekeeper mentality that sometimes can diminish new ideas.”
That point was echoed by Steve Welchert, a spokesperson for Crisanta Duran, who is challenging Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) in next year’s primary.
“It is having a chilling effect on everyone’s capacity to move forward,” said Welchert, who also called the DCCC policy “bullying.”
Other Democrats Steinhauer spoke to were more specific in their criticism, citing the party’s incumbent bench of white men as the main thing that will be protected by the new rules. Two-thirds of the caucus’s longest-serving members are white, and two-thirds are men.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT