Uber-liberal Jim McDermott (WA-7) gets primary challenge from the left

[Crumpets]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Chances are this will become a D vs. D general election if this guy can pick up any steam at all.

http://www.king5.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/03/rep-mcdermott-gets-liberal-primary-challenger/76717218/?csp=nbcnews

[SATW]

This doesn't make sense, imo. McDermott has been a loyal progressive, no?

[Asian Nazi]

With our top-two system, this guy really has nothing to lose by running against McDermott and the Democratic Party has nothing to lose by allowing him to do so.   And in Seattle in particular it's not unusual for politicians that would be perceived as progressives in the rest of the country to get challenged from the left.  I'm sure this guy could dig up some issues that would catch fire with elements of the Seattle voterbase and if he receives enough endorsements and campaign support from the Sawant bloc could mount a serious challenge.  Plus, McDermott is old and hasn't run a real campaign in years.

I'd still bet on the incumbent here, though. 

[RFayette]

On what issue has McDermott not been a progressive on?  It just seems hard to see any kind of attack on him from the left.

[Seattle]

I like Brady Wilkinshaw, but boy is he going to burn some bridges by doing this. I'm guessing McDermott will retire after 2016 if Brady can get more than like 35% of the vote.

[Seattle]

On what issue has McDermott not been a progressive on?  It just seems hard to see any kind of attack on him from the left.

That recent car mortgage House vote? I know my FB feed was up in arms about the fact that McDermott voted for it and it supposedly allows lenders to discriminate against people of color.

[Zache]

From what I've read he's challenging him on an appeal for new leadership and change, not on progressive purity.

[Sumner 1868]

On what issue has McDermott not been a progressive on?  It just seems hard to see any kind of attack on him from the left.

The only issue I can think of is his support of free trade-there were very loud calls for a primary challenge around 1993 when he voted for NAFTA, but it never happened. Some environmentalists have long complained McDermott is more technocratic than activist, but he's never really broken with them on any issue.

[Zioneer]

I would imagine that Wilkinshaw wants McDermott to retire already, and giving him a strong challenge is his way of encouraging/booting McDermott out the door.

[smoltchanov]

Challenge McDermott from the left makes as much sense to me as  to attack Joseph Stalin for being "weak communist"... McDermott is already as far left as i can imagine from serious politician...

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Challenge McDermott from the left makes as much sense to me as  to attack Joseph Stalin for being "weak communist"...

trotsky?

Anyway, the answer is that a certain breed of leftist prefers people who take an activist role. And seeing as Seattle holds one of the more anti-authoritaran activist bases, I'm not surprised this is happening.

[henster]

This is why the Democratic bench is so bad, older Reps refusing to retire to pave way for younger more diverse replacements. I'm sure McDermott is every bit progressive on issues but sometimes its just time to go.

[publicunofficial]

Sounds like someone who's tired of waiting for McDermott to retire.

If he can give me a reason to vote against McDermott besides "We need someone new", he'll have my vote. I don't know of any issues where McDermott has failed to please hardcore progressives, at least nothing that a campaign can be built on, but McDermott has appeared to be a bit "out of the loop" sometimes.


I remember Colbert's Better Know a District interview with McDermott where he asked him about a photo he did for the "No H8" campaign. McDermott didn't even know it was a gay rights campaign, he said he basically just showed up, posed for the photos, and left without ever really knowing what it was for.

[SWE]

Challenge McDermott from the left makes as much sense to me as  to attack Joseph Stalin for being "weak communist"...

So it makes a lot of sense?