70% of voters just blindly select whichever candidate has a “D” or an “R” next to their name. In congressional races that usually enough to decide an election. Ergo— it’s really important to nominate solid progressives in blue districts. We’ll get to that in a second. First… meet a typical fake-Democrat from Florida, Amaro Lionheart, who has already flipped to the dark side.
Saint Thomas University was founded in 1946 in Havana. Always the far right fount of crackpottery, Cuba confiscated its land and expelled its faculty in 1961. They set up shop in Miami and is now the only Catholic Archdiocesan sponsored university in Florida. Frequent Florida vanity candidate Amaro Lionheart, who claims to be a descendant of Napoleon, earned both a B.A. and Masters there. He tried running for governor and for the state Senate as a Democrat and now he’s running for Congress as, what he calls an “America First Trump Conservative.” Agggressively homophobic, he’s boycotting Target. Here’s his first ad.
There was no primary in the 2022 Tampa Bay SD-21 race so Lionheart just waltzed into the Democratic nomination against Republican Ed Hooper, who beat him 146,839 (65%) to 79,025 (35%). This time Lionheart is challenging Kathy Castor who won her last race against Republican James Judge 149,737 (56.9%) to 113,427 (43.1%) in a district with a D+14 partisan lean. Lionheart will get some publicity but he won’t be going to Congress.
See the caricature in the graphic below of the character on the left blowing up the Democrats’ plan to lower the price of drugs? That’s Orange County Blue Dog Lou Correa, one of the shadiest and most conservative Democrats in the California congressional delegation (since 2017). Before that he served in the state legislature starting in 1998, after having flipped from sleazy bankster to sleazier politician.
Correa is a lobbyist-adjacent Democrat who always votes with corporate interests against his own constituents. Last year Correa was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior. Nonetheless, yesterday the top Dem on the Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler, announced that Correa would replace David Cicilline as ranking member of the subcommittee on regulatory reform and anti-trust. “When he was chair, Cicilline spearheaded an investigation into Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook which found the four maintained monopoly power. It resulted in a package of bills to limit their power that passed through the subcommittee under Cicilline’s stewardship. But Correa and other California lawmakers on the subcommittee voted against the bills.” Correa also voted against increasing funding to the key antitrust agencies last year.
Correa was pushed by two the most corrupt, corporate-oriented groups among House Democrats, the New Dems and the Hispanic Caucus. No other members of the subcommittee— Hank Johnson (GA), Eric Swalwell (CA), Ted Lieu (CA), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Mary Scanlon (PA), Joe Neguse (CO), Lucy McBath (GA), Steve Cohen (TN), Glenn Ivey (MD) and, even worse than Correa on tech monopoly policies, the odious Zoe Lofgren (CA)— ran against him, so his ascension was a forgone conclusion.
Nadler’s tired, pathetic statement: “Congressman Correa has been an outstanding member of the House Judiciary Committee for many years. As a member of the Committee, Congressman Correa has been a strong voice for American families and a steadfast advocate of immigrants seeking a better life in the United States. As the next ranking member of the Antitrust Subcommittee, I’m confident Rep. Correa will continue fighting on behalf of American consumers and families. Congratulations to Congressman Correa on this well-earned achievement.”
The Republicans put Tom Massie (R-KY), one of the most pro-monopoly members of Congress in charge of the subcommittee, sidelining anti-monopoly Republican Ken Buck (R-CO). Massie and Correa will make quite the team clocking any kind of action that challenges corporate concentration— including after the Democrats take back the House next year and Correa goes from ranking member to chairman.
