MA-07: Boston City Councillor to Challenge Capuano

[Brittain33]

(Capuano) ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE

Now, I really don't think that's the case.

[Zaybay]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

I have no idea how you somehow twisted this into a loss for the Left. Capuano was a progressive, but he was closer to your standard 2000s progressive, not a today progressive. Pressley was to the left on most issues, ICE was where it was a large difference.

The only real loss is the MBTA, which will suffer a bit, but thats really the only loser here.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

[Zaybay]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

I have no idea what land you two live in where you think that Capuano was the Left candidate.

[Technocracy Timmy]

BuckeyeNut is reeling in pain seeing a fellow guido dead in the Democratic Party.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

I have no idea what land you two live in where you think that Capuano was the Left candidate.

Planet earth

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

(Capuano) ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE

Now, I really don't think that's the case.

Pressley supports Kamala Harris' terrible proposal for affordable housing (really just a massive giveaway to landlords.)

[Antonio the Sixth]

UGH

[McGovernForPrez]

It's sad that a progressive like Capuano could lose in the same year Lipinski won his primary challenge.

[BuckeyeNut]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

I have no idea what land you two live in where you think that Capuano was the Left candidate.

Planet earth

Pressley ran to Capuano's left on ICE. And that's basically it.

Again, representation for its own sake is fine if that's your goal, and it has some merits. But this isn't a win for the left. Pressley wasn't an activist outsider like AOC: she was herself a 5 term incumbent well ingrained in Boston politics. People equate with being under 45 and non-white with being more of a leftist, but that is decidedly not the case. She will be a fine enough Congresswoman, but at the end of the day, Pressley will be a #resist candidate who will make the right votes, not someone who takes politically courageous votes like opposing the PATRIOT Act in the aftermath of 9/11.

Which is ironic, since that's exactly what she accused Capuano of being.

[Zaybay]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

I have no idea what land you two live in where you think that Capuano was the Left candidate.

Planet earth

Pressley ran to Capuano's left on ICE. And that's basically it.

Again, representation for its own sake is fine if that's your goal, and it has some merits. But this isn't a win for the left. Pressley wasn't an activist outsider like AOC: she was herself a 5 term incumbent well ingrained in Boston politics. People equate with being under 45 and non-white with being more of a leftist, but that is decidedly not the case. She will be a fine enough Congresswoman, but at the end of the day, Pressley will be a #resist candidate who will make the right votes, not someone who takes politically courageous votes like opposing the PATRIOT Act in the aftermath of 9/11.

Which is ironic, since that's exactly what she accused Capuano of being.

Well, two things

1. She is also more left on money in politics, unions, and healthcare

2. I dont see how you can take this as a loss. It is a marginal win for the left, cause you get a more left representative. Thats it.

Also, I dont know why everyone is pissed off about Pressley challenging Capuano. Thats what we are suppose to do, have primaries. Its a part of our democracy that keeps it working. The Democrats especially have this problem of not primarying their reps. Let people primary if they want to, it doesnt matter if they are conservatives, centrists, progressives, or socialists. Primaries are primaries.

[OneJ]

I agree with Zaybay. Martha Roby votes with Trump like what, 99% of the time? She still got a serious challenge anyway.

[BuckeyeNut]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

I have no idea what land you two live in where you think that Capuano was the Left candidate.

Planet earth

Pressley ran to Capuano's left on ICE. And that's basically it.

Again, representation for its own sake is fine if that's your goal, and it has some merits. But this isn't a win for the left. Pressley wasn't an activist outsider like AOC: she was herself a 5 term incumbent well ingrained in Boston politics. People equate with being under 45 and non-white with being more of a leftist, but that is decidedly not the case. She will be a fine enough Congresswoman, but at the end of the day, Pressley will be a #resist candidate who will make the right votes, not someone who takes politically courageous votes like opposing the PATRIOT Act in the aftermath of 9/11.

Which is ironic, since that's exactly what she accused Capuano of being.

Well, two things

1. She is also more left on money in politics, unions, and healthcare

2. I dont see how you can take this as a loss. It is a marginal win for the left, cause you get a more left representative. Thats it.

Also, I dont know why everyone is pissed off about Pressley challenging Capuano. Thats what we are suppose to do, have primaries. Its a part of our democracy that keeps it working. The Democrats especially have this problem of not primarying their reps. Let people primary if they want to, it doesnt matter if they are conservatives, centrists, progressives, or socialists. Primaries are primaries.

It's not, cause she's not.

There's a lick of daylight between them on the vast majority of issues. The exceptions being ICE, where Pressley rans to Capuano's left, as well as foreign policy and housing policy, where Capuano was significantly to Pressley's left.

