I was not happy about Goldman voting to condemn the ICC. They do very important work, and it’s internationally embarrassing for the US to be doing shit like this.
Also, I really don’t share your seeming enthusiasm for Netanyahu, but I can’t go further into details without violating the ban on the forbidden topic.
I appreciated his work on the impeachment committee and appreciate many of his statements. I'd be happy with him representing a less left-wing district.
It's fair to say he does not support everything Netanyahu does or advocates. He sent me a piece of constituent mail calling for the end of Trump's war on Iran. I was glad to see that. But whether Democrats should be respectful of Netanyahu, who quite aside from his policies in Israel and the rest of the Middle East has pointedly meddled in U.S. politics against Democrats and in favor of Republicans, is a very legitimate issue in Democratic primaries.
Goldman has been one of the most pro-Israel votes in Congress during the Netanyahu government which is an undeniable fact. He attacked Trump thrice for "abandoning Israel" by firing Mike Waltz and appointing Gabbard. Goldman is like the Green voters who didn't vote for Kamala. Going on air, anti-endorsing Mamdani, smearing him as a threat to his life and Jews at-large citing his views on Israel and voting for Cuomo was a choice he made. So much for being the self-styled "defender of democracy" in the House.
He even refused to sign onto a J Street backed measure to oppose the Trump Gaza "Riviera" ethnic cleansing plan.
"Our mission has always been to shine a light on downballot elections because they never get the attention they deserve. We don’t ban policy discussions, but we give them a very short leash. And please avoid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict altogether. Again, there are plenty of places to discuss it—just not here."
Yeah, I really don’t think Lander is a “Soviet Socialist”. Believe it or not, not all socialists are Soviet-level communists. In fact, your use of such words does not exactly inspire confidence in the rest of your arguments, I feel.
Given that the first results of that term come up with Jordan Peterson links, and other results of that nature, I think the term is heavily rightist-coded. I'd steer away of trying to promote that concept.
If this were a different forum, I would tell you in very crude terms what you could do to yourself for calling him a "Soviet Socialist." But instead, I can say that you sure don't sound like a Democrat with those arguments and will be watched for further signs of being a right-wing troll. Signed, a New York socialist who has a vote in this race.
You don't know very much about DSA then, since its founder, Michael Harrington, was very explicitly opposed to the Soviet Union, which is why he supported DSA members voting for Democrats (which got him much criticism from actual Soviet and Sino-aligned Communists, to say nothing of the criticism DSA gets now, even within its own ranks, for being too reformist and electoralist)
To be fair, they seem to have changed quite a bit since Michael Harrington's time, but they remain within the system, not violent revolutionaries and not beholden to any foreign power.
And a reminder to everyone here, unlike on dailykos, admin can easily remove all the posts of someone who shows up and immediately causes fights, violates the rules of the site, etc. So there really is no need to respond to all their posts and argue with them; doing so only causes a broken, confusing comment tree like this after all their posts are deleted. Just report, and move on. Don't feed the troll!
Please resist the urge to screw with trolls. Baiting a troll is like getting into a farting match: Maybe it's fun for the people involved, but it stinks up the place for the rest of us.
OK, once I determine a user is a troll, I will cease responding to any of their posts. It did take me a little while to be sure they were a troll, though, and when I did, I reported them.
Another Republican, with ties to Senator Jim Banks, enters the Indiana Republican race for Secretary of State. Banks is working to build his political power in the state.
It does seem odd that since the primary was held on May 5, where voters from each party select their delegates who will select the candidate at the convention, that suddenly, a new Republican contender enters the scene.
This will probably still pass but there's a still chance it doesn't. I am hearing about a lot of consternation from GOP folks that are now concerned about having to at least spend a lot more money in SC now. Plus linking Charleston and its suburbs to Myrtle and Horry is extremely unpopular as they have vastly differing priorities and voter bases. Not to mention the increased costs of holding a whole nother primary in August in addition the regularly scheduled June one.
