Pass the Popcorn: BLM Demands Open Primary for Dem Nomination

AP Photo/Noah Berger

All right, all right ... which one of you wise guys had "BLM Objects to Kamala Harris Appointment" on their 2024 bingo cards? 

Be prepared to collect your winnings, via Reuters. The radical activists have issued a demand that Democrats protect democracy by, y'know, actually using democracy to nominate their presidential candidate. They also claim that a failure to do so would be an attack on black voters in particular:

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Black Lives Matter is demanding the Democratic National Committee immediately host an informal, virtual snap primary across the country prior to the DNC convention in August, just hours after Vice President Kamala Harris secured enough delegates for the nomination.

"We call for the Rules Committee to create a process that allows for public participation in the nomination process, not just a nomination by party delegates," BLM said in a statement provided to Reuters.

"The current political landscape is unprecedented, with President Biden stepping aside in a manner never seen before. This moment calls for decisive action to protect the integrity of our democracy and the voices of Black voters."

The rest of the Democrat Party coalition has tried to claim Happy Day In The Valley over the last 24 hours by rallying around Harris. BLM leadership will have none of that, apparently. In their statement, they echo the argument I made earlier about the party selling out to the elites, and in particular selling out their best ally:

"Following the primary where millions of Black voters weighed in, after one poor debate performance, the DNC Party elites and billionaire donors bullied Joe Biden out of the race," the group noted.

That conflicts with the Happy Valley Day Message, floated out earlier this afternoon by Chuck Schumer. In trying to explain away the anointing of Kamala, Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries insisted that her nomination resulted from the "grassroots":

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Er ... what? The grassroots elected Biden; no one cast a single ballot for Harris. The Democrat Party didn't "swiftly coalesce" behind Harris -- the party elite coalesced behind her. Even the delegates come from party officials in state and local orgs. But putting that distinction aside, the delegates didn't choose Harris as much as they defaulted to her without any options emerging in the hours following Biden's withdrawal. That lack of options certainly appears to have been manufactured by party elites, too, in order to avoid a divisive open campaign for the nomination. 

And BLM won't play along just to get along. They castigate the "blatant disregard" for the principle that the party's name espouses, and not just in the last few weeks either:

While the group noted “Joe Biden wasn’t our preferred candidate,” it pointed to the party’s “troubling” decisions to avoid giving its voters a voice, such as refusing to host debates, pushing out non-Biden candidates and having “bullied” Biden out of the race.

“Now, Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors are attempting to manipulate Black voters by anointing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the new Democratic ticket without a primary vote by the public,” BLM wrote. “This blatant disregard for democratic principles is unacceptable.”

This complication makes for a very wet blanket on Democrats. It was Democrats that elevated BLM, especially after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. Harris herself promoted them, participating in a bail fund to free rioters that ended up releasing at least one person who proceeded to murder someone shortly afterward. Thanks in part to Harris and the elites, BLM feels strong enough to buck the elite power grab and rain on their Happy Valley Day parade.

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Will this seriously derail the Harris Anointment? Probably not, but it does put a big dent in their claims to have rallied the party together so soon after bullying Biden out of the race. Plus, BLM expresses an anger against elitism that other voters and factions will likely feel, too. The sudden and unseemly abandonment of democracy by Democrats has not gone unnoticed, and it will have an impact on Harris' ability to improve her already-poor favorability numbers, even assuming that her campaigning skills have strengthened over the last five years. 

Get ready for other groups to demand more of a say in the nomination, too. And keep restocking the popcorn.

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David Strom 10:00 PM | November 14, 2024
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