Cracks Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiPelosi paints Trump and McConnell as compelling barriers to move forward Democrat stars escape anger from attacks on Trump More than 50 current, former lawyers for signatories sign letter urging Congress to decriminalize marijuana MORE (D-Calif.) Defends Thursday its decision to support Rep. Joe Kennedy
Joseph (Joe) Patrick KennedyProgressive Bowman supports Markey ahead of NY’s primary Massachusetts Democrat Omeed Malik, joins Daily Caller as minority investor, and edits editor Kennedy: Markey is ‘arming’ my family’s history MAY III on Sen. Ed Markey
Edward (Ed) John MarkeyProgressive Bowman supports Markey ahead of Massachusetts primary Kennedy: Markey is ‘arming’ my family history Martin Luther King III supports Kennedy in primary senate MORE in the Democratic primary of the Massachusetts Senate, and calls her close ties to the Kennedy clan – and her “loyalty” to members of the House Caucus.
“I serve with him in the House, and I’m a big supporter of people in the House,” Pelosi said in a virtual interview with The Washington Post. “You can ask my colleagues. My loyalty is to them.”
The Pelosi distinction from Kennedy, announced just hours earlier, came as a surprise and soon made waves on Capitol Hill. Not only does Pelosi typically remain neutral – at least in public – within internal party layers, but she also has a long history of supporting efforts over challengers, despite other considerations, even political ideology.
That blanket support for sitting lawmakers has also been adopted by the party’s campaign arm – the Democratic Congress Campaign Commission (DCCC) – which implemented a controversial new policy in this election cycle excluding campaign contracts to political companies working for primary challenger.
Party leaders defended that decision, citing the need to retain control of the House under an opposing president. But progressives on and off Capitol Hill lamented the change, arguing that it was only designed to isolate well-established founding legislators from lesser-known challengers – and new ideas.
The issue has become a controversy in recent years with the advent of a new crop of liberal firebrands, some of which undermine the party’s unwritten rules by distinguishing primary candidates who challenge their own colleagues. And some of those progressive lawmakers moved quickly Thursday to mark Pelosi’s decision to enter the Markey-Kennedy race as proof that her own interventions were fairly fair.
“No one gets to complain about primary challenges again,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezYang criticizes’ patronizing element ‘of Democratic messaging ahead of convention speech Ex-Clinton adviser defends’ Democrats’ Democrats’ The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Delegates stage state-centric videos for the roll call MORE (DN.Y.), who is veteran Rep. Joseph Crowley (DN.Y.) defeated in a wonderful primary uprising in 2018. “So @dccc, when can we expect you to reverse your blacklist policies against primary organizations?”
Pelosi acknowledged that she would not normally jump in primary games and said she would not have done so in Massachusetts if there was a chance a Republican could pick up the Senate quote.
“I probably would not be involved in a primary in an election where it could affect if a Democrat or a Republican could win,” she told the Post. “But this will be a Democratic seat, and I feel at peace with the decision.”
The Speaker also attributed her decision, in part, to Kennedy’s work that hit the campaign track in 2018, when Democrats seized the House and returned the hammer to Pelosi after eight years in the minority wilderness.
“That’s why so many of our newcomer members are signing him, too,” she said.
And much of the decision, Pelosi said, was based on the decades-long connection between the Kennedy family and their own. She noted that her father, as mayor of Baltimore, had played a central role in Maryland in electing President John F. Kennedy. And her tenure in the Second Chamber coincided with that of Kennedy’s father, Joseph Kennedy II (D-Mass.), And his second cousin, Patrick Kennedy (DR.I.).
“I was not too happy with some of the attacks I saw made on the Kennedy family,” she said. “And I thought: Joe did not ask me to support him, but I felt [it] imperative to do so. “
However, Pelosi had also worked for decades with Markey, a liberal firework in his own right, who was tapped by Pelosi to lead a key climate commission in 2007 and has since been a member of Ocasio-Cortez in the Green New Deal championship.
Markey’s progressive supporters stand in arms that the same Democratic leader who had discouraged primary distinctions against founding companies is now setting against a liberal direction.
“Pelosi who supports Kennedy is just proof that @EdMarkey is supporting case against dynasty and rooms with smoke filled ointment candidates,” tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna
Rohit (Ro) KhannaDemocrats’ platform built with many ‘We hate Trump’ boards Sanders saw Harris as Biden’s best choice: report Five things to know on the Democratic platform MORE (D-Caliph.). “Fat prediction: it will grow.”
The Massachusetts primary is scheduled for Sept. 1.
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