Democrat Apparatchiks Try To Control Primaries

For John, BLUF:  What California has done will upset your plan for primaries.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Fearing Chaos, National Democrats Plunge Into Midterm Primary Fights

It is The Old Gray Lady and Reporter Alexander Burns, 21 April 2018.

This is about where I voted for almost thee decades; Orange Count, California.  Except that now they have changed the rules and there is a common primary election, with the top two, regardless of party, going to the General Election, in November.  That means that the General Election could be a Democrat vs a Republican or two Democrats or two Republicans.

Here is how the story starts:

The Democrats’ message to Mai Khanh Tran was polite but unsparing.  With half a dozen Democrats running for Congress in her Orange County district, they showed her a discouraging poll and argued that she could not win — and risked fracturing the party in the June primary election.

Ms. Tran pointedly replied that she was “the only qualified woman, the only immigrant and the only physician in the race.”

“I said to them, frankly, let the voters decide,” recalled Ms. Tran, a pediatrician.

The national Democratic Party was not chastened:  On Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took sides in that House race and backed Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran and former Republican.

With their forceful intervention in Orange County, national Democrats have lunged into an impatient new phase of the 2018 primary season — one in which they are clashing more openly with candidates and local political chieftains in their drive to assemble a slate of recruits for the midterms.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the National Party arrives in our 3rd Congressional District, here in Massachusetts.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff