After Rodney Tom dropped out of his reelection race, I quoted some speculation about who might run for what. And I hoped that the party wouldn’t push McBride into taking the House seat if she didn’t want it.
I don’t know the district as well as he does, but I’d be wary of the party trying to push her out for one of the current representatives. She got in the race when it was going to be a tough election. The party recruited her, and she stuck her neck out for them. I’m not saying if one of the House Dems runs, she shouldn’t run for their seat, but I hope the party will stay out of it if there is a primary.
I don’t know how much pressure there was behind the scenes, but Representative Habib is going to run for Senate, and McBride will run for the House seat he’s vacating.
In the PI Connelly says McBride was force out: He quotes from a nasty letter some of them sent:
Not only did they push her out, they turned around and slandered her as threw her under the bus. People like these are why Dems will not regain control of the Senate. “Poor Candidate” apparently equals 3 time elected Mayor of Kirkland who went out and raised $100,000 to run against Rodney Tom. Stuff like that doesn’t pass the sniff test.
@1 Holy cow! What a snake pit.
This is par for the course for local Dems, and it’s a major reason why, with a handful of worthy exceptions, the Seattle delegation to Olympia is so useless. The seats are treated by the party leaders as lifetime sinecures to be handed out to party activists when it’s “their turn.”
It’s why most of them resented (and then turned against) Darcy Burner, and why so many of them still resent Reuven Carlyle, who had the nerve to run against a party heir apparent when that 36th seat opened up. It’s how the succession to Ed Murray has been handled, too – Jamie Pedersen gets Murray’s seat, insider gets Jamie’s seat. And the same complacency is why nobody in the party leadership took the district charter amendment, or Kshama Sawant’s campaign, seriously last fall. Richard Conlin’s combination of arrogance and toadyism for the one percent had pissed off a lot of people over the years, but it took someone from outside the party structure entirely to hold him accountable for it.
It’s just like middle school – it’s all about the in crowd, rewarding friends and the popular kidz. Who voters might prefer, or who’d make the better legislator, has nothing to do with it. And they wonder why they can’t even recruit precinct captains.
“Never send a woman to do a man’s job.”
-48th Dems
Deborah Senn could not be reached for comment.
I’m hoping that the reason was that our party thought that the house was a better first step.
I doubt the veracity of the first comment. But, in any case, the sole priority of any political party (and legislative campaign committee) is winning elections — much like the sole priority of any sports team is winning games and the sole priority of any corporation is maximizing profit. All should follow the laws/rules and act ethically at all times. But, beyond that, it is a betrayal of contributors and volunteers to elevate being “nice” above sound election strategy. Political parties are not social clubs. In my many years of Democratic Party activism, I have made a few great friends and met many nice people. However, those who succeed at the highest level are rarely the nicest people in the world. I am sure this is true of the Republicans, as well. Politics (like sports and business) is necessarily political and cut throat. If this offends, consider looking for satisfaction in other arenas. I use politics in my own life to advance my policy agenda. I try to find my friends and role models elsewhere.
@7 “The sole priority of any political party…is winning elections.”
Gee, and here I thought that uniting to achieve shared policy goals might play some, any kind of factor. It’s good to know that if you thought it’d help win an election, you’d be fine with local Dems doing anything, no matter how reactionary. So long as it follows the “laws/rules”. Which your party members help write.
That explains a lot about why the local Democratic Party sucks so much. Thanks for your honesty.
@7 You say the sole priority of any political party is *winning elections.* That is the whole problem with Democratic party activists like you and the mass of our current Democratic elected officials. The sole priority should be *advancing policy,* not figuring out how much of the party values and principles to sell out to raise the bucks and make the connections to make it easy for you and your pals to keep getting elected.