The co-founders of the progressive PAC that helped launch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s winning 2018 campaign have set their sights on finding Democratic candidates to run against moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona when they are up for reelection in 2024.
Saikat Chakrabarti, Corbin Trent, and Zack Exley, the co-founders of No Excuses PAC, told Politico they have begun a search for candidates to take on Senate Democrats who are standing in the way of progressive actions to end the coronavirus pandemic and help the economy, starting with Manchin and Sinema.
The two moderate Democrats have taken on new power as Democrats control the Senate by slim margins: the legislative body is evenly divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tiebreaking vote. Both have expressed opposition to abolishing the legislative filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold for most legislation.
That opposition, as well as Manchin’s comments that he might not support $2,000 stimulus payments, pushed No Excuses to look for potential challengers, the group said.
“The only real way to pressure any of these folks and hold them accountable to their promises is to threaten their power, and threaten the seat that they hold and threaten their reelection,” Chakrabarti, who is also a former chief-of-staff to Ocasio-Cortez, reportedly told Politico. “We sort of have this theory that the voters in Arizona and the voters in West Virginia would care more about action, they care more about jobs and their community and money in their pockets than they do about an arcane Senate rule called the filibuster.”
He said No Excuses PAC is “not looking for more left-leaning Democrats” but ones who won’t protect the filibuster. Exley said the group’s goal is to “shock” Manchin and Sinema “into seeing reality” and “how angry Democratic primary voters are going to be” if they continue to support the filibuster.
While Manchin, 73, may not even run for another term, the search will launch in coming weeks with recruitment ads across radio, digital, and newspapers in West Virginia and Arizona. The group will ask local Democrats and voters to nominate potential candidates, as well.
The organization aims to do what the Justice Democrats have done in the House. Justice Democrats, which was co-founded in part by Exley and Chakrabarti, has helped defeat a number of establishment Democrats in recent years, including former Representatives Joe Crowley, Eliot Engel and Lacy Clay.
However, Justice Democrats has not been able to flip a Republican-held district, which could spell trouble for the new project’s ability to compete in conservative and swing seats.
Manchin holds a seat in West Virginia, which has grown increasingly red in recent years, while Arizona is a swing state currently represented by two Democrats in the Senate.
The group says it may also work on the open Senate races in Pennsylvania and Ohio in 2022 and added that they will not rule out a challenge against Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, though they have been pleased with the New York Democrat’s willingness to pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill with or without Republican support.
“I don’t know if it’s necessary, it will come down to what [Schumer] actually does,” Chakrabarti said. “It’s an option that we should never throw out. It’s one of the tools in the chest of holding Democrats accountable.”