Besides Beatty, Justice Democrats have also promoted challengers to Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Rep. Lacy Clay of Missouri, a member of the CBC.
So far this cycle, the group has ousted Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), who opposes abortion rights, but failed to unseat Cuellar. The progressive community is eager to maintain that momentum and notch wins beyond picking off the few remaining socially conservative members of the Democratic Caucus.
“We endorsed Morgan because of her career of service, the excitement she inspired in the grassroots activist community and because she rejected corporate donations that harm the Democratic Party,“ said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats.
Other senior Democrats are also staring down primary challengers from the left — endorsed by groups like Brand New Congress and Democracy for America but not Justice Democrats.
The flurry of progressive primary challengers nationwide, some inspired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Justice Democrats-backed upset victory in 2018, has been met with staunch institutional resistance. House Democrats’ campaign arm has drawn up policies intended to support incumbents, triggering a fierce blowback.
Even seasoned election-watchers say Tuesday’s outcome is hard to predict.
Harper has spent far less than the congresswoman, dropping $703,000 as of early April, to Beatty’s $2.2 million. Beatty spent $750,000 on TV and radio, while Harper spent only $50,000, according to a source tracking spending in the Columbus market.
But it’s unknown how Ohio’s two-step, absentee ballot process — voters must mail in a form to request an absentee ballot and then mail back the ballot itself — could suppress turnout among those who did not cast an in-person ballot during the March early voting period.
Absentee ballots must have been postmarked by Monday or hand-delivered by Tuesday in order to be accepted in the primary, which was originally scheduled for March 17. Gov. DeWine shuttered in-person voting just hours before it was set to begin last month but failed to persuade the state Legislature to postpone the primary until June.
Harper’s allies concede she was better positioned during the initial March date, when college students were on campus at Ohio State and when Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) then-active presidential campaign was still galvanizing progressive voters.
„Coronavirus really had a major impact on this race in ways that help incumbency, especially when students at one of the largest campuses in the country were sent home,“ Rojas said.
Source: politico.com
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