On the heels of the DPOC’s decision to amend a resolution to abolish the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency and the full-speed-ahead impeachment inquiry launched by the House against President Trump, the New York Times attended the DPOC’s Truman dinner Friday night to highlight the freshmen Democrats in OC’s Blue Wave and their perils to retain the seats we fought so hard to win.
Not everything was OC-centric in the story, but the elements our freshmen Congressional reps face is similar to other new Democrats across the country in swing districts.
From the story:
Orange County was the epicenter of the 2018 House Democratic takeover, where Republicans lost four seats in what was once the heart of Ronald Reagan conservatism in California. On Saturday night, as three of the victorious Democrats were honored at an annual political dinner, a new battle was on everyone’s minds: How to protect those gains in 2020 by selling voters on the impeachment inquiry of President Trump.
At the dinner, Representative Harley Rouda warned Democrats not to “sit on our laurels.” Representative Mike Levin solemnly said “the times have found us.” And Representative Gil Cisneros, who came out for the inquiry only last week, plugged his campaign website twice to ask for donations and noted, “The Republicans are coming after me now.”
A tricky balancing act is now underway for House Democrats as they return to their districts for a two-week recess that will double as a crucial time to frame a coast-to-coast debate over impeachment and the nation’s priorities.
Even as surveys showed more Americans embracing an impeachment investigation, voters talked mostly about issues like health care and the economy over the weekend at town hall meetings and party gatherings with House Democrats. Those members, especially in battleground districts, responded by highlighting their policy accomplishments and goals — while at the same time attempting to shape public opinion on impeachment and prepare voters for coming G.O.P. attacks.
That Democratic messaging challenge came into sharp relief during interviews with voters like Donna Artukovic, a retired teacher who was volunteering at the Orange County dinner. Ms. Artukovic expressed nervousness about what an impeachment battle could mean for Democratic candidates.
“I am afraid it’s going to hurt them,” she said. “A lot of people — even who don’t like Trump — don’t like impeachment.”
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I’ll note every member of the OC Congressional delegation is unified for the impeachment inquiry. More from the Times story:
In some of the more affluent districts that Democrats flipped last year, the first-term lawmakers have received reassurance in recent days that they are making the right decision. Mr. Rouda, Mr. Levin and Mr. Cisneros all said in separate interviews that the calls and emails that had come into their offices in the last week had been overwhelmingly in favor of pursuing impeachment.
…
Mr. Levin, the California congressman, said that a survey he commissioned in July showed that voters in his district, which stretches from north of Richard Nixon’s old home in San Clemente south to La Jolla, were slightly more opposed to impeachment than supportive of it. But he suggested more of his constituents were likely on board now because of the stark facts of Mr. Trump’s actions with Ukraine.
“I explained them the other day to my 7-year-old son,” he said, “and I think he understood them.”
No one will argue that ICE’s treatment of undocumented immigrants at the Southern birder or refugees fleeing violence has been anything but abhorrent. To call for eliminating an entire agency and replace it with DHS plays into Trump’s messaging that Democrats want open borders. Instead, we seek immigration reform. We seek to have laws associated with those applying for refugee status to be followed by our government. We want ICE and DHS to make it possible for people detained at the border to have humane treatment with showers, toothpaste, soap, laundry service, decent food and a bed or a cot, not a concrete floor and a Mylar blanket.
The DPOC resolution to condemn ICE was the appropriate move.
We need every member of our Blue delegation re-elected to make the changes needed in Congress. Should a Republican replace Katie Porter, Harley Rouda or Gil Cisneros, it will be that much harder to enact meaningful reform.
When DPOC chair Ada Briceno warned Democrats at the last Central Committee meeting that our Congressional reps are in for a fight, she was spot on right. One win doesn’t guarantee the next.