House Democrats' campaigns chief loses re-election race in New York
Category: News & Politics
Via: sparty-on • 2 years ago • 19 commentsBy: Scott Wong, Haley Talbot and Ali Vitali (NBC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Link copied Nov. 9, 2022, 3:43 PM UTC / Updated Nov. 9, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC By Scott Wong, Haley Talbot and Ali Vitali
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, the head of House Democrats' campaign arm responsible for protecting vulnerable incumbents in his party, lost his re-election race to Republican Mike Lawler, NBC News projects.
Maloney conceded the race in a phone call to Lawler earlier Wednesday, a spokesperson for Maloney's campaign said.
More than anything else, Maloney's defeat is a symbolic victory for the GOP, particularly given that Democrats appeared to limit significant losses and dodge a "red wave" that many Republicans had predicted.
Maloney conceded after Democratic super PACs and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which Maloney leads, launched a last-minute rescue mission to try to save him by pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race in the final two weeks of the campaign.
Maloney, who had been traveling the country campaigning and raising cash for vulnerable colleagues, had to rush back to his Hudson Valley district to fight for his own political survival.
In the end, Maloney couldn't stave off an avalanche of GOP spending and attack ads from Lawler, a state assemblyman, which cast him as weak on crime for his past support for ending cash bail for those in prison.
In a briefing with reporters Wednesday, Maloney trumpeted his party's strong showing on Election Day, declaring: "Last night, House Democrats stood our ground." The results indicate "there's still a beating heart to American democracy," he said.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., at the Capitol on Feb. 8.Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file
While he acknowledged he is an extremely competitive person, Maloney said it wasn't the time to sulk in his defeat.
"I don't like to lose. But my opponent won this race, and he won it fair and square. And that means something. And so I'm gonna step aside, and I had a good run," Maloney told reporters.
"Not going to whine about it. I'm going to do this the right way. And the right thing to do is to say the other guy won, to wish him well, and pledge my support and that's what I'm doing," he said.
"And I'm going to take pride in my service, and then I'm going to talk to my family about what comes next."
Republicans celebrated the ouster of the Democrats' campaign chief.
"Mike's victory just sent SHOCKWAVES across the country as he FIRED failed DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney!!" GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., tweeted early Wednesday.
At an election night party in Washington overnight, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California also piled on: "In New York, we defeated the Democrat campaign chairman, Sean Patrick Maloney, which will be the first time in over 40 years a DCCC chair lost his reelection."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., thanked Maloney in a statement Wednesday, crediting him with helping House Democrats exceed expectations Tuesday and calling him "an outstanding leader of the DCCC."
"Republicans may have gained a Pyrrhic victory with this race because it has clearly come at the expense of other possible Republican wins," Pelosi said.
Maloney's ouster has larger implications for the House Democratic caucus: It closes the door on a possible bid by Maloney for a second term as DCCC chairman. And it will reignite a fierce debate among House Democrats about whether one of their vulnerable members should be put in charge of the campaign operation.
Two years ago, Democrats had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the homestretch of the campaign to defend then-DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos of Illinois, another "front-line" member like Maloney. She survived her race for re-election but opted to retire just months later, ceding her seat in the Quad Cities to Republicans.
Two California Democrats, Reps. Tony Cardenas and Ami Bera, have expressed interest in running for DCCC chairman in the 2024 cycle. Cardenas narrowly lost to Maloney in the race for campaign chairman two years ago, and Bera was one of Maloney's top lieutenants at the DCCC, in charge of protecting vulnerable incumbents.
Cardenas represents a deep-blue district in Southern California, while Bera has been targeted by Republicans in his Sacramento-area district.
Maloney, who was an aide in the Clinton White House, made history in 2012 as the first openly gay person elected to Congress from New York.
But he drew ire from fellow Democrats after New York's redistricting process this year when he decided to run in a neighboring district, the 17th, that was slightly more friendly to Democrats than his old 18th District. That decision forced freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., one of the first openly gay Black men in Congress, to run in a district miles away in New York City, where he failed to win his party's primary.
Moments after Maloney conceded, Jones tweeted a single word: "Yikes."
Scott Wong
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
Haley Talbot
Haley Talbot is an associate producer in the NBC News Washington bureau.
Ali Vitali
Ali Vitali is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, based in Washington.
Kate Santaliz contributed.
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Deep blue Democrat paying the piper.
Not nearly enough of them did.
Republicans had better take a long hard look at themselves- and ask if it is really good for the party to have people like McConnell and McCarthy at the head; when all they are concerned about is protecting their leadership positions.
That questioning needs to go down to the state level leaders as well (Many of which seem to have contracted TDS).
