Progressives, Sanders Supporters, & Justice Democrats To Primary Corporate Democrats & Joe Manchin

Progressives, Sanders Supporters, & Justice Democrats To Primary Corporate Democrats & Joe Manchin Progressives are threatening primary challenges for Democratic lawmakers who don’t commit to full obstruction of President Trump’s agenda. Democrats already face a daunting 2018 landscape, with 10 senators up for reelection in states that Trump won. However, the threat of primaries foes going up against vulnerable Democrats such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin further complicates the party’s chances of coming out with a net victory. But the party’s left flank is convinced that a full embrace of progressivism is the only way to return to power, and it is ready to fight for the party’s soul. “We fundamentally reject the assumption that Democrats can only win in red states by pandering to racists and big bankers,” said Claire Sandberg, a co-founder of the progressive political action committee We Will Replace You. “The way we beat Trumpism and take back Congress and statehouses is offering a coherent vision of our own to put people back to work. … We don’t need to completely compromise our own values and principles.” We Will Replace You is the most visible effort gearing up to back primary challenges from the left. Spearheaded by a group of progressives, including two former senior staffers on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, the group’s website includes a warning for Democrats looking to avoid a competitive primary race. “Do everything you can to Resist Trump, or we will replace you with someone who will,” the group’s statement reads. The minimum qualifications for avoiding progressives’ wrath, the website adds, include voting against every Trump administration nominee, fighting against the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, being willing to slow down the legislative process to block the president’s agenda and pushing for the ouster of controversial chief strategist Stephen Bannon. It’s a high bar, and one that not even Sanders has met. He voted to confirm three of Trump’s Cabinet picks: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, who received unanimous confirmation. onsidering no senator has hit that bar, the group is likely to use those qualifications as a guide instead of as a red line. We Will Replace You and similar efforts are the next step for aggrieved progressives convinced that Sanders’s populism could have bested Trump in November’s presidential election. That frustration only increased after progressives’ preferred candidate to lead the Democratic Party, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, lost the race for chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) last weekend to former Obama administration Labor Secretary Tom Perez. In a DNC debate last week, Perez said that he supports the party remaining neutral in primaries. Sanders himself has avoided blessing the effort outright. He’s focused instead on a broad call for a shift toward populism but hasn’t specifically addressed the tactical merits of primaries. With a staff that includes adviser Kenneth Pennington, who helped to spearhead Sanders’s massive digital fundraising effort, We Will Replace You is hoping to have a grassroots army of donors to power its fight. The group is set up to both donate directly to candidates and, using a different account, make independent expenditures. First, Politico released audio of Manchin challenging Sanders supporters to field a primary challenger against him. Shortly after that, Axios reported that he had participated in an off-the-record session with conservative outlet Breitbart News, which Bannon ran before joining the Trump campaign. Manchin has voted for more of Trump’s nominees than any other Democrat, supporting all but four. Manchin’s willingness to go along with Trump reflects voter pressure in his state, which Trump won by more than 40 percentage points over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. -- Connect With The Host! BECOME A MEMBER:   / theprogressivevoice   LIKE MY NEW FACEBOOK PAGE   / the-progressive-voice-144803039365734   CHECK OUT MY ARTICLES: http://progressivearmy.com/2017/01/14... http://progressivearmy.com/2017/01/14... http://progressivearmy.com/2017/01/21... http://progressivearmy.com/2017/01/18... SUBSCRIBE TO THE PROGRESSIVE VOICE:    / theprogressivevoice   FOLLOW THE PROGRESSIVE VOICE ON TWITTER:   / progressvoice   GO TO THE NEW WEBSITE FOR ALL ACCESS http://www.progressivevoicenews.com/