One thing that principled SC state senators have in their favor is that none of them are up for election in November. So they have two years before facing voters if they buck Trump. He shouldn't be on the ballot then, will be firmly in lame duck territory, could possibly be disgraced even in many R voters' eyes, and maybe even succumbed to whatever ails him.
FL-22: Academic administrator Belinda Keiser, of Keiser University notoriety, will run here as a Republican in an increasingly crowded primary.
Businessmen Michael Carbonara, Casey Askar and Herbie Wertheim as well as former national security official Mike Thompson are running, and former New York Rep. Chris Collins is considering.
Among the four Democratic candidates vying to take on Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th District, Rebecca Bennett has built a clear lead among likely primary voters. She currently has 31% of the initial vote choice to 17% for Brian Varela, 16% for Tina Shah, and 15% for Michael Roth.
He tried to pressure the other candidates to drop out so he had a better shot against Bennett, and he has a shady background financially; I believe he was involved in a pyramid scheme.
I find Varela difficult to take seriously when he's simultaneously running as an Our Revolution and Ras Baraka-endorsed progressive and is a former chair of the New Jersey Forward Party and endorsed by Andrew Yang and Steven Sweeney. Seriously, his endorsements are bizarre, and don't speak to someone with firm values.
with the caveat I am heavily supporting bennett, I cannot stand the way the shah campaign or varela campaigns are being run. Roth I can disagree with but still find intellectually honest
I live about three miles from that district, and I haven't gotten any. I did see Levine speak at my local Democratic club. He wasn't horrible, but I didn't hear a compelling reason to support him over Rep. Brad Sherman (original recipe, not the Repub from Iowa.)
fwiw my org, Climate Hawks Vote, endorsed Jake. He's got really solid climate/ cleantech credentials. Worked for Granholm in the Biden WH. I have a long social history with Brad (he caught my wedding garter, true story) so it's sorta awkward, but Jake is a significant upgrade if climate matters.
Nothing surprising in it. The mention about Obama-era lack of investment in state/local parties leaving a long shadow is nice. That was a big problem for his legacy.
It seems they didn't release it for a while because the writer was sloppy.
Acknowledging the lack of investment in local and state parties is a step in the right direction.
Sure, the writer Ken Martin enlisted was sloppy but as long as the DNC acknowledges the past, even if it’s before Trump became POTUS, that goes a long way for the DNC to stay focused.
Not necessarily about the exact contents of it, but I think it's telling how many people wanted the autopsy to agree with their fixes for the party. Moderates wanted it to say the Democratic Party was seen as too far left and needed to moderate, while progressives wanted it to say the party was seen as not committed to economic progressivism enough. My guess is that in 2024, Democrats lost votes on both ends, and moving to the right or left would have led to a net loss of votes. Harris was seen as far-left by some former Democratic voters, and others voted 3rd party or didn't vote as they thought she was too much of a centrist. For most of either type of voter, my guess is that small moves in either direction would not have been enough.
Possible but I still think that final play for "Liz Cheney Republicans" was a huge political loser. Would something else have worked? Probably not enough to win but the constituency she was seeking was proven to not exist and there wasn't any indication when she was trying it that it existed.
Hooray! Frankly, it was always a boneheaded move. It's like he overreacted to 2024 and forgot how midterms/negative partisanship work. It felt like a knee-jerk reaction.
I like Benson too. Fought election deniers, apparently studied under Warren (if I remember right), etc. I think she might be good, maybe even an upgrade from Whitmer.
He could've ran for AG and walked into the governorship in 8 years. Maybe at his age that wasn't appealing but it was always a better path than this quixotic independent run.
Senate primary is still giving me MAJOR heartburn. (I have no idea who the strongest candidate is; I just hate the idea of them more or less splitting the vote.)
Mallory strikes me as the closest to a good candidate. Ideologically in between Haley and Abdul, a better campaigner and more closely aligned with Democratic priorities than Haley, did not appear with Hasan Piker and doesn’t have the controversial statements Abdul had, etc. I’m rooting for her.
