Donkey Business:
— Democratic officials can’t quite figure out what role Kamala Harris should play in the party going forward. In a recent interview with Politico, Iowa gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand said he wouldn’t want to campaign with her in the state, adding: “Let’s move on. We need some new leadership.” Iowa Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek also recently said that he did not want Harris’s help this midterm election. And last month, Mary Peltola, a Democrat running for Senate in Alaska, distanced herself from a fundraising email that Harris’s PAC sent out in support of her campaign.
Iowa and Alaska are red states that Harris lost by double digits, so it makes sense that candidates there would want to create some distance. But in less competitive statewide races and some House races, Dems have been more eager to embrace the former VP. Earlier this week, Chris Pappas, who is running for Senate in New Hampshire (a state Harris won), touted that he’d received her endorsement. Former White House staffer Dan Koh, who won his primary for a House seat in Massachusetts last night, featured an endorsement from Harris (and one from Joe Biden) in his closing campaign ad.
And there are outliers: In Tennessee’s heavily Republican 9th Congressional District, Democratic nominee Justin Pearson also promoted that he’d been endorsed by Harris.
As Harris weighs another presidential run, it’s worth keeping an eye on how midterm candidates are reacting to her. As Adam Jentleson, founder of the Searchlight Institute, observed: “A party’s voters respond to signals from leaders they respect. In the era of hollow parties, that structure is more decentralized and diffuse. So if leaders like Peltola and Sand say stuff along the lines of ‘We appreciate Harris’s service but it’s time to move on,’ that sets a tone—and Democratic voters will respond.”
Link:
https://www.thebulwark.com/i/213936333/donkey-business