Is Kathleen Matthews Democratic Enough?

Kathleen Matthews (D-MD)

No one is ever owed a congressional seat.  The House of Representatives is not the House of Lords, and we have elections every two years to ensure that the people still like the person that's been voting on their behalf in Congress.  That being said, I become increasingly leery these days when millionaires and billionaires without any sort of government or public service run for public office without a record to run on.  I know that most people love the new face or random citizen with a "fresh voice" even though they're likely saying the same thing as their primary opponents (I can't remember who made the quip, but politics and prostitution are the only two professions in the world that people don't value experience is a pretty apt observation), but I like someone who knows what they're doing in Congress, and so I usually value an experienced mayor, legislator, or local officeholder when someone's trying to make the jump into the House.

So I will freely admit that Kathleen Matthews might not be my favorite choice from the get-go to succeed Rep. Chris van Hollen in Maryland's eighth district.  I would probably go with State Sen. Jamie Raskin on-paper in the primary since he has more experience working for the people of the district and has shown more devotion to learning about the district.  This being said, I am not ruling Matthews out just because she happens to be rich and hasn't held office before, but I am do think it's fair to question her bona fides a little bit more closely considering that she has absolutely no record on which to base her theoretical service in Congress.

And so far one of the biggest issues in Matthews' record happens to be a recent donation that Matthews made to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) who is running for reelection in a state hundreds of miles from Matthews as a member of the opposite party.  Blunt had worked with Matthews on a number of projects affecting her hotel chain in order to promote more international tourism, which is how she justified giving the money (she has claimed that he is the only Republican she's ever given money to), but it does beg the question about whether or not this is a major offense in a Democratic Primary.

I don't fault Matthews for working with a Republican-we need more bipartisanship, but there's a difference between working on a specific issue and donating to his campaign.  The reality is that a donation (or an endorsement) gives a tacit endorsement to all of the policies that Blunt has endorsed through his tenure in the Senate.  Blunt has been an outspoken critic of the Affordable Care Act, his staunchly anti-gay marriage (being one of the most vocal supporters of the controversial "religious freedom" bills), and has stood behind controversial decisions regarding women's rights like the Hobby Lobby bill.  These are hardly views that a very liberal district like Maryland's 8th hold, much less the Democratic Primary voters in that district (who swing harder left still) will share.  I would imagine if I was on one of Matthews' opponent's teams I would be trying to find the easiest way to turn this into a campaign commercial.  It's worth noting that the Democrats have a pretty strong candidate in Missouri running against Blunt in Secretary of State Jason Kander.  Matthews had pointedly not said whether or not she will endorse Kander over Blunt, which is troubling because I want someone in a Democratic House primary who will, at the very least, support her party regaining the Senate majority.

In this way, I don't think that Matthews is ready for Congress for a seat where the primary is basically the general election (whichever Democrat is winning this seat is winning the general-no Republican can overcome a D+11 PVI in a presidential election).  This is a primary where almost every single issue will be agreed upon by the major candidates, but I am tired of Democrats who have their cake and eat it too on party issues.  For example we are almost certainly going to end up with Charlie Crist, who beat our candidate in 2006 for the governor's race, ensured Marco Rubio was elected in 2010, and then lost the governor's mansion for the Democrats despite a coronation in the primary and running against the most unpopular governor in the country in 2014, in Congress next year.  But at least with Crist this will be a pickup of a district getting the Democrats one of the thirty seats we need for the majority, whereas Matthews will be just a hold.  I am not asking for ideological purity here, but Maryland's 8th is not Florida's 2nd or Minnesota's 7th.  We're not talking about a situation where only Gwen Graham or Collin Peterson could hold this district.  Any Democrat short of a massive scandal could hold this district.  I could hold it, and I've never even been to Maryland.  So as a result, seemingly small issues like this matter, and Matthews doesn't have the reputation and public service record to help me get over donating to a prominent Republican only last year.  She shouldn't win this primary.