Coop Scoop Election Bulletin #2 Blue New York and California are Congressional Battlegrounds

Take them seriously and do not sit this out

October 25, 2024

By Marc Cooper

Democrats in blue states often think their vote is not important or even necessary as they know Harris has a lock on these blue reservoirs. I am not going to rehearse once again the mistake made by voting other than Democrat in those states as the Third Party folks in Blue States are unresponsive to debate.

But believe it or not, and you better believe it. …which party will control the House depends mostly on a dozen or so congressional seats being held by vulnerable Republicans who need to be ousted from Democrat dominated ditsricts and need to be tossed in the rubbish bin.. And can be! If you help.

The slim current MAGA majority in the House is a result of a half dozen seats carelessly lost by the Democrats in heavenly blue New York. And losses in California only added to the problem.

Let’s start with New York: Marcus Molina in NY-19, Anthony d’Esposito in NY-04, Mike Lawler NY-17, and Brandon Williams NY-22 have no business holding those seats and owe them only to the fecklessness of the NY State Democratic Party. They can easily be flipped. At a minimum you can fund their opponents or if you live in or near those those districts go and knock on some doors. You will be surprised to find mostly people happy to see somebody personally reach out to them. Spend a few mins and explain how this can flip the House back to Democratic control. Essential if Harris is elected. Ten times more important if Trump wins. No House. No funding.

Now about big blue California. The number of California congressional battlegrounds depends on how you define it, There are numerousMAGA held districts in California. About half are so Red you would need jackhammers to get them out of their seats,

But there are a half dozen in particular that need your utmost attention, money and ground work. These are seats that can and should be reasonably flipped and combined with a couple of flips in NY will take the House away from the current MAGA crew led by the religious fanatic who is Speaker.

Here are the six most vulnerable Republican held seats

Top target: CA-45 in Orange County. Incumbent MAGA Michelle Steel. This seat is under a lot of pressure from her opponent and Democrats are targeting her for removal. She plays a a dirty game posing as a moderate and reasonable Trumpy when in fact she is a hard core one. A total toady for wealthy interests. She’s also a culture war extremist. She basically OPPOSES abortion except on razor thin exceptions. She announced she took her daughter out of UC Santa Cruz when she saw a video with her child supporting gay marriage. Steel was then quoted as saying she stuck her daughter in the Catholic based Loyola Marymount to “brainwash” her out of her position. Nice mom, eh? There’s a lot more that’s wrong with her and the other California MAGAS that you can find easily on Battle Ground California, a PAC trying to unseat vulnerable Republicans. Here’s what the DCCC sez about her (in part):

In Congress, Michelle Steel has consistently voted against the interests of middle class families, while insisting she represents their values. Michelle Steel said she cared about lowering the costs of prescription drugs, but voted against capping the price of insulin. She routinely wields ‘tough on China’ rhetoric, but voted against the bill to strengthen US competitiveness on a global stage and bring jobs home. She insisted on the need for a bipartisan investigation of the January 6th insurrection, and then voted against the bipartisan commission to do just that. In a perfect encapsulation that Steel will always toe her radical party’s line, the Congresswoman even apologized to GOP supporters for working on a bipartisan bill to condemn hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

When she’s not apologizing for supporting good policy, Steel has outright lied to her constituents about her record, apparently finding it impossible to defend the votes she has taken in Congress. Following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which brought historic investments to Orange County’s roads and ports, Michelle Steel touted the millions of dollars of funding after voting against the bill itself.

MICHELLE STEEL: THE MAGA RUBBER STAMP

Michelle Steel’s derision for bipartisanship has turned her into a veritable MAGA rubber stamp as congressional Republicans push a radical, anti-middle class agenda. This spring, Steel campaigned side-by-side with Rick Scott, the architect of the Republican plan to raise taxes on millions of Americans and sunset away essential programs like Social Security and Medicare. If Steel and Republicans take control of Congress this November, Orange County middle-class families would see their taxes rise.

Steel supports extreme MAGA positions that fly in the face of universally popular issues like access to abortion and the preservation of gay marriage. In Congress, Steel voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act which would codify Roe v. Wade, and even signed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe and Casey. Outrageously, she co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, the federal personhood bill that would ban all abortions and even certain types of birth control such as IUDs.

Michelle is Korean and is being challenged by a formidable Vietnamese opponent in a region that teems with Vietnamese. She’s in trouble and that’s good. Her hubby went to college with me and actually worked along SDS in the rambunctious peace movement against the war in Vietnam. We were on The Left. He was an anti-war libertarian and even, yes, participated in rifle practice with us ( we were young and naive). He has morphed into a total MAGA hack and has been part of the RNC. That’s a long road to have traveled but a lucrative one and I am sorry to see a friend of fifty years sell his once freedom-loving soul to a pack of power hungry authoritarians. But stopping MAGA is more important than college-age nostalgia. and unseating Michelle Steel and sending her packing is a top California and House priority.

This is one of the most-watched and most expensive House races in the country this year. The bad news is that newly minted MAGA partner and king of disinformation Elon Musk is using a PAC he created for pouring in money behind Steel. The good news is that Steel is weak, losing ground and her rating by the Cook Political Report continues to downgrade her district which is now basically a toss-up or very close to it.

I want to keep these bulletins short. So here is the link that will fully explain what is at stake in each of these six California districts and why you should be involved or donate. Please read it and take action an let’s cure the MAGA infections in California.

I am done arguing for now with those who think voting for Jill Stein is some kind of validation of their personal morality. I am more interested in advancing public policy pragmatically by voting and funding some folks who can actually win and make a difference. That difference is now in your hands and they should now be knocking on doors or reaching for your credit card. Or both. (Stein will be lucky if she gets as much as 3% in Caifornia and in some of these key tight races she must serve as as a cat’s paw forMAGA control of the House.

Taking back the House is of urgent importance. Help, please, and do not be complacent because you are in a “protected” blue state. There is no protection for anybody under authoritarian and lawless rule. Be smart. +

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