As someone ill-informed about Oregon politics, I'm curious too.
Thinking of state capitols that are redder than usual for the state, Salem definitely comes to mind. Bismarck is too, which is notable for how red ND already is (I lived there for a summer, and I will say there is much to like there, so it's nothing personal against the city. It's just really republican and long has been). Carson City, if I recall too. Jefferson City also is, but it's actually probably on par with the rest of Missouri.
Jeff City is actually more conservative than Missouri as a whole. I have long believed that this is because liberals who work there elect to live 15-20 minutes away in the much more progressive Boone County.
Slush fund.
Brad Lander will be a huge improvement over a trust fund baby and Netanyahu fanboy.
I was not happy about Goldman voting to condemn the ICC. They do very important work, and it’s internationally embarrassing for the US to be doing shit like this.
Also, I really don’t share your seeming enthusiasm for Netanyahu, but I can’t go further into details without violating the ban on the forbidden topic.
I will just say I do not agree about Goldman and leave it at that.
I appreciated his work on the impeachment committee and appreciate many of his statements. I'd be happy with him representing a less left-wing district.
its not slander to call him a trust fund baby, as truth is the ultimate defense to accusations of slander, he's a useless hack
It's fair to say he does not support everything Netanyahu does or advocates. He sent me a piece of constituent mail calling for the end of Trump's war on Iran. I was glad to see that. But whether Democrats should be respectful of Netanyahu, who quite aside from his policies in Israel and the rest of the Middle East has pointedly meddled in U.S. politics against Democrats and in favor of Republicans, is a very legitimate issue in Democratic primaries.
Goldman has been one of the most pro-Israel votes in Congress during the Netanyahu government which is an undeniable fact. He attacked Trump thrice for "abandoning Israel" by firing Mike Waltz and appointing Gabbard. Goldman is like the Green voters who didn't vote for Kamala. Going on air, anti-endorsing Mamdani, smearing him as a threat to his life and Jews at-large citing his views on Israel and voting for Cuomo was a choice he made. So much for being the self-styled "defender of democracy" in the House.
He even refused to sign onto a J Street backed measure to oppose the Trump Gaza "Riviera" ethnic cleansing plan.
https://forward.com/fast-forward/796701/dan-goldman-brad-lander-j-street-israel-gaza/
https://x.com/search?q=from%3Adanielsgoldman%20Israel&src=typed_query&f=live
Please see Rule 5 in our Rules of the Road: https://www.the-downballot.com/p/the-downballots-community-rules-of
"Our mission has always been to shine a light on downballot elections because they never get the attention they deserve. We don’t ban policy discussions, but we give them a very short leash. And please avoid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict altogether. Again, there are plenty of places to discuss it—just not here."
What specifically do you find awful about Lander?
Yeah, I really don’t think Lander is a “Soviet Socialist”. Believe it or not, not all socialists are Soviet-level communists. In fact, your use of such words does not exactly inspire confidence in the rest of your arguments, I feel.
I also have no idea what oinkophobia is after finding no results when looking it up.
It's oikophobia, where one objects to one's own culture. I guess Eric thinks Lander is too critical of the Dem Party.
No, he's purporting that Lander's a self-hating Jew.
He's afraid of pigs.
Hahah, I just got it. No, that's oinkophobia.
these types of reactions to the very reasonable lander is why he's going to absolutely wallop trust fund goldy
What do you mean by "killed Mamdani's ass"?
Eric, I didn't mean to "go after" you. I was simply confused by what you meant.
Why are we continuing this?
He means kissed.
Killed his ass?
Wearisome.
Given that the first results of that term come up with Jordan Peterson links, and other results of that nature, I think the term is heavily rightist-coded. I'd steer away of trying to promote that concept.
If this were a different forum, I would tell you in very crude terms what you could do to yourself for calling him a "Soviet Socialist." But instead, I can say that you sure don't sound like a Democrat with those arguments and will be watched for further signs of being a right-wing troll. Signed, a New York socialist who has a vote in this race.
I pay New York City taxes. They're too high for lower-end working class people like me. My heart doesn't bleed for the 1% and their tax burden.
You don't know very much about DSA then, since its founder, Michael Harrington, was very explicitly opposed to the Soviet Union, which is why he supported DSA members voting for Democrats (which got him much criticism from actual Soviet and Sino-aligned Communists, to say nothing of the criticism DSA gets now, even within its own ranks, for being too reformist and electoralist)
To be fair, they seem to have changed quite a bit since Michael Harrington's time, but they remain within the system, not violent revolutionaries and not beholden to any foreign power.
Share a link instead of referring people to look it up. Thanks.
We've found the troll
The previous poll was from a group allied with Goldman. This is an independent poll and probably closer to the truth.
Goldman snuck through the primary against much more progressive opponents so him losing a 1v1 is not particularly surprising
That's not her name.
What did she do or say that was racist?
Supporting sanctions against the Netanyahu government is not racist, and since you've already shown what you are, your allegations will be discounted.
Now is a good time to remember the Downballot's Rules of the Road.
https://www.the-downballot.com/p/the-downballots-community-rules-of
It's not "awful". Brad Lander is a great public official, and I'll be delighted if he wins.
Don't feed the troll, y'all
This entire thread has gotten out of control, and we're all moving on.
Implying someone is a self-hating Jew/ or self-hating anything is not acceptable, and neither is accusing community members of being trolls.
And a reminder to everyone here, unlike on dailykos, admin can easily remove all the posts of someone who shows up and immediately causes fights, violates the rules of the site, etc. So there really is no need to respond to all their posts and argue with them; doing so only causes a broken, confusing comment tree like this after all their posts are deleted. Just report, and move on. Don't feed the troll!
It can take a little while for it to be entirely clear that someone is a troll, and it also can be fun to screw with them a bit.
Please resist the urge to screw with trolls. Baiting a troll is like getting into a farting match: Maybe it's fun for the people involved, but it stinks up the place for the rest of us.
OK, once I determine a user is a troll, I will cease responding to any of their posts. It did take me a little while to be sure they were a troll, though, and when I did, I reported them.
Another Republican, with ties to Senator Jim Banks, enters the Indiana Republican race for Secretary of State. Banks is working to build his political power in the state.
https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/05/20/gop-secretary-of-state-race-scrambled-as-us-sen-banks-staffer-enters/?emci=ac71c80f-8954-f111-8fcb-000d3a18905c&emdi=1f8be567-0855-f111-8fcb-000d3a18905c&ceid=630426
It's actually a convention! Just like in Michigan, party delegates, instead of primary voters, pick the nominees for secretary of state.
Correct. I think that Republican convention is going to be "interesting."
It does seem odd that since the primary was held on May 5, where voters from each party select their delegates who will select the candidate at the convention, that suddenly, a new Republican contender enters the scene.
The South Carolina senate judiciary committee passed the new map early Thursday https://scdailygazette.com/2026/05/21/bill-redrawing-sc-congressional-voting-lines-advances-in-senate-as-cost-estimates-double/
This will probably still pass but there's a still chance it doesn't. I am hearing about a lot of consternation from GOP folks that are now concerned about having to at least spend a lot more money in SC now. Plus linking Charleston and its suburbs to Myrtle and Horry is extremely unpopular as they have vastly differing priorities and voter bases. Not to mention the increased costs of holding a whole nother primary in August in addition the regularly scheduled June one.
I think it's 50-50. And the coast has a lot of R Senators that have vested interests in preserving the status quo.
On the FL 28 entry, we used to measure time with years, months, days, etc
Now we measure time in maps, and just like years for older people, map time is going by faster and faster.
