Bernie Sanders supporter jumps in to unseat Democrat in one of nations hottest House races

[SecularMotion]

A 30-year-old lawyer who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign last year has jumped into the race to challenge Rep. Ami Bera, a three-term Democrat representing suburban Sacramento.

Brad Westmoreland, a Democrat and political newcomer, said he wants to shake up “politics as usual.” He criticized Bera for his stance on health care and for accepting campaign contributions from insurance companies.

“I believe in Medicare for all ... . I don’t think we can rely on Congressman Bera to go against his own interests and support universal health care when he takes money from people who are opposed to a Medicare-for-all type system,” Westmoreland said, referencing Sanders’ push for a single-payer health care system. “I think about my son growing up in a world where we continue to ration health care away from those who need it, and I think that’s unacceptable.”

Westmoreland is the second candidate to enter the race for California’s 7th Congressional District, a highly competitive seat that consistently ranks among the most expensive in the nation. When Bera defeated the Republican incumbent in 2012, it was the most costly congressional campaign in the country.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article167300197.html

[Voltaire2]

1. competitive primaries are a good thing

[SecularMotion]

2. Challenging safe Democratic seats at this time is not a good thing

and will not help Democrats return to a majority in 2018

[Me.]

3. THey Have No Inclination To Help Dems

[lapucelle]

5. This has been an expensive and competetive race

in the last four cycles. California Republicans have just been handed a gift by a Democratic primary challenger who doesn't even live in the swing district where he is working to unseat a Democrat.

[Me.]

6. But Let Us Rejoice In My Revolution

GAG.

[lapucelle]

7. The only thing they've managed to do so far

is to help elect Republicans by damaging Democrats.

[Me.]

8. All The While Being INsulted By Doughnuts

and sending out fundraising emails based on Charlottesville

[BlueMTexpat]

4. Amen.

[BainsBane]

10. Apparently it's not a safe seat

It's a suburban district that is not solidly Democratic. Not that it makes it better.

There are all kinds of seats around the country where there are no Democrats running. Why can't they run in those? This guy is moving into the district to try to unseat Bera. Why can't he move into a district to unseat a Republican instead?

[SecularMotion]

11. It's not a guaranteed win, but Bera has won 3 elections

and the Republicans are worried

Bera is one of four California Democrats being targeted in 2018 by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

[JI7]

13. Looks like it's meant to hurt Bera against the republican

In the ge

[BainsBane]

9. Why can't he run where he actually lives?

He is moving into the district to try to unseat Bera.

[Blue_Tires]

12. I'm not touching this... Gonna hold my tongue

But I will say for all their bullshit about how Dems have forsaken the long-neglected rural/rust belt white folks, they sure as hell have an aversion to running for office in those districts...

[yurbud]

14. I don't like what they have become, but GOP was second fiddle to Dems until

they primaried moderate and liberal Republicans and replaced them with those who would actively pursue a conservative agenda, so people would know what they were voting for.

What they were voting for was destructive and reprehensible, but at least they got approximately what they voted for.

On a lot of issues like school privatization, deregulating Wall Street and not holding them accountable for their crimes, pursuing the same foreign policy as Republicans (by slightly quieter means), to the point of even putting neocons like Victoria Nuland in sensitive State Department posts is probably not what very many people, Democrat, independent, or the mythical GOP crossover voter wanted.

When you give people what they don't want, and don't give them much of what they do want, oddly enough, they don't come shopping at your store as often.