Democrats definitely helped Republicans shoot themselves in the foot by backing Trump hard liners with free advertisement over more moderate Republican candidates in the primaries. But Republicans made sure to hold the gun the steady; while the Democrats loaded it and pulled the trigger.
Meh, taking control of the house and maybe the senate .... not bad.
IMO Republicans lost it more on the Abortion issue than anything else. They handled that one horribly and Dems beat it like a rented mule.
They could have had many more seats in the House; and swung the Senate by more than 1 seat (instead of waiting around and hoping the rest of the votes to be counted pan out).
Yes, abortion was an issue; and yes, Republicans handled it badly.
But it wasn't as big of an issue as inflation, gas prices, crime, and the border. If Republicans can't win with the deck stacked heavily in their favor they need a change at the top; because the message from above sucks- and isn't getting any traction with voters.
Somehow Republicans fucked up enough that the mighty mental midget Democrats that caused all of the problems lost only the House (by not as nearly as many seats as they should have); and chances are will maintain control of the Senate. They defied history and statistics that show the party that holds the presidency takes heavy losses during midterms. That takes real damn talent.
No argument really.
It will be highly amusing to watch Republicans suddenly discover that Trump is a problem. He wasnt a problem when he was insulting hundreds of people, by name, in his twitter comments . He wasnt a problem when he was shoving the president of a small country out of the way so Trump could preen in front of photographers at an international conference. He wasnt a problem when he gave the Russians classified information in an oval office meeting. He wasnt a problem when he told native born Americans of color to go back to the country "that they came from". I could go on with this for hours.
He wasnt a problem to the right until he led them into an election night embarrassment. Let them suffer.
Sorry, just venting.
I saw this train wreck coming. Establishment Republicans not endorsing Trump backed candidates. Money being taken away from MAGA candidate campaigns. And even former Establishment Republicans doing commercials for Democrats.
This was an Establishment Republican victory over MAGA Republicans.
The Establishment doesn't care about letting the Democrats keep charge. They are in a position to ride out whatever the Democrats do (unlike the rest of us). It was more important to them to purge their ranks of MAGA Republicans.
I am hoping Trump goes away after this and the Establish Republicans purge their bad leadership; but all indicators are that this war will continue at least until the 2024 elections.
I have news for you and a few others. Every time some mentally ill homeless slob pushes somebody off a train platform or there is a flash mob looting incident or somebody is randomly killed in the street, I'll be posting it right here and the tag line will be your's:
"LET THEM SUFFER."
That attitude is why the gop cannot win!
You can't be so hateful and win anymore.
John,
Your TDS blinds you to exactly how bad Democrats have become. Which is far worse than anything Trump could ever hope to be. Maybe if the country is literally burning down around your ears you will finally catch on?
PS: It won't be a far/alt right coup or Civil War. It will literally be the Democrats Brown shirts BLM/Antifa; the criminals the Democrats are releasing or not charging in record numbers; the inflation and high gas prices that will literally turn all of us have nots against each other in competition for resources; and FBI/DOJ/IRS Democrat CABAL permanently wrecking this country.
So revel in Fascist glory while you can. Sooner or later the Democrat's actions will catch up with you as well.
Hey Vic, haters gotta hate.
And their hearts are clearly full of hate.
Don’t let them suck you into their morass of hatred .....
Brandon the human fuck up machine, Pelosi, and Schumer all beg to differ! All of the Democrat talking heads are bobbling in agreement.
Democrats literally ran the most hateful, spiteful, hypocritical campaigns they could- and won!
They literally spent millions giving free advertisement to MAGA Republicans that they deemed threats to this country; just so that they could have an easier opponent in the general elections!
Stand by for the Democrats to be hung with the Fascist label until further notice. I am hoping the Republicans and their talking heads pick up on it. Repeating it often enough that it sinks in to uncaring voting public. Drill it into their heads that Democrats want 1 party rule; and are willing to do anything to get it!
No worries, like I said I don’t disagree with your premise other than I think a lot of people were more worried about late term abortion that the rest of those problems.
Hopefully they don’t have to chose between food and heating oil this winter but as long as they can get an abortion as late as they want ..... no problem I guess.
I have tried to control my temper all my life. I'll do my best Sir.
Good advice for all of us.
Myself included
If & when Republicans win the House, Kevin McCarthy should thank Lee Zeldin for dragging all those NY Republicans over the finish line. Zeldin barely lost in a deep blue state but he ran a great campaign.
He was the first chair of either party’s House campaign committee to lose a race for re-election since the early 1990s.
A pretty big deal.
Yes, and Mayra Flores, the gop's hope among texas Hispanics has lost after serving only two months in Congress. And so, there is that...
Wrong article.
This one is about Maloney not Flores
So there is that ....