Why Primary Challenges to Lame Democrats from Safe Districts Is a Good Idea

There was a lot of eye-rolling among some liberal and centrist circles over the primary campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley. After all, weren’t Joe Crowley and Mike Capuano perfectly serviceable Democrats? Sort of, I guess, but why can’t we do better? And given how awesome AOC and Pressley have been, we certainly have. Moreover, these entrenched politicians who don’t really represent where their districts are at well are often pretty rotten at heart. See here, where Capuano, theoretically once a supporter of Medicare for All, is now a lobbyist for the private health care industry, working for a firm that is a huge fighter of universal health care. It’s basically everything that is wrong with Washington and it’s why people on the left are now seeking to take out bad Democrats when they can.