Trust But Verify: Endorsements, Errors And Lessons From AZ-07... And WI-03

The Left Can’t Win If We Can’t Tell A Grifter From A Fighter… Adelita Won But We Still Have Homework

Foxx, Grijalva, Hernandez

Yesterday was the special election primary to fill the Raul Grijalva seat in the Tucson area (AZ-07). He died in March. His daughter, Adelita, a former Pima County supervisor won in a rout with over 60% of the vote against Deja Foxx, a left-wing Gen Z influencer— who some movement progressives were backing, including David Hogg— and a more conservative establishment Dem, former state Rep Daniel Hernandez (backed by reactionary AIPAC/crypto Democrat Ritchie Torres and by pro-genocide DMFI). Two lesser known progressives, Jose Malvido and Patrick Harris, also ran. Harris’ proposed “greed tax” to cap $1 billion on individual wealth was the best proposal of any candidate.

Early Tuesday Corbin Trent, who I know as AOC’s former communications director, included Foxx in his substack among a group of far left candidates he supports. The Congressional Progressive Caucus backs Adelita. Bernie cut this spot for Adelita last week:

It’s very persuasive and I’m sure it helped some voters who were unsure whether or not to vote for her or Foxx to cast their ballots for Adelita. As of sunrise, 77% of the votes have been counted. 53,400 Democrats have voted. Just 16,174 Republicans have. A fellow named Daniel Butierez will go up against Adelita.

Going back in history, Trent’s little essay yesterday complained that “Bernie didn’t back Justice Democrats’ candidates. He didn’t even back AOC. It’s not done, you see. You don’t back insurgent candidates that will more than likely lose. It’s bad politics. You’d burn bridges and make your job harder. On top of that, people will say you aren’t a REAL Democrat. But that isn’t the way the Tea Party rolled. That’s not how MAGA or Trump do things. They seem to understand power way more than most progressives. The goal when AOC made her historic win over Joe Crowley— a 10-term incumbent who was poised to become the next Speaker of the House— was to replace failed leadership within the Democratic Party. To transform it from the inside. Her victory was supposed to be the beginning. We came out swinging. When an AIPAC rep called to set up a meeting with AOC we not only rejected it but she talked about it publicly. She participated in a sit-in at Nancy Pelosi’s office applying pressure for a Green New Deal. She didn’t pay DCCC dues. She campaigned for other Justice Democrats. This was all before she was actually seated. The failing was not building a team or a vision with others before she won.”

Blue America did back AOC— and we were the only group in the country to do an independent expenditure for her campaign. We weren’t waiting for permission from Bernie or Raul Grijalva, then the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, or anyone else. We spoke to her, quickly realized she would be among the best members of Congress in this generation and went all in. 

We make mistakes too. Everybody does. When he first ran, we backed Jared Golden in Maine. He persuaded us he was a progressive and his colleagues in the state legislature vouched for him— and so did his record (as Whip) in that body. He turned out to be an asskicker alright— but for the Blue Dogs. And that “Everybody does” includes Bernie. He may have been wrong about AOC— although has since more than made up for it by boosting her as his political heir apparent— but he appears to have been right about this AZ-07 primary. Blue America didn’t take a stand because we couldn’t get a firm enough fix on who exactly Deja Foxx is and we were split. So we stayed out, although I thought something smelled off about Foxx. Normally, Bernie’s endorsement would have swayed us. But…

It came right around the same time he made a colossal endorsement error in western Wisconsin in which he threw his weight behind a confirmed Blue Dog in the primary, a primary that includes an actual Berniecrat candidate Eau Claire City Council president, Emily Berge. How the hell did that happen! I guess it doesn’t matter how, just that it did and may catapult a slick-talking Blue Dog into Congress— Derrick Van Orden is likely going to lose next year— instead of a New Deal progressive. Although, I must say that Bernie’s wrong-headed endorsement has just made Blue America more committed than ever to fight for Emily— just the way we fought for AOC when she first ran.

I talk to a lot of candidates who say all the right things— all the right things. And then suck when they get to Congress. Jared Golden wasn’t the first we ran into like that. Since then, though I’ve tried hard to look beyond what a candidate says in the endorsement process. It wasn’t hard with Rebecca Cooke, the Blue Dog Bernie just endorsed. No one in the district seems to like her— but the DC conservative Democrats sure do. Last cycle she was supported by the corporately-aligned New Dems, by a big money operation backing right-of-center Dems, the Project218 PAC, by Reid Hoffman’s and the Murdoch’s vehemently anti-progressive Welcome PAC and by DemocracyFirst, a PAC largely funded by the Shustermans, a Big Oil Democratic family in Tulsa that backs right-of-center Democrats and left-of-center Republicans. Oh— and by an outfit called EDF Action Votes that did independent expenditures to help non-progressive Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans. The Blue Dog PAC gave $10,000, their top cash contribution, to only 5 non-incumbents— 5 of the worst Democrats running in 2024: Rudy Salas (CA), Adam Frisch (CO), Will Rollins (CA), Adam Gray (CA) and Rebecca Cooke (WI), only one of whom, Adam Gray, won…and went on to join the Blue Dog caucus and run up a miserable 2025 voting record, tied with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez for 10th worst Democrat in the House.