National Targeting Of Texas Congressional Races: We Need To Make Peace With Our Moderates

For those of you as eager as I am for the start of the 2008 election cycle (which started last November 8th, ha ha), you’ll no doubt find this article over at Fire Dog Lake (one of my favorite national blogs) quite interesting.

The post discusses the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and ponder some potential Democrats that could be the subject of more progressive primary targets in 2008. It mentioned Congressmen who were most likely to side with Republicans on “substantive matters.”
The post caught my interest because it mentioned a couple of Texas Congressmen: Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) and Chet Edwards (D-Waco).

I’ve heard talk here and there of more “progressive” challenges for both Cuellar and Edwards in 2008. While I did not support Cuellar in his race against Ciro Rodriguez last primary season, I think it is important to bring some perspective to this debate before any primary challenges come to pass.

With regard to Cuellar, while his voting record is not as progressive as many liberals such as myself would like, I cannot say that attempting to defeat him in a primary is a worthwhile challenge anymore. For one thing, with Laredo unified in his district, any primary challenge would be tough. A lot of us (especially those not from Texas) look at some of the “blue” counties and voting trends in the Valley and immediately think that CD 28 should be represented by someone with a far more liberal voting record. That’s simply not always the reality.

The growing upper-middle class of Latinos in many parts of the Valley is not as liberal as urban Latinos and many traditional boilerplate progressive issues (like abortion) don’t resonate with those voters compared to issues like healthcare and other domestic policy matters.

Further, while Cuellar does have some “bad” votes in his Congressional record from a strictly progressive standpoint, he has done a lot to redeem himself in progressive eyes, including supporting Ciro Rodriguez against Henry Bonilla.

As with any Congressman, while progressives at large know the whole congress may sit better with a more progressive member in a particular seat, the bottom line has to be whether the voters of a particular district would be in better shape with a different Congressman and whether or not a more “progressive” member could ultimately result in the seat being lost to a Republican. While the movement may believe CD 28 would be better off with more liberal representation, the folks in that district don’t think so, and we’re better off targeting other districts in a general rather than “eating our own” in this district.

In the case of Edwards, a primary challenge is just silly. If Arlene Wholgemuth and Tom DeLay couldn’t defeat him, a progressive will not in a primary. While his record may be as or more conservative than Cuellar’s, so is his district. And, a Congressman must vote his district.

All of this boils down to one simple fact: as we strive for a better grasp on liberal and progressive ideals within our party, we cannot shut our moderate Democrats.

I, like many progressives and liberals, cringe when I see Democrats support tort reform, oppose a woman’s right to choose and vote with Republicans.

The fact remains, however, that we remain the party of the “big tent.” We have room for liberals, progressives, and, yes, even conservative Democrats. Driving Democrats who still support the vast majority our core ideals but don’t vote with us on a handfull of issues is counterproductive. While we’d all like to see Congressional Delegation (or even Texas Legislature) full of progressives and liberals, Texas doesn’t have the demographics for it, and it certainly isn’t Utopia.

The same applies to the Texas Legislature.

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