Primaries are fine when there's a reason, and there wasn't one here except to promote representation for its own sake. Which I don't deny as a virtue, but it's not one I'd extoll in most cases, and is a broader discussion for another thread. The "alt-left" someone mentioned before is decidedly not a thing, but a Tea Party of the Left might be. And that would be bad. Not because it would present an opportunity to rally the activist base, but because challenging good incumbents is damaging to the party structure, damaging to the caucus. Legislative seniority is a de facto virtue in Congress, and institutinal memory is always a plus.

I agree with Zaybay. Martha Roby votes with Trump like what, 99% of the time? She still got a serious challenge anyway.

Yes, let's model ourselves off of the Republican Party circa 2018. That's a great recipe for success!

[OneJ]

I’m not saying that we should follow what the Republicans did in the primary, but just pointing out that stuff like that happens too.

[Zaybay]

We lost a progressive champion who had the courage to vote against the PATRIOT Act back in those dark days in the near aftermath of 9/11. Now we have someone who staked out exactly one position to the left of a long-term incumbent. I hope the residents of MA-07 enjoy their new lack of seniority, and I further hope a certain element on Atlas comes to the realization that being "dynamic," which Pressley is, is not the same thing as being "left," like AOC is.

He is not owed the seat. The funny part about all of this is that white people gave Pressley her margin of victory.

When did I say he was? Diversity for its own sake has some merits, and if that’s your goal, okay. The fact of the mattsr is that Capuano was one of the best members of the House on policy, and ran to Pressley’s left on every issue but ICE. This is not a victory for the left — it is a loss.

Correct

I have no idea what land you two live in where you think that Capuano was the Left candidate.

Planet earth

Pressley ran to Capuano's left on ICE. And that's basically it.

Again, representation for its own sake is fine if that's your goal, and it has some merits. But this isn't a win for the left. Pressley wasn't an activist outsider like AOC: she was herself a 5 term incumbent well ingrained in Boston politics. People equate with being under 45 and non-white with being more of a leftist, but that is decidedly not the case. She will be a fine enough Congresswoman, but at the end of the day, Pressley will be a #resist candidate who will make the right votes, not someone who takes politically courageous votes like opposing the PATRIOT Act in the aftermath of 9/11.

Which is ironic, since that's exactly what she accused Capuano of being.

Well, two things

1. She is also more left on money in politics, unions, and healthcare

2. I dont see how you can take this as a loss. It is a marginal win for the left, cause you get a more left representative. Thats it.

Also, I dont know why everyone is pissed off about Pressley challenging Capuano. Thats what we are suppose to do, have primaries. Its a part of our democracy that keeps it working. The Democrats especially have this problem of not primarying their reps. Let people primary if they want to, it doesnt matter if they are conservatives, centrists, progressives, or socialists. Primaries are primaries.

It's not, cause she's not.

There's a lick of daylight between them on the vast majority of issues. The exceptions being ICE, where Pressley rans to Capuano's left, as well as foreign policy and housing policy, where Capuano was significantly to Pressley's left.

Primaries are fine when there's a reason, and there wasn't one here except to promote representation for its own sake. Which I don't deny as a virtue, but it's not one I'd extoll in most cases, and is a broader discussion for another thread. The "alt-left" someone mentioned before is decidedly not a thing, but a Tea Party of the Left might be. And that would be bad. Not because it would present an opportunity to rally the activist base, but because challenging good incumbents is damaging to the party structure, damaging to the caucus. Legislative seniority is a de facto virtue in Congress, and institutinal memory is always a plus.

I agree with Zaybay. Martha Roby votes with Trump like what, 99% of the time? She still got a serious challenge anyway.

Yes, let's model ourselves off of the Republican Party circa 2018. That's a great recipe for success!

As I said before, primaries are a good thing for parties, as it allows voters to engage, rallies the base(as you note) and allows new blood into the party. A primary doesnt need a reason to occur. It can happen due to dissatisfaction, perhaps from outsiders playing their hand, or perhaps just due to luck, but no matter what, they are a rather good thing.

Many always ask "why are the Dems so Octogenarian?", and this is why. No one challenges the Dems in primaries, and rarely do they win. While the Rs are used to throwing out people they dont like, the Ds are not. Only 2 oustings of incumbents has occurred on the D side this year, 2 out of around a 180 member caucus. And even then, it sounds like a lot, because the Ds arent used to doing this.

Its important to note, as well, that nothing was lost yesterday. The seat will stay in D hands, and there will be a D rep going to congress. There was no threat to doing this, like there was for Rs in NC-09. To some, nothing was gained, to others, a lot was gained, but that is perspective based.

