Special Election megathread (4/30: NY-26)

[wbrocks67]

Once again, Shontel Brown was not a moderate or centrist. She was liberal. Just because she's not as liberal as the far left/Nina Turner crowd doesn't make her any less liberal than the rest. Purity tests need to end.

[TML]

So this is yet another example of corporate/establishment Democrats rushing to stack the deck in favor of their preferred candidate. Similar things happened in races like PA-SEN 2016, IA-SEN 2020, ME-SEN 2020, NC-SEN 2020, among others. In the aforementioned races, the establishment-coronated candidates turned out to be terrible in campaigning during the general election, running consultant-driven campaigns instead of genuinely standing for concrete things policy wise, which I believe contributed to them either losing outright or losing by a few points more than they otherwise would have. For this race, I know Brown isn’t anywhere near as bad as Manchin/Sinema, but I’m not sure how much of a fighter she would be once in Congress, so if Turner wants a rematch against Brown in 2022, I’m all for that. It should also be noted that Cori Bush was instrumental in getting the Biden administration to resume its current eviction moratorium, which begs the question of whether this moratorium would still be in place had Lacy Clay succeeded in holding off Bush in 2020...

[Pollster]

Folks should remember that "burn it all down" and "anti-establishment" energy is much harder to sell to Democratic voters than Republican voters because of the DNA of the parties. Republican voters have been told by Republican institutional leaders for generations now that government should be small, generally distrusted, and not take major actions ("the nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'"). This messaging from party leadership primes their voters to be receptive to the exact types of candidates they try desperately to prevent from winning primaries, who promise to be thorns in sides, disruptors, and roadblocks.

Democrats, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly pro-government, more trustful of government's role, and want to see government power expanded particularly in the realm of social issues. Decades of federal government progress on matters of civil rights, voting rights, worker protections, and more recently public health/healthcare have hardened this feeling. Democratic voters are far more attracted to team players with big-picture goals and collaborative rhetoric.

It's clear which party's institutional leadership better understands this, and why that party has been far more successful in staving off their upstart primaries.

[Brittain33]

Now that the drama is over in both Ohio races, I've merged into a Special Elections thread and stickied like in 2019.

[Pollster]

It is notable that a lot of primary upsets/near upsets happened in NY in 2020.

I've mentioned on this board before that NY (particularly NYC) is a particularly well-suited area for grassroots primary challengers for a wide variety of reasons: rapid population movement decreases incumbency name ID advantage, highly commuter-based culture makes it easy to meet voters at natural meeting spots like subway stops and train/bus stations, geographically small districts make it easy to campaign/canvass on foot, intentionally low-turnout primaries (a relic of the Tammany Hall days) makes mobilizing a small base go an incredibly long way, extremely diverse communities with similarly diverse economies creates few truly unifying influences allowing a single-issue or highly nationalized campaign to take particularly strong hold.

[jdk]

So this is yet another example of corporate/establishment Democrats rushing to stack the deck in favor of their preferred candidate.

I mean, Turner had a significant amount more money backing her campaign, far more favorable media coverage, all the name recognition, a lot more prominent endorsements (including having more endorsements from establishment Democrats than Brown), and a strong head start against a fractured field.

The deck was heavily stacked, but it was in her favor. Thankfully enough voters were informed about what a deranged, despicable piece of trash Turner is for decency and integrity to win out over

[darklordoftech]

Should we be worried that a fear of criticizing Biden will make Democrats more hostile to legalizing marijuana going forwards?

[Brittain33]

Should we be worried that a fear of criticizing Biden will make Democrats more hostile to legalizing marijuana going forwards?

I think there's a difference between disagreeing on issues and calling him half a bowl of sh**t. Cori Bush just got him to change his policy on the eviction moratorium through criticism, didn't she?

[Badger]

The Sandercrats have a fundamental misunderstanding.

They think they are like the Tea Party and the more they sh*t on their own party, the better chance they have of getting elected.

That is not how it works.

I agree 99%. The 1% I would add would be the term sandercrat. In fairness, I don't believe that this attitude compromises a small fraction of Sanders voters.

Regarding the Nina Turner /Bernie bro extreme wing of Sanders supporters, you are dead on.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

Nina Turner really isn't the hill that Sanders and his movement should want to die on.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

At least it's not BS about "white affluent shaker heights" voters. I hate that Bernie allows that sh*t to stand sometimes.

[Biden his time]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21
Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

Really based tweet coming from Bernie IMO

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Nina Turner and Her interest groups outspent shontel brown and her interest groups.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

As a progressive who probably agrees with Turner on the issues more then Brown, I’d have voted for Brown and I’m glad Turner lost

[Xing]

Not the best Tweet from Sanders, but I’m also of the line of thinking that both these things can be true:

-There are many things to dislike about Turner and criticize her for

-Some people are glad Brown won for the wrong reasons

[free my dawg]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

I disagree. These things can be true at the same time:

* Nina Turner was a sh*t candidate with sh*t responses to legitimate issues they brought up.

* Super PACs rushing into a district, spending millions of dollars, and doing as much heavy lifting as their affiliated campaign shows how broken our campaign finance system is and is not something Democrats should be happy about. Especially when some of those PACs outright traffick in disinformation.

[Pyro]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

"This campaign is not happening in isolation. It has always been part of a movement." - Nina Turner

The use of PACs to funnel unlimited funds from shady sources into political campaigns is a blatant stain on democracy, but it does no service to the progressive movement to lie back and complain about an unequal playing field. This is useless to talk about now that the election is over. Fight back, think strategically, and out-organize them. Save funds to blitz the airwaves as Brown's team did very effectively. Learn from the defeat and move forward.

I know for Bernie this was personal, but we will have more progressive candidates and more opportunities to win.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

This primary is a sad indictment of the democratic party. "You criticize us, we'll use whatever dirty tactics to make sure you never get into power". Biden was a bowl of sh**t.

[wbrocks67]

This primary is a sad indictment of the democratic party. "You criticize us, we'll use whatever dirty tactics to make sure you never get into power". Biden was a bowl of sh**t.

No, Nina Turner was just a very awful candidate, and a terrible fit for the district.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

This primary is a sad indictment of the democratic party. "You criticize us, we'll use whatever dirty tactics to make sure you never get into power". Biden was a bowl of sh**t.

No, Nina Turner was just a very awful candidate, and a terrible fit for the district.

She was one of the best candidates to run for office in the last 40 years

[brucejoel99]

This primary is a sad indictment of the democratic party. "You criticize us, we'll use whatever dirty tactics to make sure you never get into power". Biden was a bowl of sh**t.

No, Nina Turner was just a very awful candidate, and a terrible fit for the district.

She was one of the best candidates to run for office in the last 40 years

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

Pretty much exactly what I'd expect for a 5x Corbyn endorser.

Glad Turner lost. Hope the "movement" continues to lose worldwide and liberal democracy pushes these goons further into irrelevancy.

[Pyro]

The ride never ends!

https://twitter.com/TaylorPopielarz/status/1424899617846595590

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Me after reading the last 2 pages of this thread: