Maloney was also regarded with suspicion by some environmental activist groups in the Hudson Valley, which have a strong political tradition dating back to community organizing efforts in the 1970s against General Electric’s pollution of the Hudson River. In late October, when the 24-hour reporting window for contributions of $1,000 or more began, Maloney banked more contributions from Democratic members and leadership PACs than any other Democrat. Maloney also began raking in money from his Democratic colleagues. But Nancy Pelosi’s super PAC, House Majority PAC, was the group’s top donor in September. Just a couple of days after his ABC spot, a pop-up super PAC closely aligned with the Democratic Party, called VoteVets PAC, announced a $1.2 million ad buy on Maloney’s behalf. Outwardly, Maloney was projecting confidence, but clearly he didn’t feel it. Maloney dismissed the threat in an interview with ABC News, stating repeatedly that Republicans were “lighting on fire.” Internal polling began to reflect his growing advantage. While attack ads blanketed the airwaves, Lawler and his team hit the ground, shoring up support. While Maloney was across the pond, the Republican National Campaign Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund, Republicans’ two largest campaign arms, were pouring big money into his race, over $10 million in independent expenditures. “Instead of working with NY-17’s strong Indivisible network and other grassroots groups to build a ground game, Maloney ignored and antagonized the local base,” said Dani Negrete, national political director of Indivisible, a nationwide grassroots group with thousands of local affiliates. But in interviews, local liberal and conservative political strategists describe a candidate who alienated Democratic grassroots groups and made no effort to court their help, even after he chose to run in a district, New York’s 17 th, where he had built up little goodwill and spent precious little time. Maloney has said that others, including Kathy Hochul and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, should share the blame for his downfall. Some Democrats have scrambled to portray Maloney’s face plant in New York as an act of self-sacrifice, framing him as a politician who gave up his own race to help Democrats elsewhere. It remains possible that, even with all the unexpected House wins around the country, it could be his lost seat that delivers Republicans control of the House.
Maloney is also the first DCCC chair to lose reelection in 40 years.
0 kommentar(er)
