With Control of the House at Stake, National Democrats Tangle with Locals
New York and New Jersey Democrats running for Congress say the national party is meddling in primaries before voters get their say, favoring moderates over more liberal Democrats and making it harder for liberal candidates to raise money and build a campaign.
Hordes of Democrats are dissatisfied with President Donald Trump and with Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign, so crowded primaries are becoming the norm. There are 22 Democratic primaries in the 37 house races in New York and New Jersey this year, with 79 Democrats lined up to run in them. Many of those are competitive seats, according to groups that track and rate races.
In the last Congressional election, Peter Jacob ran a shoestring effort to run for Congress against an incumbent Republican in New Jersey, and came closer to winning than any Democrat in a decade.
“We spent two bucks per vote in 2016 and had the strongest campaign against Leonard Lance," Jacob said.
But when Jacob announced he was running again in 2018, the former nominee found national Democrats weren’t interested. Instead, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — or DCCC — backed Jacob’s primary opponent, who worked in the Clinton and Obama administrations, to run against Lance.
“Everybody says we need new blood, we need activism," said Jacob, who describes himself as a bearded, progressive millennial. "And then the door is kind of shut in our face because what they value, at the end of the day, is money.”
Most often, that thumb on the scale in primaries is a DCCC program called Red to Blue, which helps challengers take on Republican incumbents.
Though not an endorsement, Red to Blue acts as a seal of approval and unlocks fundraising help from the DCCC and its network of donors and allied political groups, such as unions and Emily’s List.
In addition to New Jersey's 7th, the DCCC has named Red to Blue candidates in New Jersey’s 3rd District, held by Tom MacArthur, and the open seats in South Jersey’s 2nd District and 11th District in the North. In New York, the party has picked challengers to take on Republican Dan Donovan in New York City’s 11th District, Claudia Tenney in New York's 22nd District and John Katko in New York's 24th District.
The Democrats need to pick up 23 seats to take control of the House.
Former Long Island Congressman Steve Israel ran campaign operations for House Democrats as head of the DCCC for four years. Israel says the stakes are too high for the DCCC to wait on primary voters to pick a candidate.
“Deciding whether to weigh in on a particular campaign, to fund a campaign, or to move money from a campaign was the toughest decision that I ever had to make,” Israel said.
“The DCCC is not in the business of debating ideology. It’s not in the business of passing legislation. It’s not in the business of debating." Israel said. "It is in the business of electing Democrats who, next year, will provide checks and balances to the Trump administration.”
Michael DeVito, who provides job training with a non-profit, is one of six Democrats running in the Donovan district, which includes all of Staten Island and part of South Brooklyn. He met with the DCCC last year, but the Red to Blue nod went to a different candidate , Max Rose.
“They picked a candidate, man. You know?” DeVito said, clearly frustrated.
Devito says the decision has closed some doors to him because people see Rose as the annointed nominee.
“Some people have not wanted to donate because they’re worried he’s going to win,” DeVito said.
Rose is a centrist who says he earned the acknowledgement because he built a stronger organization, raised the most money and won the endorsement of the Staten Island Democratic Committee.
"Any recognition, I don't care whether it's from VoteVets or End Citizens United or the the DCCC," Rose said, naming a handful of groups backing his campaign, "is a recognition of the campaign we built. To say otherwise, to say they built this campaign, is an insult to my volunteers."
New York and New Jersey are not the only states where national Democrats are tangling with locals.
Last month, The Intercept published a secretly-recorded conversation between Steny Hoyer, the number two House Democrat, and Levi Tillemann, a Democrat running in a Colorado swing district. Tillemann made the tape, and you can hear him question Hoyer about the DCCC helping Jason Crow, another Democrat in the race.
“You guys are shoveling money at him?” Tilleman asked.
“We’re going to continue to do it," Hoyer responded.
“You’re going to continue to do it?” Tillemann replied, astounded.
At one point on the tape, Hoyer admits he’d like Tillemann to drop out of the race
“You keep saying I would like you to get out — and of course, that’s correct," Hoyer said.
DeVito says he’s felt pressure to get out of the New York 11th primary as well. But other candidates in the Staten Island race are not disturbed by the DCCC’s involvement.
”I’m a big boy. No one promised me life was going to be fair,” said Zach Emig, a bond trader whose platform includes impeaching Trump.
Emig says the party shouldn’t weigh in before many of the candidates have a chance to find their feet and win over voters.
“Really, the bigger question for me is whether it’s smart? he said. "Who knew 10 months ago which one of us was going to be the standout?”
Why the DCCC gets involved is evident, candidates and those who advise them say: In every case in New York and New Jersey races, the DCCC has gotten behind the candidate who raised the most money.
The DCCC declined to discuss their Red to Blue decisions. But it’s worth noting that the New Jersey candidates had already locked up county party endorsements by the time Red to Blue announcements were made — proof that they have local support too. The DCCC has stayed out of one primary — where the seven candidates have combined to raise $6.3 million — in New York’s 19th District in the Hudson Valley.
One candidate, Gareth Rhodes, even says in an ad that he's running against Washington and won't use their consultants.
Dustin Reidy is campaign director for New York 19 Votes, a PAC formed to unite dozens of new and existing left-leaning groups who are organizing the local Trump resistance. He says national Democrats are treading lightly in a district where Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find someone that was hoping the DCCC would come in and try to pick a candidate," he said. "And I think they know that without having to press people on that question too much.”
Reidy says county and state parties can do a better job than Washington of supporting local candidates. So can new groups who are raising money specifically to support candidates overlooked by mainstream Democrats, like the Sanders-founded Our Revolution, or the the People's House Project, which helps working-class Democrats run for office.
New Jersey holds its Congressional primary on June 5th, and New York on June 26th. When it comes to winning back the House in 2018, Steve Israel said that the DCCC made the right calls once they decided to intervene. Usually, the top candidate is self-evident.
“Very rarely," he said, "are these hard decisions in term of which candidate to support."
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