By admin 
Young, progressive candidates are showing the California Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee they don’t need the party’s money or support to win big.
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Democrats are clearly disregarding a golden rule of politics: Ignore the future of your party at your own peril.
Three major races in California have seen progressive candidates take on establishment favorites with bigger war chests and better support. Despite their alienation from the party’s attentions, these progressive candidates will advance to the general election this fall:
In the Los Angeles mayoral race, progressive candidate Nithya Raman came from behind to second place and will move on to oppose the Democratic incumbent, Mayor Karen Bass.
In House District 22, Randy Villegas leapfrogged over the party favorite, Jasmeet Bains, to take on the Republican incumbent, David Valadao — despite the DCCC promising to stay out of the race and then spending more than $100,000 on Bains’ campaign.
And in Sacramento’s own House District 7, Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang has successfully mounted a challenge from the left to Democratic incumbent, Doris Matsui, after Vang was spurned by delegates at the California Democratic Party convention in February.
All three did it without the DCCC’s support or endorsement.
Now, Axios reports, some Democratic lawmakers in Congress are so mad at their own party that they’re threatening to withhold their dues to the DCCC, thanks to the national party’s stubborn refusal to support young, progressive candidates in favor of moderates and incumbents who are failing to capture the public’s vote or imagination.
“I think the DCCC owes House Democrats an explanation, and I would not be surprised if a number of members decide to put their DCCC giving on hold,” a lawmaker granted anonymity by Axios said. “Some of these decisions … are very perplexing.”
CADEM’s decision to spend $135,000 on Jasmeet Bains’ failed campaign in California’s House District 22 sparked a bout of infighting over the party’s (perceived or otherwise) meddling in Dem-on-Dem races to back the candidates they view as more electable — even when the public clearly prefers another candidate.
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If they’re both Democrats, then the party should have stayed out of it until one or more rose to the top of the heap after the primaries. Instead, Bains’ campaign was added to the DCCC’s coveted list of flippable House districts — the Red to Blue list — “a highly competitive and battle-tested DCCC program that arms top-tier candidates with organizational and fundraising support to help them continue to develop strong campaigns,” according to the DCCC’s website.
But some lawmakers remain unimpressed with their tactics.
“They lied to all of us,” Christian Romo, chair of the Kern County Democratic Central Committee, told CalMatters. Romo said staff at the DCCC told him multiple times that it would not get involved in the D-22 primary race, barring a situation in which two Republican candidates might advance, CalMatters reported.
That didn’t happen, while Villegas, meanwhile, racked up the support of numerous national lawmakers like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez ,D-NY, as well as the endorsement of important Democratic groups such as The Working Families Party and former DCCC Chair David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve.
Now that he’s beaten Bains to the general election, the DCCC stands to lose even more respect from voters and lawmakers alike if they don’t back Villegas just as much as — or even more than — they supported Bains.
“I really, really hope the DCCC practices what they preach and they consolidate around (Villegas) and work with him to give him the full financial backing he deserves, because he can win this race,” Hogg told Axios.
The DCCC’s refusal to support young progressives in favor of moderates and incumbents is a flaw that will ultimately break the party apart from within. Millennial and Gen Z voters are expected to make up more than half the nation’s voting population by 2028 and Gen Z will be the first majority non-white generation in American history. Studies show these voters care more about policy over party ideologies, according to Pew Research.
The DCCC is beginning to show its age — not unlike the candidates they support. But if the Democratic Party wants to survive to influence a new generation of voters, then perhaps they’d better listen to us and what we want.
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