I also note your use of the "Tea Party of the Left" and "modelling after the R party", and I ask, why not? The Tea Party was incredibly successful for the Republican Party, and while we on the Left may abhor it, the Right gained a lot by flushing out old, boring officials for firebrands. We still see the effect of it today. While I doubt the Dems ever have a tea party, the fact that primaries are being held and senators/legistlators/congressfolk are being held accountable is excellent in a party that most see as out of touch.

Your point of seniority is a good one, and one that made me a Capuano supporter, but I think the argument, in the end, falls flat. If you have a house member who sucks, like, really sucks, but they have seniority, should you keep them just because of their age? I would say no. And I know that Capuano was not a bad congressman, but the voters saw his time as up, and so it ended.

Also, let me end by talking about the voters. The ones that carried Pressley to victory werent the minorities of the district, they stuck with Capuano, mostly. It was the white vote that Pressley won, and its the one that sealed Capuano's fate. And I dont think the white vote really cared about her skin tone vs Capuano's. They voted because they saw they needed a new voice, and they delivered.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This is in Capuano's Wikipedia article:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I'm assuming Pressley is Protestant. If so I might have to retroactively change my support.

[NerdyBohemian]

And yet, I’m sure Gina Raimondo won’t lose her primary next week.

[Antonio the Sixth]

And yet, I’m sure Gina Raimondo won’t lose her primary next week.

As will Carper tomorrow, yeah.

I'll say it: Democratic primary voters are almost always wrong.

[Beet]

And yet, I’m sure Gina Raimondo won’t lose her primary next week.

Why? Have there been any recent polls?

[Zaybay]

If Carper lost, it would be the quintessential upset of the year.

[Beet]

Carper actually has an "ideological" reason to lose, unlike Capuano. That probably means he survives, lol.

[Intell]

This is because of the demographic shifts of the district (young people, professionals, hipsters), it's not because it's gotten more non-hispanic white. Because the black candidate lost the black vote (shock horror) and the white candidate lost the white vote (shock horror)

But totally about race guys!

IS THE MEDIA ALSO FYCKING DENSE, THIS IS A MAJORITY-MINORITY SEAT, THAT LIKE OBVIOUSLY THE REASON PRESSLEY WON IS ONLY BECAUSE BLACKS VOTED FOR THE BLACK CANDIDATE (which they didn't),

[Adam Griffin]

This is because of the demographic shifts of the district (young people, professionals, hipsters), it's not because it's gotten more non-hispanic white. Because the black candidate lost the black vote (shock horror) and the white candidate lost the white vote (shock horror)

I'm interested: where did you find this information? I could totally see it being the truth, but I'm wondering who/how it was confirmed exactly.

IS THE MEDIA ALSO FYCKING DENSE, THIS IS A MAJORITY-MINORITY SEAT, THAT LIKE OBVIOUSLY THE REASON PRESSLEY WON IS ONLY BECAUSE BLACKS VOTED FOR THE BLACK CANDIDATE (which they didn't),

I mean, not really: it's a 55% white district based on registration and given that 85% of the district is Democratic, almost certainly means it's a majority-white Democratic electorate as well (or at least a very strong plurality; no less than 47-48%). The phrase 'majority-minority' is pretty meaningless in the context of representation, which is why the VRA doesn't protect congressional districts based on it.

[Intell]

This is because of the demographic shifts of the district (young people, professionals, hipsters), it's not because it's gotten more non-hispanic white. Because the black candidate lost the black vote (shock horror) and the white candidate lost the white vote (shock horror)

I'm interested: where did you find this information? I could totally see it being the truth, but I'm wondering who/how it was confirmed exactly.

IS THE MEDIA ALSO FYCKING DENSE, THIS IS A MAJORITY-MINORITY SEAT, THAT LIKE OBVIOUSLY THE REASON PRESSLEY WON IS ONLY BECAUSE BLACKS VOTED FOR THE BLACK CANDIDATE (which they didn't),

I mean, not really: it's a 55% white district based on registration and given that 85% of the district is Democratic, almost certainly means it's a majority-white Democratic electorate as well (or at least a very strong plurality; no less than 47-48%). The phrase 'majority-minority' is pretty meaningless in the context of representation, which is why the VRA doesn't protect congressional districts based on it.

I saw  this on twitter so I may be wrong, but these are the results;

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/2018_-_09-04-18_-_state_primary_unofficial_precinct_totals.pdf

[Progressive Pessimist]

Carper actually has an "ideological" reason to lose, unlike Capuano. That probably means he survives, lol.