One thing that principled SC state senators have in their favor is that none of them are up for election in November. So they have two years before facing voters if they buck Trump. He shouldn't be on the ballot then, will be firmly in lame duck territory, could possibly be disgraced even in many R voters' eyes, and maybe even succumbed to whatever ails him.
Fantastic interview with Aaron Ford on your podcast, BTW. I think he's got a good shot of unseating Lombardo this year.
Agreed. And based on his record and his thoughtful statements on the pod, I think he'll make a great governor
https://floridianpress.com/2026/05/belinda-keiser-files-to-run-for-congress-in-floridas-22nd-district/
FL-22: Academic administrator Belinda Keiser, of Keiser University notoriety, will run here as a Republican in an increasingly crowded primary.
Businessmen Michael Carbonara, Casey Askar and Herbie Wertheim as well as former national security official Mike Thompson are running, and former New York Rep. Chris Collins is considering.
Here’s an independent NJ 7 poll:
Among the four Democratic candidates vying to take on Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th District, Rebecca Bennett has built a clear lead among likely primary voters. She currently has 31% of the initial vote choice to 17% for Brian Varela, 16% for Tina Shah, and 15% for Michael Roth.
https://www.insidernj.com/insider-nj-stimsight-poll-finds-bennett-leads-the-democratic-field-in-new-jerseys-7th-district-primary-voters-say-ousting-kean-is-their-top-consideration/
I guess Varela's controversy didn't take off too much yet.
Which controversy? I did not hear about this.
He tried to pressure the other candidates to drop out so he had a better shot against Bennett, and he has a shady background financially; I believe he was involved in a pyramid scheme.
no one on the ground has really heard about it from what I've seen
I find Varela difficult to take seriously when he's simultaneously running as an Our Revolution and Ras Baraka-endorsed progressive and is a former chair of the New Jersey Forward Party and endorsed by Andrew Yang and Steven Sweeney. Seriously, his endorsements are bizarre, and don't speak to someone with firm values.
with the caveat I am heavily supporting bennett, I cannot stand the way the shah campaign or varela campaigns are being run. Roth I can disagree with but still find intellectually honest
That's good, Rs are trying to meddle here: https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/murky-pac-meddling-in-nj-7-to-hurt-bennett/
Gov Ned Lamont signed the Connecticut no-excuse absentee voting bill into law on Tuesday.
https://www.wshu.org/connecticut-news/2026-05-20/ct-no-excuse-absentee-voting-law
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2026/ACT/PA/PDF/2026PA-00042-R00HB-05001-PA.PDF
Good for him. Maybe he cares about his primary a little.
I'd rather him or another moderate Dem running the state than a Republican like Joe Lombardo or Larry Hogan.
Fair. I don't think that will happen for a while, though. Bob Stefanowski had the best shot and he lost, albeit narrowly.
CA-32: I live 2,500 miles from this district. Why am I getting Jake Levine ads?
I live about three miles from that district, and I haven't gotten any. I did see Levine speak at my local Democratic club. He wasn't horrible, but I didn't hear a compelling reason to support him over Rep. Brad Sherman (original recipe, not the Repub from Iowa.)
fwiw my org, Climate Hawks Vote, endorsed Jake. He's got really solid climate/ cleantech credentials. Worked for Granholm in the Biden WH. I have a long social history with Brad (he caught my wedding garter, true story) so it's sorta awkward, but Jake is a significant upgrade if climate matters.
Shouldn't have clicked that one link!
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/21/politics/james-talarico-endorses-johnny-garcia-texas
TX-35: Johnny Garcia gains an endorsement from state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee.
VA-01's Democratic primary also includes Elizabeth Dempsey-Beggs, who I think deserves mention here.
Isn't Salaam Bhatti also running? He wasn't mentioned either.
Ken Martin released the autopsy report with in-house annotations for the numerous errors made by the original writer: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/21/politics/read-full-dnc-2024-autopsy-cnn
Nothing surprising in it. The mention about Obama-era lack of investment in state/local parties leaving a long shadow is nice. That was a big problem for his legacy.
