I don’t care for this.
Laura Moser
The campaign arm of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives set its sights on a surprising target Thursday: Democratic congressional hopeful Laura Moser.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee posted negative research on Moser, a Houston journalist vying among six other Democrats in the March 6 primary to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson. Democrats locally and nationally have worried that Moser is too liberal to carry a race that has emerged in recent months as one of the most competitive races in the country.
The DCCC posting, which features the kind of research that is often reserved for Republicans, notes that Moser only recently moved back to her hometown of Houston and that much of her campaign fundraising money has gone to her husband’s political consulting firm. It also calls her a “Washington insider.”
But DCCC spokeswoman Meredith Kelly went even further in a statement to The Texas Tribune.
“Voters in Houston have organized for over a year to hold Rep. Culberson accountable and win this Clinton district,” Kelly said.
Then, referring to a 2014 Washingtonian Magazine piece in which Moser wrote that she would rather have a tooth pulled without anesthesia than move to Paris, Texas, Kelly added:”Unfortunately, Laura Moser’s outright disgust for life in Texas disqualifies her as a general election candidate, and would rob voters of their opportunity to flip Texas’ 7th in November.”
The DCCC’s post, with links to their claims, is here. I’m just going to say this, as someone who does not live in CD07 and is neutral about that primary on the grounds that all of the candidates are acceptable to me: The DCCC should have kept its mouth shut. I understand that, as Nancy Pelosi put it, they’re going to have to make some “cold-blooded decisions” about where to concentrate their resources this fall. If it’s their judgment that Moser is a weaker candidate in a winnable district, that’s their call and they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. But the irony of a DC organization criticizing a candidate for not being authentically local enough is not lost on me. Let the voters make their decision, then the DCCC can make theirs. At a time when we’re celebrating enthusiasm-driven high levels of primary turnout, we didn’t need this.
I live in CD-7 and at first I was leaning toward voting for Moser. I figured that a woman candidate would have the best chance to draw Republican women away from Culberson’s camp in November. But I, and my family, have been contacted much more by the Fletcher campaign. The Moser effort seems too much too little too late, and I get the feeling somehow that Moser herself isn’t that great a campaigner, so I’m switching my vote to Lizzie.
A mutual friend commented that there’s some bad blood between Moser and one of the other candidates in a discussion on FB about this. Apparently they’re alums of my high school. I should pay more attention to the newsletter, I guess.
The next time the DCCC calls wanting my money to send out of state, I’m going to point at this as a(nother) reason why I won’t give to them.
Sounds like Moser and Bernie Sanders have something in common…..both got screwed by the Democrats.
Well the DCCC is a private entity. They can stab whoever they want in the back.
How different are the positions of Moser and Fletcher? Not very dissimilar are they?
Is there any polling out there on CD 7 for the Dem primary?
Kinda BS to attack a hometown Houstonian for moving back to Houston after her (or her husband’s) DC work ended.
Ginger, it has to be either Alex T. or Lizzie Pannill Fletcher. Given that Alex is several years younger than both ladies, I’m assuming that the feud is between Lizzie and Laura. Yup, that’s the St. John’s Student Council.
I’m rooting or Fletcher.
I may now have to vote in the Dem primary to get Fletcher into the almost assured run-off and hope Patterson bumps off Bush for Land Commissioner with out my vote.
Moser has a lot of merit as a candidate, but my preference is Fletcher.
They’re both younger than I am by quite a bit so I don’t know any of them, but I can believe a student council feud.
It’s disgusting. Clearly, the DCCC thinks she is capable of winning, or even making the runoff, or they wouldn’t bother with this smear campaign. The establishment wing is angry that Moser has called out the DCCC for not being true to basic Democrat principles, and they hate that her supporters strongly believe the Emily’s List endorsement was handed to Fletcher as a favor to a donor. Moser is too independent-minded for them.
Luckily for Moser, the backlash against the DCCC is massive and will likely move more voters to her column. It is likely that the oppo research was conducted by Fletcher, as she has mentioned these points throughout her campaign at various events, and so there was probably a coordinated effort here by DCCC, Fletcher, and Emily’s List. Knowing this, I could never vote for her, as someone who engages in these dirty tactics does not deserve to be in office.
Labor under no circumstances can support Lizzie Fletcher because she’s a partner in a union-busting law firm that helped bankrupt a Houston Local trying to organize janitorial workers. Alex lives in CD 18 and was originally running in CD2 per his first Twitter account. Laura outraised all 6 of her opponents in 2018, and DC needs to let the decision be made in Houston!
Pingback: More on the DCCC-CD07 mess – Off the Kuff
To be fair to her, I expect a lot of Houstonians would rather have a tooth pulled without anesthesia than move to Paris, TX.