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This came our way yesterday…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus,
We, the progressive community of San Diego County, as represented by the San Diego Progressive Democratic Club, the California Young Democrats Progressive Caucus, the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus, the California Democratic Party Veterans Caucus, California Democratic Party Arab American Caucus, Our Revolution-San Diego, and the undersigned Democratic clubs, are extremely disappointed in the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ decision to endorse Mike Levin for the 49th Congressional District. This is the latest in a string of endorsements for Mike Levin from well-respected progressive organizations, including the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, the California League of Conservation Voters, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC, and we feel we can no longer remain silent on this trend.
The CPC has chosen to wade into a highly competitive primary in which the California Democratic Party was unable to make an endorsement, and backed a candidate who lacks both the approval of the progressive grassroots and the support of the voters. Furthermore, the candidate in question has been engaged in conduct wholly unbefitting of the CPC’s backing. Since entering the race last year, Mike Levin has engaged in a persistent whisper campaign against Doug Applegate, the frontrunner who nearly defeated Darrell Issa in 2016. In an attempt to consolidate the support of CDP delegates to earn the party endorsement, he and his staff have continually stoked the same malicious slander and false rumors Issa employed against Applegate in the last cycle- even as these rumors have been debunked time and again by those involved.
However, local Democratic clubs have seen this conduct for what it is. The Democratic Woman’s Club of San Diego County, the Palomar College Democrats, Democrats of MiraCosta College, Saddleback Young Democrats, College Democrats at CSU San Marcos, and Mission Vista High School Democratic Club, additionally citing persistent bullying and intimidation on the part of staff and surrogates throughout the endorsement process, have all rated Mike Levin unacceptable: believing his conduct to be unbecoming of a Democrat seeking federal office.
In addition, despite consolidating support from elected members of Congress and Democratically-aligned PACs, Mike Levin consistently polls well behind Doug Applegate, who came within 1,621 votes of victory last cycle. No publicly released poll has shown Levin in the lead, and he fares worse than Applegate in head-to-head matchups with any of the potential Republican opponents according to every single poll carried out for this district. Throughout the California Democratic Party Convention, speaker after speaker stressed the importance of unifying behind the frontrunner to ensure we avoid splitting the vote. The CPC’s choice to endorse Mike Levin, rather than the frontrunner, renders these words hollow.
Lastly, Doug Applegate’s bona fides are self-evident. His proud embrace of Medicare for All and other progressive priorities during the 2016 cycle – when the 49th was still believed to be a “moderate Republican” district – speaks louder than any call for such policies this time around. The California Nurses Association, State Senate pro tem Toni Atkins, Justice Democrats, VoteVets, and a wide swath of labor unions and Democratic clubs all across San Diego and Orange County have thrown their support behind Applegate. And his experience as a retired Marine Colonel adds weight to his call to end our wars abroad and connects with our 50,000 plus military households (see Census Bureau data) in CA-49.
In conclusion, the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ choice to endorse Mike Levin is wholly unrepresentative of the progressive community here in Southern California and appears to be entirely based on fundraising and connections. But no matter how much money he raises, he cannot buy the support of the grassroots.
We, the undersigned, ask the CPC to withdraw their support for Mike Levin.
San Diego Progressive Democratic Club
California Young Democrats Progressive Caucus
California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus – Executive Board
California Democratic Party Veterans Caucus
California Democratic Party Arab American Caucus
Our Revolution-San Diego
San Diego Democrats for Equality
Palomar College Democrats
Democrats of MiraCosta College
Saddleback Young Democrats
College Democrats at CSU San Marcos
Mission Vista High School Democrats
Media Contacts:
San Diego Progressive Democratic Club
info@sdprogressives.com
California Young Democrats Progressive Caucus
cydprogressivecaucus@gmail.com
California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus
prog.caucus.cdp@gmail.com
Thats a powerful statement given that most of the district is in San Diego County.
And the OC Republicans are equally provincial and daft, pushing our crooked and cruel Harkey over the far superior and more viable Rocky Chavez.
That blew my mind as much as her ascension to the BOE with her and her husbands history of ripping off seniors.
We are going to have quite a time doing a post-mortem to figure out how these horrific endorsements by so-called “progressive” groups in the CA-49 race happened. It will make “feet to the fire” look like a weenie roast.
Sertioiusly? He (Levin) followed the HRC playbook of locking up endorsements of clubs and delegates by any means necessary. Just like HRC did with Bernie. Except in this case CNN isnt in lockstep with him by way of highlighting his small gatherings vs Applegates yuuuuge groups of volunteers and supporters.
So-called “progressives” have been defaming Applegate, starting with Issa’s lies about his divorce. We can conveniently trace it on Liberal OC. Now we just have to find out, quite specifically, who told whom what in order to make this happen. I’ve already had one conversation along these lines with the guy from PCCC, which I’m not going to divulge. We’re going to enter “please don’t tell anyone that I’m the one who told you this” territory before long, which will be the beginning of the end of some “progressive” reputations around here.
[Original response copied, catalogued, and then deleted.]
Sender
Justin Berg
jberg@gmail.com
74.85.17.144
Message sent to “jberg@gmail.com” inquiring whether they had posted this (quite scurrilous) comment bounced as undeliverable.
There’s no good reason for us to put up with this sort of crap from anonymous character assassins defaming Applegate in order to help Levin. Those supporters of Levin who are not part of this sort of vicious defamation — are you OK with this or not? Could someone put the same question, on the record, to Levin himself? Is HE ok with defamation of Applegate? Is he showing due diligence in distancing himself from it?
(And why is the Editor and Publisher of Liberal OC PROTECTING such people?)
Applegate can take Rocky chavez easily. The biggest threat is the Levin camp. His entry into the race after Applegate nearly won in 2016 was a low blow cheap shot. Very cowardly move in my opinion. The troll is continuing to push the falsehoods of the divorce which have been refuted time and time again and is documented by court papers and testimony from the ex-wife.