The move puts the California Democrat square in the middle of a close-knit fight and could provide an incentive for Kennedy ahead of the Sept. 1 primary election, where he will challenge Markey, who has served Pelosi for decades as Member of the Second Chamber.
“Massachusetts and America need the courage and leadership of Joe Kennedy in the Senate to fight for the change we need,” Pelosi said.
A Kennedy has never lost Massachusetts. Markey, 74, has countered the brilliance of the Kennedy name by projecting the power of some of the party’s stars, including sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who has funds for the senator. Progressives, who have spent the past five years on the offensive trying to win seats from moderate raids in the Second Chamber, have put their full weight behind Markey’s campaign, and see the defense of his seat as one of their main battles of the cycle.
Markey supporters say he deserves another six-year term based on his voting record and point to his co-authorship of the Green New Deal and previous support of Medicare for All, pointing to both as signs that he times are.
Kennedy has meanwhile maintained that he would be a different kind of senator, who will travel across the country and state to elect Democrats, as he did in 2018 to help the party recapture the House.
Progressives – including Ocasio-Cortez – reacted with frustration to the news. Party leadership has been aggressive in trying to defend its culprits against primary challenger, but Pelosi’s encouragement, they argued, came against that rule.
“No one gets to complain about primary challenges again,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, ending the sentence with a happy emoji before addressing the House Democratic right-wing campaign arm.
“When can we expect you to reverse your blacklist policy against primary organizations?” She asked. “Because between this & lack of care ran the challenger of @IlhanMN, it seems less like a policy and more an activity with cherry picking.”
The “blacklist” refers to a rule instituted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commission that prohibits party consultants from working for primary challenger. Those who run the risk of being banned from receiving contracts with other DCCC-affiliated campaigns, a fact that other progressives cited in announcing Pelosi’s signature.
“If you challenge progressive Democrats who vote with Trump 2 / 3rds of the time, Nancy Pelosi will cry out and work with the (Democratic Congress Campaign Committee) to create a blacklist for anyone who helps the challenger. But if she likes the challenger, if the challenger has a rich and wealthy family, is that okay? ”Sunrise Movement executive director Varshini Prakash, whose group is one of Markey’s leading supporters, said in a statement. “It was never about protecting committed children, it was about protecting large Democratic donors who benefit from the status quo.”
Justice Democrats, the group that drew Pelosi’s ire for progressive primary campaigns against members of its caucus, accused the Speaker of hypocrisy and “using its power to intimidate the next generation of Democratic voters and progressive champions.” we choose to believe in underlining. “
“For two years now, the Democratic Party leadership has strongly supported progressive primary challengers who claim that it is their policy to always give back supporters – even when the commitment was anti-choice and was endorsed by the NRA. , “said Executive Director of Justice Democrats Alexandra Rojas. “But now, as a sitting U.S. senator camps the Green New Deal while wildfire blanket blanket State Speaker Pelosi’s home state in smoke, she chooses to support a challenger.”
CNN’s Alex Rogers contributed to this report.
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