According to sources close to the campaign, Democratic state Sen. Craig Pridemore will announce today that he is withdrawing from the race to replace Rep. Brain Baird in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, leaving fellow Democrat Denny Heck with a sure path to the November ballot.
With a slew of establishment endorsements and a $250,000 infusion of his own money, Heck became the early Democratic favorite, an advantage Pridemore, a strong, populist-minded campaigner, simply wasn’t able to overcome, especially as he continued to be locked up in an endless, special legislative session. Pridemore had intended to run an energetic, grassroots primary campaign, a strategy that depended on strong support from labor organizations like the Washington State Labor Council and the Washington Education Association. And while he recently secured the endorsement of the former, word leaked over the weekend that the WEA would be endorsing Heck, largely based on his fundraising lead and frontrunner status. (I don’t think teachers have a bigger champion in the Senate than Pridemore.)
Pridemore’s withdrawal is of course a blow to progressives like me who saw him as the better choice of the two Dems. Whether it’s a blow to Republicans, who wouldn’t have minded a Democratic cat fight in the primary, remains to be seen. In this anti-incumbency year, my gut told me that the more populist Pridemore had the better shot in November than the more establishment Heck.
But here’s hoping the Democratic establishment proves me wrong.
UPDATE:
It’s official, and Publicola has Pridemore’s statement.
Here’s hoping Heck won’t turn out to be the hack many of us fear he will be if he wins in November.
For that matter if he turns out to be better than Baird on most issues it will be progress.
Still even Baird was better than Linda Smith or any other Republican.
Well, this is a disappointment.
[Deleted — see HA Comment Policy]
Heck is progressive and will win the highest staked seat in the country come November. Pridemore took one for the team and should be applauded for seeing the bigger picture.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the WEA leadership was terrified / scared / wimped into supporting some establishment sell out over someone who’d change the game.
Too many of them are of the politically pathetic a$piring $ocial cla$$ mo$t intere$ted in hanging with Patty, Dwight, Maria, Chris, Gary, Ron …
those with impecable skills kow towing to the Boeing Microsoft WAMU Freddie Fannie Chase blackmails du jour, STELLAR skills staying in charge of our pathetic party, and REAL good about not rocking the sinking boat.
Too bad Pridemore was washed aside in wishy warshy by the conventional wisdom of the pathetic.
Robert Murphy
Heck wasn’t a hack when he served in the early 1980s. He was very responsive to constituents and he really studied issues.
I consider this good news and think it bodes very well for November.
Kudos to Pridemore for bowing out for the good of the party and the district.
Take heart, progressive voters! There is still a true progressive in the race. Cheryl Crist has taken strong stands on the issues that Craig Pridemore championed: She’s pledged to co-sponsor the EFCA, the TRADE Act, she’ll vote for strong environmental protections, she’ll work fiercely for single-payer health care, and she’ll vote to bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Check her out at http://www.cristforcongress.us