President Joe Biden bowed to pressure from liberal Democrats this week after the White House let a federal eviction moratorium expire, despite two left-wing losses in party primaries in a row.
The odd power dynamic foreshadows an uneasy period for the White House before the 2022 midterm election cycle, as liberal activists agitate for policies Democratic voters may not want.
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Shontel Brown, an Ohio Democratic county councilwoman, blunted liberal Democrats’ momentum this week when she beat Nina Turner, a high profile co-chair of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign and vocal supporter of the insurgent Left, in the special election primary for the safe congressional district covering Cleveland. Brown is now the favorite to replace Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge in Congress.
Brown, endorsed by Democratic establishment figures such as House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and other Congressional Black Caucus members, helps build Biden’s case for centrism. It comes after fellow centrist Eric Adams, Brooklyn’s borough president and a retired police officer, emerged victorious in New York City’s mayoral primary last month.
Biden called Brown to congratulate her, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Biden and Brown were both “laser-focused” on delivering results for Ohio, Psaki said.
“We know his agenda, including investing in our country’s infrastructure, helping grow our economy, creating good-paying, middle-class jobs, is broadly popular with the American people,” she told reporters. “More Democrats means more ability to deliver on that.”
Centrist advocates, such as think tank Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, touted Brown’s win as a triumph for Biden’s policy platform.
“After moderates prevailing in primaries and delivering Nancy Pelosi the gavel in 2018, Joe Biden’s trouncing of Bernie Sanders in 2020, and the victories of Melanie Stansbury [in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District], Troy Carter [in Louisiana’s 2nd District], Eric Adams [for New York City mayor], Terry McAuliffe [for Virginia governor], and now Shontel Brown, it’s time that the political classes got the message: Democratic voters want bold, principled, pragmatic leaders who can beat Trump Republicans and work with the Biden team to deliver big things for America,” Bennett wrote in a statement.
Brown’s success is instructive for 2022, as allies, including Democratic Majority for Israel, curbed Turner’s early traction by doling out millions of dollars for ads that showed Turner, a former Ohio state senator, criticizing Biden and the party. One of the ads slammed her for comparing voting for Biden to “eat[ing] a bowl of shit.” Even events with Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could not stem Turner’s bloodletting.
Turner lashed out at the ads during her concession speech, claiming she did not lose the race, but “evil money manipulated and maligned this election.”
“I am going to work hard to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen to another progressive candidate again,” she said.
Republicans are noting the Ohio results in case 2021 kick-starts a 2022 primary season trend. After all, if the Democratic Party coalesces behind centrist politics, it would lessen the sting of the GOP’s “socialist” attacks, which were effective last year.
The upside for Republicans is Ohio was preceded by Biden flip-flopping on his decision not to extend a federal eviction moratorium before it lapsed last weekend.
Biden’s plea to Congress to pass a bill to keep renters in their homes three days before the eviction ban ran out enraged liberal Democrats. Ocasio-Cortez ripped the White House’s handling of the problem as “ridiculous.” Missouri Rep. Cori Bush slept on the steps of the Capitol Building for five nights before the administration announced it would issue a more targeted moratorium, which will likely be challenged in the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, the new ban will provide state and local governments with the opportunity to funnel the $46.5 billion in already allocated rent assistance funds to those affected by the pandemic.
“Let’s be clear, activists are in Congress. So expect for things to be different than what people are used to,” Bush said.
Bush’s pressure campaign has inspired other liberal Democrats to needle Biden and the White House for far-left reforms.
“Extending the eviction moratorium is just the beginning. We have lots of work to do: canceling student loans, a $15 minimum wage, passing a Green New Deal, abolishing the filibuster, just to name a few,” New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman told supporters in an email.
Former President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party also held this week after energy industry lobbyist Mike Carey prevailed in his Ohio special election primary for the GOP-stronghold district capturing Columbus.
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Carey’s win vindicates Trump and silences his naysayers after his pick in a Texas special election primary lost last week. The former commander in chief hosted a tele-rally on Carey’s behalf, and a pro-Trump PAC pumped $350,000 into the contest’s digital ad race.
