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It’s almost impossible to narrow down, but if push came to shove and I had to choose just a few qualities I dislike most in politicians, disconnection and entitlement would be right at the top.
These traits are endemic in safe blue districts, found most often among well-heeled, corporate-backed lawmakers. In recent years, a new vintage has emerged: those who barely won their first primaries, have values squarely to the right of their constituents, and tend to coast by unchallenged in subsequent elections. Here in New York, Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10) is the current standard-bearer for this kind of Democrat, and now that he’s on the verge of being successfully primaried by a progressive more aligned with the district’s median voter, it’s worth taking seriously a challenge against the Massachusetts equivalent, Rep. Jake Auchincloss.
The resume and circumstances are startlingly similar: Auchincloss occupied the center-right lane of a crowded primary election in 2020, squeaked out a fluke victory, and has operated with a sense of impunity ever since, imposing a pro-war and pro-corporate agenda on an urban lefty district. He is a magnet for corporate money, with a massive campaign war chest funded by Big Pharma, AIPAC (over $500K this cycle alone), financial institutions ($55K from Bain Capital, for example), and other beneficiaries of the unsustainable status quo, which he dutifully defends at every turn.
It’s no coincidence that he was the first lawmaker to use ChatGPT to write a speech delivered to Congress; the backlash to AI has not discouraged him from urging further investment in ways that will cause mass unemployment.
As the first chair of Majority Democrats, the new billionaire-funded, centrist PAC and spiritual successor to the Democratic Leadership Conference, Auchincloss is now the avatar of billionaires and the worst strain of neoliberals who drove the party into the ground over the past 30 years. His politics is are meant to assuage the rich and force milquetoast candidates on petrified Democratic voters, employing a “blue no matter who” ethos until it no longer benefits that wing of the party.
Last week for seemingly endorsing Maine Sen. Susan Collins for re-election to a seat that Democrats absolutely have to flip to have any chance of winning the Senate. What’s interesting about his ongoing involvement in the Maine primary is that he has a primary challenger of his own: Jason Poulos, a healthcare engineer and AI expert whose agenda fits the populist moment.
Poulos has spent his career striving to understand the systems that both endanger and protect us, and has applied his computer science background to fighting for human-centered policies and solutions.
As Poulos told me in our chat last week, he was initially driven to join this race by Auchincloss’s unyielding support for Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza, but also believes in everything that his representative does not: Medicare for All, AI policy designed to put people first, universal basic income, ending corporate money in politics, and seriously tackling the cost of housing.
No, he does not have much campaign money. And no, he is not a bold-faced name or from a wealthy prominent family, as Auchincloss is. But this is the moment to back grassroots candidates, to send a message to Democrats who believe they can work against their constituents without any consequences, to strive for something better while that is still possible.
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