Posted on 03/06/2015 6:57:23 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s (D-MD) decision to retire at the end of her term has sparked a predictable succession feud among Democrats in that deep blue state, but the coming internecine squabble has the potential to engulf the entire party.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a six-term member of Congress and the former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wasted no time in declaring his intention to run for Mikulski’s seat. On Friday, he received a powerful endorsement from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
“I enthusiastically endorse Chris Van Hollen for the United States Senate,” Reid said in a statement. “Not only would Chris Van Hollen be the best and most effective person for the job, I have no doubt that he is in the best and strongest position to make sure that this Senate seat remains in Democratic hands in a State that just elected a Republican Governor.”
There is just one problem for Van Hollen. For an increasingly progressive Democratic Party steeped in identity politics, replacing one of the Senate’s leading female voices with a white male is seen by many as an undesirable prospect. Fortunately for Democrats, there is another option: Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD). Though she has not declared her intention to run for Mikulski’s seat, and would likely frustrate Democratic leadership if she did, she has expressed her interest in running for the U.S. Senate from her home state.
Progressives groups, meanwhile, are not taking “yes” for an answer. This week, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy For America, Blue America, and a host of other Maryland-based liberal groups launched a draft movement aimed at compelling Edwards, a woman and an African-American, to run to replace Mikulski.
Via The Huffington Post:
“Donna was the first member of Congress to introduce a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United,” Carrie Biggs-Adams, a member of the PCCC, wrote in an email to her group’s members. “She led the National Network to End Domestic Violence. And Donna agrees with Elizabeth Warren that we should expand Social Security benefits — never cut them.”
Charles Chamberlain, DFA’s executive director, pointed to Edwards’ role as co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program as an example of her leadership.
“As the longest-serving woman in Congress, Sen. Mikulski has fought to elect more women at all levels of office,” he said. “It’s up to us to make sure Barbara’s replacement continues that fight — and there is no better way to do it than by electing another tough Democratic woman like Donna Edwards.”
If Edwards did want to mount a bid for the Senate against Van Hollen, she would likely enter the race from a position of strength. Despite the fact that the former DCCC chairman would enjoy the support of his party’s established elected officials and could tap into a healthy donor base, Edwards – a progressive firebrand with an appealing biography – has the potential to upend conventional wisdom. The Democratic Party’s grassroots supporters and activists who back Edwards would chafe mightily at the forces the party would bring to bear in order to prevent her from taking a seat in the upper chamber of Congress.
This crisis may yet be averted, but an open civil war between the Democratic Party’s establishmentarians and the far-left progressive grassroots may well begin in The Old Line State.
It totally pissed me off at the time too.
It was pathetic, like he worked for O Malley.
And that poorly run campaign could be a potential argument made against him running in 2016 for the Senate. MD doesn’t exactly have a huge farm team of GOP candidates. Ehrlich (lost two last elections statewide), can’t run Larry Hogan, Jr., Andy Harris (for reasons I cited in a prior post), Dan Bongino (two losses for Senate & House). Michael Steele is unpopular. Dr. Carson probably couldn’t pull it off, either. That leaves Lt Gov. Boyd Rutherford, but he has zero electoral experience and could be viewed as a lightweight or even a cypher (I know little about him, despite the fact he is a Black Republican).
No doubt!
The state is probably too full of FedGov employees for that to matter.
Donna Edwards is a communist in her views. She has stated that she is a “Progressive” more than a “Democrat” in her speeches. In her 2nd election, there were several Dems that ran against her, all of them attacking her as being too far to the left.
It is amazing that any RATs would say a sister RAT is too far left.
Yes. and I was amazed when I saw it.
We should encourage Johnny to run, though. Convince him that he’s entitled to it — after all, his daddy was senator. Cause a food fight amongst the Dhimmicraps and open up as many of the House seats as we can.
Of course. She wanted prior incumbent, Al Wynn, out of the way because he was only 90% leftist. We always hear the ultraleft media harping about Republicans and “purity” but never that the Dems go about replacing ultraleftists with even more radical moonbats.
Opening up those seats would matter little. MD has a solid gerrymander in place to elect a 7D-1R delegation. Curiously, what would change it is simple: demand the Dems add another Black majority district. Blacks make up either a plurality or majority of the MD Democrat party, but they aren’t represented as such. Of the 7 Democrats in the House, only 2 are Black Democrats with 5 Whites (which well overrepresents White Dems in the state - MD is NOT Massachusetts).
Adding a 3rd Black district would endanger 3 of the White Dem districts, and could adjust the GOP representation to what it was not long ago, either a 5D-3R or a 4-4 tie. A “fair” redistricting plan would allow for the fact that the Eastern Shore has a GOP member (as it does now), that the Baltimore suburbs has one (the former Ehrlich district), and Western MD (which is heavily Republican, but gerrymandered enough at present to take in ultraliberal White DC suburb areas).
Christie wasn’t going to do squat to get one of the NJ Senate seats into GOP hands. He practically anointed Dem Cory Booker for the seat. If Menendez is convicted and removed, he may end up doing the same thing for another Democrat. Useless fat tub of guts.
As the Fannie Lou Hamer PAC (a black group) proposed -- along with the Maryland GOP. Their alternate plan made much more sense, but it was rejected by the overwhelmingly Dhimmicrap General Assembly.
http://www.somdnews.com/storyimage/PN/20110930/NEWS/709309923/AR/0/AR-709309923.jpg
Yup. If I were a Black Dem in MD, I would be quite angry that despite being the base of the party, I get a paltry 2 out of 7 Congressional seats (and neither Senate seat).
Sure, if Republicans controlled redistricting in MD they could draw a 4R-4D map with 3 black-majority CDs (and a 70%-white/10% black, overwhelmingly Dem CD in Montco), But if Democrats were to be forced to draw a third black-majority CD, they would draw 4 white-majority Dem CDs and a single GOP CD hugging the Mason-Dixon Line (and dipping down only to pick up overwhelmingly GOP areas). Most of the Eastern Shore (all but some of the northern areas) would form part of the third black-majority CD drawn by Democrats, combined with parts of PG County and/or eastern Baltimore City. But, yes, at least one of Hoyer, Ruppersberger and Sarbanes would lose his district (and the other two would be inconvenienced), so MD Democrats won’t do it, and black Democrats say “yes, Massa” and permit the black-majority MD-04 based in PG take on heavily GOP parts of Ann Arundel County (foregoing black PG precincts to Steny Hoyer) and the black-majority MD-07 based in Baltimore go into heavily GOP areas in Carrol County (while black precincts in Baltimore are given to Sarbanes and Ruppersberger).
foregoing = forgoing
Republicans were working with a black Democrat group (the Fannie Lou Hamer PAC) to draw a fair redistricting plan.
We need to put this on the ballot.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
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