Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's Fight With Her Party (and Why It is Just)

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA)

Twitter is not healthy, something that I have to occasionally remind myself because I have a mild addiction to that platform I'm always threatening to fix in myself (and I really hope I do one of these days).  One of the main reasons that Twitter is uniquely unhealthy is that it always brings out the worst knee-jerk reactions to things, when nuance is usually prudent.  Yesterday this was the case, as one Democratic member of Congress was disparaging another member of the House on the floor of the Congress while Republicans ended the government shutdown (with virtually the entire Democratic Party not supporting them), and a vote being set for next week to release the Epstein List, all while letters from the late Jeffrey Epstein about Donald Trump (and potentially incriminating evidence about him) was leaked.  And Twitter posters were posting rather ill-informed takes on the situation without really looking at the merits of it (instead using their biases of those involved do the talking).

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, last night, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) introduced a resolution that would force a vote on the floor of the House disapproving of recent actions by her fellow House Democrat Congressman Chuy Garcia (D-IL).  Perez did this because of Garcia's recent decision to retire from the House of Representatives, not because of the retirement but because of the way he did it.  Garcia filed in late October to run for a fifth term in the House.  The day of the deadline to run for reelection, Garcia's Chief of Staff Patty Garcia filed papers to run for the House as well, something that no sitting staff member would be able to do without the approval of her boss (without quickly losing her job), meaning that Ms. Garcia (no relation to the congressman) was told this information without Rep. Garcia wanting it to become public.  The filing deadline passed, Rep. Garcia dropped out of the race, and because there was a Democrat who had already filed (and because the deadline was passed), Ms. Garcia became the only Democrat in the race for IL-4, and given the district's hyper-blue lean (it was won by Kamala Harris by 28-points and by Tammy Duckworth by 42), she is now certain to be elected to the next Congress through her coordination with her boss, given she was the only person who knew he was retiring (and therefore was going to run).

There was uproar coming out of Congress in the wake of Perez's resolution, with Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) getting into a visible (it was on C-Span) discussion with her moments before she gave her speech).  Afterward, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) said (I'll quote it verbatim because I want to discuss it), "Going after a strong progressive Latino leader the same day that you vote for a slush fund for Republicans involved in January 6 does not scream democratic values.  Chuy Garcia has been an unwavering fighter for our democracy and our communities.  It is disappointing that someone willing to compromise working families' healthcare would use this moment for a cheap political stunt aimed at distracting people from an indefensible vote on tonight's CR."  Other Democrats told news outlets they had informed Perez "you don't have to do this right now" and seemed to not want it discussed at all.  Perez wasn't alone though; Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said that he agreed with her (both Perez & Garcia are former House colleagues of Kim's) stating "The House should condemn and steps need to be taken to restore the people's right to choose."

If you read this blog frequently, you know I like to separate fact from spin when it comes to politics, so let's say some facts right now.  Ramirez is right-Perez did vote for the CR that was supported by the vast majority of Republicans, including those who were linked with or have since condoned the January 6th attacks, something Garcia did not vote for (neither did Andy Kim, for the record, so it wasn't just CR-backers that were disparaging Garcia).  It's worth noting, of course, that this doesn't really repute what Garcia did-it just deflects.  It's also worth noting that him being a progressive or a Latino really doesn't matter here, and honestly bringing up the latter in a situation where it completely isn't relevant feels an awful lot like the sort of identity politics Republicans criticize Democrats for, and while usually I think they're being absurd...this might be an eyebrow raise in the left's direction as to why bring this up at all given it is trying to make it about something it's not (and also makes bringing up when racism is truly a factor in a public argument less potent).

Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL)

Here's the truth-Perez is right.  What Garcia did is wrong, even if it's hardly the first time this has happened (both Reps. Dan Lipinski and Mike Haridopolos both got into the House roughly using the same tactic, in Lipinski's case to succeed his own father & in Haridopolos' case, I don't see any public records of Gluesenkamp Perez saying this about his predecessor Bill Posey though of course Posey isn't a member of Perez's own party).  Some have brought up that Garcia's wife is ill, and that was the reason he didn't run...but he still clearly knew before the filing deadline that this was going to happen, which is why he asked his Chief of Staff to file.  He could've publicly stated he was retiring the day of the filing deadline since he knew it was going to happen, and give other candidates a chance to file.  This isn't as crazy it sounds that someone might drop in at the last second to run when there's an opening-when she first ran for office, Rep. Ilhan Omar did so on the last day of filing in a domino effect that impacted the previous incumbent (Keith Ellison) running for Minnesota Attorney General.  Rep. Garcia decided he would pick the district's next representative, rather than the people, and while they will have the chance to primary her in 2028, Ms. Garcia will be both 1) an incumbent, making her harder to beat, and 2) have already taken two years away from the people to make that choice...the people of the district shouldn't have their choices deferred for two years.  If they want her, she should've had to run in a competitive primary and prove that the people wanted her.  If Rep. Garcia wanted her, he should've campaigned, endorsed, & voted for her...he shouldn't have decided she should be the nominee unilaterally.

For those who are saying "Perez should've waited or been a good soldier & stayed quiet"...why?  This is exactly the sort of backroom politics that people hate about Congress, and it's one of the main reasons throw out "both sides" arguments because in this case it indeed is both sides doing it.  Perez, an outsider who is, yes, a moderate, is also someone who has a history of standing up for using her office to fix unique pet issues and actually fixing those problems.  What she did here was brave-she likely sacrificed a lot of relationships with it, but in doing so she stood up for the people of Illinois's 4th district, something (I'm sorry) Chuy Garcia didn't do.  Rep. Ramirez called him a "fighter for democracy" but when it came to letting the people vote, he cared more about letting his friend have a leg-up than giving them a fair election.  I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican, a progressive or a moderate or a conservative-you should have to face the voters before you get to represent them, and I applaud Rep. Perez for her bill here.  It's the right thing to do, and something I wish I saw more of from my representatives.