Happyish Days Are Here Again

Here's how the top scorers in the California Republican delegation on the question "How often a member votes in line with Trump's position" fared in the election:

David Valadao (CA-21), with Trump 98.1%: Still counting, currently less than 2000 votes ahead of Democrat TJ Cox
Stephen Knight (CA-25), 98.1%: Gone - Democrat Katie Hill
Mimi Walters (CA-45) 98.1%: Gone - Democrat Katie Porter
Jeff Denham (CA-10) 98.1%: Gone - Democrat Josh Harder
Ken Calvert (CA-42) 98.1%: Reelected
Paul Cook (CA-8) 98.1%: Reelected against a GOP opponent
Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) 98.1%: Reelected
Doug LaMalfa (CA-1), 98.1%: Reelected
Devin Nunes (CA-22) 98%: Reelected
Ed Royce (CA-39) 96.2%: Quit; replaced by Democrat Gil Cisneros
Darrell Issa (CA-49) 96.2%: Quit; replaced by Democrat Mike Levin
Dana Rohrabacker (CA-48) 92.5%: Gone - Democrat Harley Rouda
Tom McClintock (CA-4) 88.7%: Reelected

Wouldn't be so bad, except most of these GOPers are embarrassments to humanity let alone the good name of California.

Issues matter

Is Bernie Sanders an empty suit?

Many in the Hillary Clinton camp continue to allow their bitterness over the loss to Donald Trump to misdirect their anger at Bernie Sanders. Especially nonsensical is the charge that the Vermonter, despite having been elected and reelected numerous times as mayor, Member of the House and U.S. Senator, is a "failed politician."

Serving in Congress is largely a matter of compromise and influence. To measure Sanders' record you would need to include such factors as his ability to work with the opposition to get things done (to take an example going back to his ealiest days in office, coordinating with the business community to revitalize the lakefront as the socialist mayor of Burlington); his effectiveness in the House; the committee leadership positions he has been trusted with by the Senate Democratic caucus and the fact that the DSCC (led by Sen. Chuck Schumer at the time) protected his reelection to the Senate from challenge by a nominal Democratic opponent; and his founding and chairing of the congressional Progressive Caucus. Most significant -- and most galling to the party establishment -- is that he has helped to move the Democratic Party away from neoliberalism and toward more traditional liberal/progressive policies and proposals.

Inconvenient facts:
Nobody in congress has gotten more amendments passed than Bernie Sanders. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.

Blue State Blues

Looking toward 2018, here are the top scorers in the California Republican delegation on "How often a member votes in line with Trump's position":

David Valadao (CA-21) 98.1%; Stephen Knight (CA-25) 98.1%; Mimi Walters (CA-45) 98.1%; Jeff Denham (CA-10) 98.1%; Ken Calvert (CA-42) 98.1%; Paul Cook (CA-8) 98.1%; Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) 98.1%; Doug LaMalfa (CA-1), 98.1%; Devin Nunes (CA-22) 98%; Ed Royce (CA-39) 96.2%; Darrell Issa (CA-49) 96.2%; Dana Rohrabacker (CA-48) 92.5%; and Tom McClintock 88.7%.

By comparison, of the six members of the House that vote least with Trump (at 9.4% of the time) -- a list that includes Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison (the Progressive Caucus chairs), Bonnie Watson Coleman and Adriano Espaillat -- two, Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, are from California (source: Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight).

I care, you care, we all care for Obamacare

Except for two Democratic members of the House.

The House Budget Committee yesterday approved 19-17 a motion to send GOP legislation to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law to the full House w/o the support of three Republicans: Reps. Mark Sanford, Dave Brat and Gary Palmer, all Freedom Caucus members. Two Democrats, NY Rep. John Faso and MN Rep. Jason Lewis, voted to move the bill out of committee. Without the Democratic votes, the bill would have failed in committee.

Democratic voters in the NY-19 and MN-02 congressional districts may want to start looking at primary challengers.

Crowded CA 34

Gov. Jerry Brown has called a special election June 6 and a primary April 4 to replace Xavier Becerra in the 34th Congressional district. The Progressive Caucus member's departure after 24 years in the House creates an unexpected opening in the heavily Democratic district that includes downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Chinatown and Highland Park.

At least a dozen people have expressed interest in running. Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez raised $300,000 in December for the race. According to the L.A. Times,ormer LA City Council staffer Sara Hernandez attracted the second largest amount, $200,000; followed by former Obama administration aide Alejandra Campoverdi with $106,000 and Arturo Carmona, most recently the deputy political

director for Latino outreach for the Bernie Sanders campaign and executive director of Presente.org, with $93,000.

Gomez has the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest public employee union in the nation; at the time he was elected to the state assembly, he was political director for the United Nurses Association of California. Other candidates in the race also have backgrounds in organized labor: Wendy Carrillo is a former journalist and local labor activist and Raymond Meza is an organizer for the Service Employees International Union Local 721, which was central in the "Fight for $15" campaign to increase the minimum wage.

Jimmy Gomez is far and away the front runner, but if Arturo Carmona gains the endorsement of the Sanders organization and is able to raise a commensurate amount of dough, at least the campaign will be more interesting to watch.

Every race for Congress counts now, and this is an opportunity to preserve progressive numbers in the federal legislature.

Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez racks up endorsements from Latino elected officials in fight for Becerra's congressional eat. (L.A. Times)

Arturo for Congress

Don't mourn. Organize!

An ActBlue fundraising page for former Democratic congressional staffer Jon Ossoff’s special election bid to replace GOP Rep. Tom Price passed $420,000 this morning.

The Democrats need to contest every seat that comes up, even if there is little chance of winning this time, to build support for 2018 and 2020. And not with Blue Dogs.

Fight for every seat on the progressive platform that polls show most Americans overwhelmingly support.

Jon Ossoff for Congress.
Jon Ossoff's ActBlue page.

High Noon in Orange County

The inestimably horrid OC congressman and Trump enthusiast Darrell Issa is running an exceedingly dirty campaign against a surprisingly strong Democratic opponent, attorney and retired Marine colonel Doug Applegate. Issa won the 2012 and 2014 primaries by at least 30%. But in June, he out-polled Applegate by only 5.3%, less than the GOP’s 8.4-point advantage in voter registration, despite Applegate's much weaker name recognition and despite outspending the Democrat $740,000 to $50,000 -- nearly 15-1.

Needless to say, Applegate has the attention of the Democratic organization with an attendant increase in donations since June, but he's running against the richest person in Congress, so help out if you can: Doug Applegate for Congress.

The rest of the story:
Darrell Issa Gets Viable Challenger (Rollcall)
Issa may face tough re-election by Martin Wisckol (OC Register)

Extra credit:
(Don't Look Back: Darrell Issa, the congressman about to make life more difficult for President Obama, has had some troubles of his own by Ryan Lizza (The New Yorker)
Not So Grand: Behind Rep. Darrell Issa’s Three Auto Theft Accusations by Tommy Christopher (MEDIAite)

Worse is yet to come

In the opening volley of his campaign to unseat John Boehner as Speaker, "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) came out against the fiscal cliff deal passed by the Senate, according to Republican members in attendance at a closed-door meeting of the House GOP conference Tuesday afternoon." If you think you hated Boehner as Speaker....