The Daily 202: Late gains in California vindicate DCCC's intervention in House primaries

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

THE BIG IDEA: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wading into primaries in swing districts caused months of angry grumbling from the left, including a public rebuke from Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and an onslaught of negative coverage from left-leaning outlets like The Intercept. But the leaders of the party committee cared more about winning the House majority than ruffling feathers, and it’s becoming clearer as the dust settles that their strategy succeeded.

Two contests in California illustrate how the approach paid dividends. Earlier this year, several Democrats were fighting to take on Rep. Jeff Denham (R) in a Sacramento-area district. But there was no credible challenger against Rep. David Valadao (R) in a Central Valley district farther to the south. Hillary Clinton had carried both places in 2016 but, because Valadao had still prevailed by double digits, serious candidates with the ability to raise big money weren’t stepping up.

The DCCC convinced one of the Democrats running against Denham, T.J. Cox, to run against Valadao instead, promising national party support if he did, and prodded Emilio Huerta, the Democrat who was running and had lost badly last time, to drop out. The state’s jungle primary system also means that the top two finishers in June, regardless of party, face off in November. Private polling showed Democrats there was a real chance that they’d be frozen out against Denham if Cox stayed in because a second GOP candidate was pulling in the double digits. Democratic venture capitalist Josh Harder wound up winning the second slot and defeated Denham earlier this month.

Cox, an engineer who founded a nut-processing company and is now president of a community investment fund, trailed Valadao by over 4,000 votes on election night, but with the latest batch of mail-in ballots counted, he’s now ahead by 436 votes. A Fresno Bee analysis of the thousands of ballots that are still outstanding suggests Cox will likely prevail, though the race has not been called. Fresno County is expected to announce fresh numbers later today that could prove decisive.

Remember when folks were complaining that DCCC was only nominating "corporatist" Democrats and they proudly would never contribute?

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Politics gets real interesting sometimes.

Do remember a couple of campaigns that I messed with in the past. Yes,the DCCC has all the data and one might feel differently about their choices,but,they have the facts. Watched one District get flipped to Rethug as a result of our District Party Committee selecting the Deserving Person instead of the one who had the best chance to win.

Not once but twice. The behind the scenes actions are so important.