Progressives to Democratic campaign committee: Stop attacking us

Liberal groups are calling on the Washington-based campaign arm for House Democrats to “stop attacking progressives,” and Republicans are seizing on the division as a theme they hope to exploit.

Three grassroots groups say the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is trying to push candidates toward “moderation” when they believe progressive policies will win elections.

In one instance, the DCCC took the rare step of releasing damaging opposition research against a Democrat, Laura Moser, branding her a “Washington insider” as she runs in a hotly contested primary in Texas.

Justice Democrats, CREDO, and Our Revolution launched a series of petitions against the DCCC Chairman, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, of New Mexico, saying Democrats should offer a clear contrast to President Trump and the Republican Party.

"The DCCC has lost touch with its base,” said Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, the activist spin-off organization of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. “Despite facing continued losses, they have yet to realize that the path to the majority requires supporting diverse candidates who hold progressive values.”

DCCC spokeswoman Meredith Kelly said the organization has long recognized and appreciated the unprecedented influence that the grassroots have in key races.

“As we’ve indicated all cycle, the DCCC is keeping all options on the table to work with our allies and ensure that there’s a competitive Democrat on the ballot for voters to elect in November,” she said in a statement.

But Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the “push and pull” over the direction of the party will only produce general election candidates who have been battered by tough primaries. The NRCC released a web video, "Democrats Divided," on Friday.

“Democrats in D.C. are trying to find candidates they think can win a general election but the base wants something entirely different,” he said.

The friction coincides with the California Democratic Party’s decision last weekend to not endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election bid for a sixth term. No candidate met the threshold for endorsement, but her lack of endorsement signals a problem with the base.

The progressive petitions follow a series of stories that have inflamed the base.

On Feb. 22, the committee wrote that Moser, the Texas Democrat, “begrudgingly moved to Houston to run for Congress” and paid her husband’s D.C. political consulting firm more than $50,000 in campaign contributions. The Texas primary is on March 6.

“I wouldn’t have done it,” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez told USA TODAY on C-Span Newsmakers.

.@SusanPage asks about @DCCC opposition to @lcmoser in TX primary. "Was that the right thing for the DCCC to do?"



DNC chair @TomPerez: “Well, I wouldn’t have done it.”#TXpolitics pic.twitter.com/7FuqcdHI6G — CSPAN (@cspan) March 2, 2018

The petitions also highlight:

— A news story about a polling memo, commissioned by the DCCC, that suggests Democrats should campaign on tax breaks to reduce the cost of health care. Progressives say the answer is a single-payer health care system.

—A report of a leaked email from a DCCC spokesman calling on House candidates the morning after the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas not to “politicize” the shooting that day and to only offer thoughts and prayers for victims and their families.

—A story about how the DCCC has included no black candidates in their Red-to-Blue program, which gives top-tier candidates organizational and fundraising support.

“The DCCC has begun an all-out war against progressives,” said Saikat Chakrabarti, executive director of Justice Democrats, in a statement. “Their attacks on Laura Moser's campaign, their internal memos directing their candidates to stand down on fighting for gun reform and Medicare For All — these are not just attacks on progressives but a completely incompetent strategy that will guarantee more losses.”