Only four members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted to authorize the war in Iraq. There was William ‘Freezer Cash’ Jefferson from New Orleans. There was Sanford Bishop, an appropriator from Albany, Georgia. There was the present chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, Harold Ford Jr., of Memphis, Tennessee. And there was Albert Wynn, from the 4th District of Maryland.
After tonight, only Rep. Bishop remains in office. Oh sure, Reps. Jefferson and Wynn will get to serve out their terms, but Wynn has just been defeated in a primary by community activist Donna Edwards. With 51% of the vote in, Edwards leads 59%-37%.
Al Wynn didn’t earn the enmity of progressives for his war vote alone. He voted for Cheney’s energy plan, he voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, and he voted to repeal the Estate Tax.
Progressives acted with fury. Just through ActBlue alone, over 7,000 progressives donated $400,000 to Donna Edwards campaign. MoveOn.org lent their full support. And the result is stunning. This is literally a 2×4 across the head to the Democratic Establishment. It had to come to this. Chasing Lieberman out of the party wasn’t enough. We had to take an actual scalp and let people see firsthand that they are consequences for voting like a Republican. Rep. Wynn is only 56 years old and might have served for another thirty years in this district. But he got picked off for being a greedhead. Now we will have someone in Congress that is committed to social justice in Donna Edwards.
Update [2008-2-13 2:1:43 by BooMan]: Holy mother of Jesus. Maryland ditched TWO incumbent representatives. Wayne Gilchrest has succumbed to a wingnut challenge in the 1st District.
