Barbara Lee, rep from a safe D+40 district. Age: 76. Former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and the chair emeritus and former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
They all are great, but a smart and youngish progressive who has won in swing districts has the most compelling case, IMHO.
I like them all, but we don’t need another 78-year-old senator. I know it’s a cushy job, but don’t these people want to spend at little more time with their families in their 80s?
I got a fundraising email from Schiff last week. I replied that I’m not interested in perpetual campaigns, and I haven’t decided on who I’m backing yet.
Of the three, I’d currently rank them Porter, Schiff, and then Lee.
Any other names expected?
Has Feinstein officially announced her retirement yet?
She has not, though several news articles today indicate that she’s done essentially no fundraising yet for a 2024 campaign, suggesting that she may not be seeking re-election.
I can certainly see the argument for someone younger, but at the same time I’m not exactly sanguine at the prospect of moving an incumbent out of a merely +2 seat. Every House seat matters.
I don’t know much about Barbara Lee, but I’d rather have her or Schiff. IMO, “can win in a swing district” is not all that compelling an argument in favor of a Senate candidate if the Senate seat is not in a swing state. Better to stay put and leave the district with an incumbent. (TBH, I also find Katie Porter sort of annoying because I don’t care for trolling stunts like this, although they seem to be How Politics Is Done these days.)
Schiff is my congressman and I will reliably vote for him whenever I have the option. That said, I like Porter and I greatly prefer my senators be women, to make it more representative of our country. Lee is just too old.
On a personal level, Schiff is very easy to contact and does great constituent service. He does his job well.
Porter has a strong organization. Several of my local friends volunteered for her campaign, despite being rather far from her district.
I know nothing about Lee. I suspect she’ll have difficulty campaigning in SoCal.
Before Bernie Sanders there was the self described socialist Ron Dellums. Born in Oakland, he served in the Marine Corps from 1954-56, becoming an activist during the 1960s and US House Rep in 1971 based on his opposition to the Vietnam War. Every year he would propose a largely symbolic budget that slashed military spending. A combination of seniority and seriousness allowed him to rise to the position of Chair of the House Armed Services Committee in 1993.
In 1997, Dellums retired from Congress in the middle of his term, forcing a special election and giving Barbara Lee, a former staff member, the inside track. After 9-11 she was the only member of congress to vote against the authorization of military force against Afghanistan. As Congressional Reps go, she is a hard left peacenik, siding with Republicans to limit involvement in the Yugoslav war in 1999. In a purple state the attack ads would write themselves, but in deep blue California she could win. Personally I’d prefer a progressive who could shift the needle like Katie Porter. (Maybe. Honestly I know little about Porter.)
This point by Fretful and Chronos deserves consideration. In some ways though it’s water under the bridge: nobody is going to muscle Porter back into CA-47. At least 2 credible Democrats have already announced they are running for the seat. California's 47th Congressional District election, 2024 - Ballotpedia
What else is a Democrat supposed to be doing when they haven’t been officially inducted into office, and they’re waiting for the Republicans to get themselves sorted out?
I personally would support Porter over the other two, though I like Schiff too. Not my state, so I don’t get a real vote. And iirc she’s talked of helping others to run well on competitive districts, like the one she’d be leaving.
I dunno, whatever boring thing the other 200-odd Democrats were doing instead of reading a book obviously chosen for the camera, complete with color-coordinated outfit, and then insisting it was all a coincidence and that just happened to be the book they were reading that week? Personally I find that sort of thing eyeroll-inducing, but I acknowledge that there seems to be a portion of the constituency that likes it.
Porter, then Schiff. Lee is disqualified on age if nothing else. Schiff is better qualified, but Porter would be better since she isn’t an old white guy.
I used to live in Schiff’s district and I agree with your assessments of Porter and Lee. I’ll only add, that my preference is that any strong Orange County Democrats (like Porter) stay put and hold the line in that formerly red stronghold.
Nancy Pelosi has thrown her support behind Schiff. I’m in agreement with that. I adore Katie Porter, but I also appreciate her as a firewall in Orange County while she racks up more experience. That’s what Schiff has over her: More experience.
I like Barbara Lee and will have no problem with her if she takes the lead – but I doubt she will.
I admit that I don’t really know anything about the people mentioned except for Schiff due to his involvement in the impeachment hearings, The nearly uniform consensus of the thread seems to be in favor of Porter, but the only concrete reason I’m hearing is that Schiff is old and male, For those who prefer her over Schiff, what else besides her demographics made you pick her?
All else being equal I would probably choose Schiff for the reasons that Chronos first pointed out that its bad strategy to remove an incumbent from a swing district.
I don’t pick her over Schiff, but I have friends who do. We’re not in her district, but she is great at getting community activists excited. I guess “charisma” would be the word for it.
Using the same basis, I’m going to go in the opposite direction. Porter has succeeded in a purple-to-red district, which suggests that she holds some appeal across the aisle. Being Senator for the whole state would necessarily cover both blue and red areas, and require the ability to serve all constituencies. Schiff, due to his high profile work against Trump, and Lee, being a classic SF liberal, would have less appeal to the statewide GOP voters.
As for Porter’s district returning to GOP control, perhaps the demographics are more purple than red, and voters there have become comfortable with a Dem on the ballot? It would be interesting to see how heavily each party invests in the district race.
Indeed, the Schiff seems to be winning the invisible primary so far:
Following Pelosi’s statement, 20 other current and former members of California’s congressional delegation jumped on board to endorse Schiff, including Reps. Julia Brownley, Jim Costa, Anna Eshoo, Jimmy Gomez, Jared Huffman, Mike Levin, Ted Lieu, Grace Napolitano, Jimmy Panetta, Scott Peters, Brad Sherman, Eric Swalwell, Mike Thompson and Juan Vargas, according to the Hill.
