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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJohn Lewis and Other Black Leaders Spurn Black Challenger in Boston
BOSTON
Representative John Lewis helped change America as a passionate civil rights activist before his tenure in Congress, but Saturday afternoon, inside the brick-lined walls of Twelfth Baptist Church, the Georgia lawmaker made a rare case for traditionalism and seniority.
Mr. Lewis had come to Twelfth Baptist to campaign for Representative Michael E. Capuano, the liberal Democrat who faces a grueling primary challenge from Ayanna Pressley (the first woman of color to be elected to the Boston City Council in its 108-year history) who is trying to become the states first nonwhite member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Its important to keep a leader, a fighter, and warrior like Mike Capuano around, Mr. Lewis said at the event, which was equal parts gospel service and political town hall and held at the same Massachusetts church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once served as an assistant pastor in the 1950s.
His argument is emblematic of the bitter intraparty debates that Democrats are having across the country ahead of the 2018 midterm elections debates that often split liberals across the touchy fault lines of race, age and gender. The campaign appearance by Mr. Lewis and the recent decision by the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus to back Mr. Capuano has made this primary race a microcosm of a larger search for identity among Democrats, while igniting friction between national black politicians and local ones.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/john-lewis-elections-black-caucus.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront
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Croney
(4,661 posts)While I would hate to see him go, I'm sorry it has to be either-or, because she certainly seems worthy. John Lewis must have very good reasons for his choice, and I will trust him.
seaglass
(8,173 posts)Stephen Lynch or run for Niki's seat.
I believe Capuano and Clark are two of the left most in the MA delegation
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)an untested newcomer, the our choice will turn out to be a good one, but that doesn't always turn out to be the case, and we may never really find out. The leaders of the caucuses know who the good people are, though, and it's their job to try to hold onto them.
And that's what they're doing. This dishonest and misleadingly muckraking NYT headline suggests a rejection and division that don't exist. Ms. Pressley is not "spurned" and it's shameful to say so. It's also the same slant they typically gave Democrats in 2016.
From Politico's "CBC endorses Capuano in Massachusetts Democratic primary" article:
I really envy you guys who have this choice and no serious Republican opposition.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)And they are trying to make a race issue out of something that has nothing to do with race.
Funny how when black people support black candidates over white candidates, were accused of doing it only because theyre black. But when we support a white candidate over a black candidate, were revealing race divisions in the party.
Hunh?
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)for leaders who need to back one of two good candidates to try to build/protect a relationship for the future with the other. No doubt anything like that would be misrepresented as well and best held close.
I like this picture.
Wish she was running in our Georgia district -- she'd lose big but it'd shake things up and be a lot less boring than a bunch of white men vying for most calloused knuckles. A big screaming-yellow card arrived today trump-eting: "Hill (sic) say anything to get elected. He even claimed Trump would be no better than Obama!"
KPN
(15,646 posts)The generational divide is an apt description of what is going on in the party. The young have already waited their turn, especially so this generation as we as a whole live longer.
Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)challenger. She should have run for a GOP seat.
Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)our attempt to retake the House....taking her name so I don't ever vote for her for anything.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,235 posts)success, or lack of it, I'm not the only one who sees them for what they are.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)despite the common dismissal of our electoral choices.
Ill bookmark this for use the next time someone insists that a black pols endorsement of s black candidate over a white one was race-based.
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)offers a choice between an incumbent and a challenger. Also, once again, it is in a place about which my knowledge is extremely limited. The choice is up to the voters in that district. That the incumbent is being endorsed by members of the black community is evidence that there are factors other than race that are important in this primary election.
Not every decision is between black and white. I'll rely on the voters there to decide.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,357 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,670 posts)We need to maintain party leadership and take over Congress and get Dems into the committee chairs. They are who controls the agenda.
I don't see the "racism" in this situation. The headline is deceptive. Supporting a successful representative is about doing the people's work.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)It's funny how black people are so often accused of "bringing race into everything" when we do nothing of the kind. On the other hand, the very fact that we're black leads many white people - including those in the media - to attribute everything we do to race, regardless what it is.
We endorse a black candidate. It's about race. We endorse a white candidate. It's about race.
Good Lord.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)Now this is the sort of subtly divisive spin that costs dearly.