There are 3 congressional races where Democrat incumbents are battling it out. Fortunately none of them pit two good candidates against each other. One, in the suburbs north of Atlanta, has two pretty mediocre candidates, although even there it is an easy choice. In GA-07, the worthless incumbents are New Dem Lucy McBath and Blue Dog Carolyn Bourdeaux. According to Progressive Punch, Bourdeaux actually has a better voting record, but that doesn't take into account Bourdeaux's toxic role in tanking the more progressive parts of Build Back Better. Bourdeaux represents 57% of the new district, while McBath represents just 12%. On the other hand, Bourdeaux was blatantly bought off by Republican mega-donors through No Labels and that alone should discourage progressives from supporting her.
Fortunately, residents of the very blue new district (from D+4 to D+16) don't have to vote for either them. State Rep Donna McLeod is also running, although new polling shows her as a longshot, with just 6% support compared to McBath's 40% and Bourdeaux's 31%. The voters don't know who she is and she's going to have to work very hard to remedy that-- which is going to cost a lot of money-- which she doesn't have. As of the end of December, McBath had raised $3,052,850, Bourdeaux had raised $2,385,577 and McLeod just $22,775.
The 2 other races are much easier, since each pits a solid progressive against a garden variety establishment Democrat. Blue America has endorsed both the progressives in these races-- Marie Newman in IL-06 and Andy Levin in MI-11. Let's start with Illinois, where Newman represents 41.3% of the new district and Sean Casten, a corporate shill and New Dem, represents just 23.4%. He's being backed by all the bad players in Democratic politics and they are working furiously to undermine and smear Newman.
Newman is a leader of the Progressive Caucus and spends her time working for her constituents and on policy. Casten spends his time cozying up to corporate interests and SuperPACs. According to Progressive Punch, Newman doesn't just have an "A" but has the best voting record in Congress (tied with Mondaire Jones), while Casten has the 67th best score. He has over a million more in cash in his campaign fund than she does-- and he can count on a flood of GOP sewer money pouring into the district courtesy of characters like Nancy Jacobson and Mark Penn.
Southern Oakland County in the Detroit suburbs has a similar primary-- a hard-working and effect progressive leader, Andy Levin vs a nothing-much-at-all New Dem. Andy's Progressive Punch score is the 3rd best in the House-- 99.25% compared to Newman's and Jones' 99.43%. Stevens has a typical New Dem kind of record (123rd down the ranks of progressivism). Since he spends his time working for his constituents and she spends her time fundraising, she has $1,986,094 in her campaign account to the $1,118,706 he has in his. She represents about 45% of the district and he represents around 25%.
Please consider contributing to Marie Newman and Andy Levin right here or by clicking on the 2022 best incumbents thermometer on the left. Newman and Levin are part of the solution to the problems that plague America and America's working families. Casten and Stevens are part of the problem, not as bad as Republicans, but at the root of why almost nothing positive ever gets done, especially not for working families.