Progressives are livid with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., after audio surfaced of him pressuring a Democratic candidate in a Colorado primary to bow out of the race.
In the audio, obtained by the Intercept, Hoyer tells Levi Tillemann, a former Obama administration official at the Energy Department, to exit the race so the Democratic Party’s preferred candidate could emerge victorious in the primary.
That set off liberals on Thursday. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee immediately started fundraising off of the Intercept’s report and Democracy for America called on Hoyer to resign or step down from leadership.
“Steny Hoyer should resign or be removed from House Democratic leadership immediately,” said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of DFA.
The audio, Chamberlain added, “exposes the work Hoyer has done for years actively undermining progressive power in Congress.”
Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of PCCC, which like DFA is dedicated to electing progressive candidates, piled on.
“Establishment figures like Steny Hoyer and the corporate-funded New Democrats hurt Democratic chances of taking back the House every time they support uninspiring, corporate candidates with unpopular ideas,” Taylor said. “The Democratic Party should not be looking to Hoyer’s ‘leadership’ if they want to take back the House — he’s leading them in the wrong direction.”
Tillemann is not on DFA nor PCCC’s list of endorsed candidates.
Hoyer’s spokeswoman Katie Grant defended the conversation.
“Whip Hoyer is committed to taking back the House, and that involves working with local leaders to identify and support the strongest candidate for that district,” Grant said in an emailed statement.
Hoyer and the campaign arm for House Democrats are backing Army veteran Jason Crow in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District.
“I am for Crow because a judgment was made very early on. I didn’t know Crow,” Hoyer told Tillemann in the audio. “I didn’t participate in the decision. But a decision was made early on by the Colorado delegation.”
FEC reports show that Hoyer donated to Crow’s campaign in June of last year, more than a week before Tillemann announced his candidacy in the race.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., defended her deputy Thursday when asked about the audio.
“I don’t see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in conversation about,” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. “If the realities of life is that some candidates can do better in the general than others, then that’s a clear-eyed conversation that we should be having.”
Pelosi also questioned the legality of Tillemann’s tape, which was recorded without Hoyer’s knowledge. Colorado does not require two-party consent.
Involvement in primaries by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and party leaders is expected, especially in top targeted districts Democrats are hoping to flip. Crowded primaries can hurt Democrats’ chances of flipping a seat if a clear front-runner does not emerge and grueling fights between Democrats drag on.
Tillemann and Crow running to take on vulnerable GOP Rep. Mike Coffman. Coffman’s race is deemed a “toss up” by non-partisan forecasters and Hillary Clinton won the district in 2016.
The primary is June 26.
