Summer Lee vs. Bhavini Patel

[coloradocowboi]

If it doesn’t work in Pittsburgh, their most demographically favorable district, it’s not going to work so AIPAC need to stop targeting women of color with contentious primaries when they are on the losing end of this issue. Summer Lee has condemned Hamas. She has condemned anti-semitism on college campuses. People in her district were smart enough to see the plain truth that criticizing Israel is not anti-semitism, and neither is asking for high moral standards from “the only democracy in the Middle East.” If they go out of their way to make this the central issue in Bush and Bowman’s races, let alone Tlaib’s and Omar’s, AIPAC will guarantee an intact Squad in November.

[coloradocowboi]

It's also worth remembering that Bush has another problem that could really hurt her, completely separate from ideological squabbles in the party.

Which is?

She has been under federal investigation since January.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. She’s actually flying under the radar for that in national media. I would hope her opponent is blowing up the airwaves and social media about it back in stl

I mean it was an incumbent Squad WOC vs a non-incumbent WOC primary.

I’m committed to advancing progressive issues like advocating for gun violence prevention, fighting for reproductive justice, and creating good-paying union jobs.

I don’t actually believe that. They were targeted because they criticized Israel, duh.

But it’s the same kind of fallacious reasoning that permits their critics to call them antisemitic so I say f it, gotta get realpolitik. Especially in districts where the average voter is going to feel a lot more strongly about racism than they do Israel, and perhaps even to the extent that they connect these two issues together. While I am ambivalent about it, this kind of thinking is more common than you think.

[coloradocowboi]

I agree with the Chancellor's very educated and well-thought post. However, I do want to add two addenda lol:

1. Bush, Omar, Bowman, and AOC are all being primaried for allegedly myriad reasons ranging from police to economics... however, a lot of the money being funneled to their opponents is either by AIPAC's greater network or sympathetic donors. If they didn't take a stand on Israel, my guess is that they would not be danger. Pulling fire alarms for literally no reason not withstanding... hahaha

2. While I was being glib earlier, it's alarming to me and obviously problematic that all of the Reps being primaried are Black, Latino, or Middle Eastern and while their opponents are mostly other POC, the people funding for and voting for their opponents are disproportionately white.

The optics of this are less troubling to this forum because let's face it, most of us are white and even among those who aren't, very few in this forum are Black, Latino, or Middle Eastern. We are seeing things through the privileged myopia that is being white, and can't conceive of the optics and emotions that come with seeing a mostly white establishment try to tear down a woman of color. Just because I don't think it is intentionally racist or white supremacist does not mean that I don't think it is both of these in effect. And if I think this way, I can't imagine what the optics must be for people of color.

I'm not saying that Bush and Bowman will for sure win. But if their races become about Gaza, there is a high chance their races will become about race, and that really benefits them... especially Bowman. Their opponents are playing with fire, but I also get the catch-22. If they don't play with fire, they don't get to play at all because that's the only way to maintain a financial edge. But I dk y'all.... gun to my head I would say all but Bush win. And only cuz I forgot her scandal. Bowman's fortune depends entirely on who turns out to vote.

[coloradocowboi]

Don't forget though that the only reason Bush is in office in the first place is due to white progressives. In 2020 she lost the Black vote to Clay.

I guess... she massively improved with Black voters from 2018 to 2020 to 2022 though in each successive primary.

If this race wasn't being nationalized, I think she would probably be guaranteed to lose. Wesley Bell isn't even a moderate or corporatist. He's a mainstream Dem. I've been learning a lot more about him and of course other leftists will hate his law enforcement background and positions, but I think this guy is actually a potentially more effective agent for progress than Cori anyway.

But since we are talking about them, the white progressive are even less likely to be motivated by Gaza issues to vote out Bush. I still maintain that in each of these remaining races, Israel is probably more a liability for moderates than it is a benefit.