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Dear Mr. Hogg, kindly finance a primary opponent to Sen. Gillebrand [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-27
Just as the bulk of Democrats are celebrating Zohran Mamdani's crushing Democratic Primary victory for Mayor of New York City and busting their tails to ensure he, the Democrat, wins the General, Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand (D-NY) has decided to act the self-important, grand standing horse's patooty... again. The last time she did this, it cost the Democrats a pretty stellar Senator, Al Franken (D-MN), based on sexual harassment accusations. Set aside she's obviously a hypocrite who apparently never really cared about sexual harassment, only making a name for herself, as evidenced by her support for the alleged sexual predator in the New City Mayoral primary, one Andrew Cuomo. It was up to Minnesotans to decide whether the allegations against Franken warranted removal the next time he was up for re-election, and guess what? Gillebrand ain't a Minnesotan.
And here again, Gillebrand has no business placing demands on Mr. Mamdani, nor does she have standing to weigh in on whether he meets her criteria for being Mayor of NYC. That's up to the residents of New York City, and guess what? She ain't one, so her criteria are irrelevant.
Mamdani is the Democratic candidate for Mayor. She is an elected Democrat. She should either endorse him or zip it.
I caught a lot of crap from people in these parts for saying David Hogg had to go as DNC Vice Chair because he couldn't let go of advancing his factional preferences in primaries involving incumbents and was therefore too divisive for leadership. It had nothing to do with his factional preference. In fact, I agree with his factional preference.
What Gillebrand is doing is worse. It has nothing to do with her factional preference either and as an aside, Democrats should refrain from factional language like progressive, establishment, centrist, etc, when expressing anger with individual Democrats acting like a horse's patooty even if the particular patooty bears a striking resemblance to other patooties, but I digress.
What she is doing is worse, more divisive than Hogg's faux pas, because she is attacking the Democrat in the race using an issue that is extremely divisive within the Democratic coalition, one that contributed to a fascist sitting in the Oval Office, i.e., the Israel-Palestine conflict. That sets the stage for the Democrat to be used by the fascist right after he's won and sworn in against the Party writ large.
My rule of thumb for Democrats has always been refrain from attacking a primary opponent in terms that could make that person radioactive in the General. She's attacking this Democrat in terms that could make him radioactive for the entire party as Mayor.
Don't get me wrong. I think her attack is baseless, but in politics that doesn't matter. She needs to zip it. Oh, and I hope Mr. Hogg funds a more progressive primary opponent against her the next time she's up if he's still in the PAC business.
Just not as a member of DNC leadership.
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