It seems they didn't release it for a while because the writer was sloppy.
Glad he released it just to quiet the social media conspiracist types
Narrator: It didn't quiet the social media conspiracist types.
Acknowledging the lack of investment in local and state parties is a step in the right direction.
Sure, the writer Ken Martin enlisted was sloppy but as long as the DNC acknowledges the past, even if it’s before Trump became POTUS, that goes a long way for the DNC to stay focused.
Not necessarily about the exact contents of it, but I think it's telling how many people wanted the autopsy to agree with their fixes for the party. Moderates wanted it to say the Democratic Party was seen as too far left and needed to moderate, while progressives wanted it to say the party was seen as not committed to economic progressivism enough. My guess is that in 2024, Democrats lost votes on both ends, and moving to the right or left would have led to a net loss of votes. Harris was seen as far-left by some former Democratic voters, and others voted 3rd party or didn't vote as they thought she was too much of a centrist. For most of either type of voter, my guess is that small moves in either direction would not have been enough.
She lost because of bigotry and inflation.
She won Virginia. And WTF do you mean by "get rid of republican voters"? I'm shocked anyone uprated your comment.
Possible but I still think that final play for "Liz Cheney Republicans" was a huge political loser. Would something else have worked? Probably not enough to win but the constituency she was seeking was proven to not exist and there wasn't any indication when she was trying it that it existed.
Wow Duggan out for MI Gov https://x.com/MediumBuying/status/2057474248306720860?s=20
Hooray! Frankly, it was always a boneheaded move. It's like he overreacted to 2024 and forgot how midterms/negative partisanship work. It felt like a knee-jerk reaction.
Yeah, it was essentially a capitulation to MAGA. FTS.
Time for Benson to win by 8 or more
I like Benson too. Fought election deniers, apparently studied under Warren (if I remember right), etc. I think she might be good, maybe even an upgrade from Whitmer.
Honestly, he would have been a good governor. It’s a shame he didn’t run as a Democrat.
He could've ran for AG and walked into the governorship in 8 years. Maybe at his age that wasn't appealing but it was always a better path than this quixotic independent run.
He probably couldn't win a Dem primary.
Oh, thank goodness.
Senate primary is still giving me MAJOR heartburn. (I have no idea who the strongest candidate is; I just hate the idea of them more or less splitting the vote.)
Mallory strikes me as the closest to a good candidate. Ideologically in between Haley and Abdul, a better campaigner and more closely aligned with Democratic priorities than Haley, did not appear with Hasan Piker and doesn’t have the controversial statements Abdul had, etc. I’m rooting for her.
I like her too, but those old tweets are definitely unhelpful. AES would make me very nervous. I'd be fine with Stevens as well.
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/05/19/election-results-julie-hoy-vanessa-nordyke-salem-mayor/90079987007/
We missed Salem, Oregon's mayoralty flipping to blue on Tuesday. Incumbent Julie Hoy lost to Democrat Vanessa Nordyke.
As someone ill-informed about Oregon politics, I'm curious too.
Thinking of state capitols that are redder than usual for the state, Salem definitely comes to mind. Bismarck is too, which is notable for how red ND already is (I lived there for a summer, and I will say there is much to like there, so it's nothing personal against the city. It's just really republican and long has been). Carson City, if I recall too. Jefferson City also is, but it's actually probably on par with the rest of Missouri.
Bismarck's current mayor is Dem-affiliated fwiw.
Jeff City is actually more conservative than Missouri as a whole. I have long believed that this is because liberals who work there elect to live 15-20 minutes away in the much more progressive Boone County.
How does Salem usually vote? Since the office is officially nonpartisan I'm wary of reading too much into a history there.
Though, yeah I would have assumed Salem would be very blue. According to wiki 25% of the jobs in the city at state government positions!
Not sure if it fully explains it, but it is a big center for agriculture-related services/industries in the Willamette Valley