Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina took issue with Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s support for far-left candidate Alessandra Biaggi, who is primarying Democratic incumbent New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. (Maloney currently serves as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair.)
Messina expressed his anger in a response to a Twitter thread from New York Times reporter Shane Goldmacher about this endorsement on Tuesday.
Messina wrote, “This is so counter-productive. The Supreme Court is about to outlaw abortion. We could lose both houses. So we are going to focus our time running against each other? Now we’re primarying [committed] progressives because. . .why? If we lose house it’s because of dumb s*** like this.”
This is so counter-productive. The Supreme Court is about to outlaw abortion. We could lose both houses. So we are going to focus our time running against each other? Now we’re primarying commited progressives because. . .why? If we lose house it’s because of dumb shit like this https://t.co/fErOy85yrI
— Jim Messina (@Messina2012) June 7, 2022
Actually, Jim, you probably will lose the House, but it won’t be because of “dumb s***” like this — it will be because Democratic rule is ruining the country. But I digress.
Geoffrey Skelley, an elections analyst with FiveThirtyEight, disagreed with Messina’s rebuke, essentially saying he was oversimplifying the situation. Due to forced redistricting in New York, many districts were redrawn.
Skelley responded to Messina with the following: “This conveniently ignores the fact Maloney opted to run in NY-17 instead of NY-18, which has ~70% of his current constituents, because it’s more competitive, thus big footing a Black Democrat out of NY-17 instead of defending NY-18 as the chair of the DCCC.”
This conveniently ignores the fact Maloney opted to run in NY-17 instead of NY-18, which has ~70% of his current constituents, because it’s more competitive, thus big footing a Black Democrat out of NY-17 instead of defending NY-18 as the chair of the DCCC. https://t.co/Z18uHvZjtD
— Geoffrey Skelley (@geoffreyvs) June 8, 2022
Skelley is right. Maloney made the decision to run in NY-17 rather than the redrawn NY-18, which he currently represents, because it is an easier race for him to win. This choice displaced NY-17 incumbent Rep. Mondaire Jones, who has decided to run in NY-10, a newly created district.
Others reacted to Messina’s tweet on a more personal level.
You literally went and worked for the British Conservative party against Labour. I never want to be on any team you are on. Judas. https://t.co/AffZe66lHN
— Mike from PA (@Mike_from_PA) June 7, 2022
In the end, Biaggi’s primary challenge is not likely to matter all that much. Maloney’s internal poll numbers show him ahead of Biaggi by a margin of 45 percent to 15 percent, with 39 percent of voters still undecided.
NEW: The @spmaloney campaign provided me an internal poll that ended 6/1. The current ballot test:
Maloney 45%
Biaggi 15%
Undecided: 39% https://t.co/NNx9eJhOlb— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) June 7, 2022
Typically, Democrats are the ones accusing Republicans of party infighting. And, more often than not, that’s probably an accurate assessment.
However, as they feel their power slipping away, many Democrats, like Maloney, are more interested in self-preservation than in putting the party first.
A red tsunami is building and they are bracing for its impact.
Story cited here.