As expected, yesterday was not a good day for Bernie Sanders in the three primaries held in Illinois, Florida, and Arizona (Ohio postponed its primary at the very last minute). There were all kinds of problems due to the confusion about the pandemic, and the absence of poll workers caused some polling stations to close. How this affected the overall turnout is not yet clear.
Joe Biden won all three states and has extended his lead in the delegate count. His total is now 1,165 of the 2,213 that have been decided. Bernie Sanders has 880, Elizabeth Warren 72, Michael Bloomberg 61, Pete Buttigieg 26, Amy Klobuchar 7, and Tulsi Gabbard 2. You need 1,991 to win the nomination. The next primary is scheduled for Georgia on Tuesday, though these days nothing is certain. Even though I expected this result (Sanders lost these three states in 2016 too), it was still deeply disappointing. The Sadners campaign said that he is “having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign.”
But there was some good news yesterday too. The progressive candidate Marie Newman has been declared the winner over the conservative incumbent Dan Lipinski in the primary for the safe Democratic congressional seat in the 3rd district in Illinois. She has a 4 point lead with 95% of the vote counted and has declared victory. I have written multiple times about how terrible Lipinski is and that he represented the worst aspects of the Democratic party. The support he got from the party leadership revealed their rottenness. So this is very good news.
Akela Lacey has more on Newman’s win and all the problems with the voting, and adds:
Lipinski opposed much of the Democratic agenda. He’s against abortion rights and is hostile to LGBTQ equality; has an anti-immigrant record; voted against the Affordable Care Act; and, in the past, has opposed a $15 an hour minimum wage. Taking him out marks a significant accomplishment for the progressive wing of the party.
So essentially, Lipinski opposed pretty much all the major issues that the Democratic party claims to stand for.
Lipinski was also one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in Congress.
Earlier this year, Lipinski accused Newman of trying to make Israel a wedge issue with the district’s large Palestinian population of the district. In Newman’s position paper she wrote, “I oppose the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Israeli blockade of Gaza. I also oppose the presence of Israeli settlements and housing on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem which violate international law and undermine the prospect for a just peace.” Lipinski claimed that Newman had “become anti-Israel to some extent.”
Newman has indicated that she is open to the idea of conditioning aid to Israel, a topic that has been consistently brought up by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. “The U.S. has a responsibility to examine how aid to Israel is used and that we should ensure that this aid is not used to support actions and policies that undercut our values,” Newman has said.
Newman does not support the BDS movement, but she opposes any attempt to penalize its supporters. This is in contrast to Lipinski, who introduced a bill in 2014 that would have cut federal funding to universities that participated in the boycott.
Additionally, Newman is a supporter of the Iran nuclear deal, which Lipinski voted against.
Good riddance.
Marie Newman
To clarify my too-terse comment. It should be Marie Newman, not Marie Lipinsky
I wish they would just get this election over with, so I could know for certain that it won’t be worth caring about the presidential election going forward. If it’s just going to come down to two dementia-ridden zombies acting tough at each other while they both propose awful legislation that will worsen my standard of living, I’m unplugging the television, voting down-ballot democrat, and leaving the president option blank.
That, or vote PSL.
Georgia has postponed the presidential primary, merging it with the primary election for other offices on May 19.
Not that it matters. I just wish commentators would acknowledge that the Democratic party leadership is antagonistic towards what is now called “progressivism,” or what used to be mainstream Democratic policy. It is so fucking frustrating to see article after article trying to figure out why the leadership is so misguided or stupid. Maybe they are neither, and they truly prefer a candidate who would rather cut “entitlements” and regulations than raise taxes or help the masses. When questioned about the restrictions on the paid leave provisions in the aid bill said that she didn’t think the government should pay for something that businesses ought to be doing themselves. Rockefeller Republicans executed a coup of the Democratic Party decades ago, and hardly anyone is willing to say that out loud, even people like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez. I’m rambling so I ought to just quit.
By the way, there is something wrong with the log-in button on this blog. It leads to a message that says something about “no server.” I have no idea why or what that means. I had to log in on Pharyngulla. Sometimes I think I was born either 25 years too late or too early.
Jim @#1, 2
Thanks to pointing out the error. I have corrected it.
ionopachys @#4,
This is a recurring problem for which there has been no solution. Sadly, FtB is very much a bare-bones operation and we do not have a tech person to deal with it.
My apologies.
Yes.
I hope Newman’s win sends a signal to that “leadership”. I doubt it: they’ll probably blame it on the mythical Bernie Bros, but I can still hope.