The Democratic congressional primary in MN-2 between Angie Craig and Jeff Erdmann took an unexpected turn Tuesday, just two weeks before the Feb 6 caucus (the first round of the byzantine, non-binding, 3-part, 2-month process).
Ryan Grim reported in the Intercept that Ms. Craig, as chair of the corporate St. Jude Medical PAC in 2012, funnelled campaign cash to Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Orrin Hatch, Elizabeth Warren’s opponent Scott Brown, and many other Republicans deadset on taking down President Obama and the ACA. These PAC donations are public record and haven’t been disputed by the Craig campaign.
I’ve lived in this district and have been actively involved with the DFL for decades. I caucused for Angie in 2016, and volunteered and donated in the general, as I did for Mike Obermueller in 2012 and 2014. Personally, I’m livid. And so are a lot of other DFLers who remember what it took to get Obamacare passed and what it cost us politically, not to mention the incalculable good it’s done for people's lives since it was passed.
Given the subzero cold front we’ve had the last month, the Minnesota Vikings making a playoff run, and the inherently low-turnout, low-awareness nature of DFL caucuses, things had been pretty quiet in this race until Tuesday, with a lot of Dems not even realizing it was happening or that there were multiple people running this time. After going to a DFL event in Dakota County yesterday and talking to colleagues in my senate district today, I can assure you that’s no longer the case.
I’ve heard people who are confused, conflicted, furious, furious that anyone’s acknowledging a Dem frontrunner’s flaws at all, and just plain depressed. Which seems apropos for Democrats these days. As the Craig story was hitting, another story dropped about DFL Chair Ken Martin telling This American Life, on tape, that the DFL brand is “fucking shit” and “toxic,” which has delighted Minnesota Republicans to no end. Thanks, Ken.
MN-2 is a purple swing district in the southeast suburbs of St. Paul and Minneapolis (Wiki) that stretches to the rural south. Considered a true toss up by the Cook Political Report, the seat is held by radical Republican Jason Lewis, a right-wing former radio shock jock who came to national prominence guest hosting the Rush Limbaugh show. Lewis is far more conservative than the district, and widely seen as one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in America. It’s a bellwether district and a crucial seat for our hopes of a wave that takes the House. (After MN-2 was redrawn in 2010, its presidential results have been: 49-49 Obama-Romney and 47-45 Trump-Clinton; Sanders beat Clinton 62-38 in MN-2 in the Dem presidential caucus).
What happened in MN-2 in 2016
We didn’t have a competitive congressional primary last cycle. Angie Craig, an executive for the St. Jude medical device corporation, self-funded and easily became the nominee. Because Lewis was thought to be so controversial and unappealing (he’s weak on slavery, seriously), most establishment Republicans abandoned him and Craig was widely viewed as the favorite in the general.
Unfortunately, despite outspending Lewis by several million and blanketing the airwaves with negative ads about his reprehensible statements, Craig lost by 2 points in a devastating upset. She received identical support to Mike Obermueller in 2012 despite spending over $4 million more than his campaign. And she actually drew fewer votes than the largely unknown state house and senate candidates, which is almost unheard of, especially for a candidate as well-funded as Craig. A third party candidate also drew 8% of the vote. I have no idea if another 3rd party candidate will be formidable this year, and obviously that’s a big factor regardless of the Dem nominee.
Angie Craig is seeking the DFL nomination again in 2018 and so is local high school teacher Jeff Erdmann, a first-time candidate who’s been running primarily on Medicare For All and reforming the political system and campaign finance.
Revelations about Angie Craig’s corporate PAC work against the ACA in 2012
The Grim piece is torturously long, with internecine Democratic Party/DCCC process stuff that’ll make most people’s eyes glaze over. But the unexpected news about Angie Craig’s 2012 corporate PAC work for Republicans and against the Affordable Care Act is what DFLers in Minnesota are freaking out about the last two days.
From the report:
Craig, while at the medical device company St. Jude Medical, directed the firm’s political action committee in the 2012 election cycle, after spending the previous six years on its board. The goal of the St. Jude PAC was to buy influence with Republican and Democratic leaders, as well as members of the tax-writing committees, in pursuit of repealing the medical device tax that was a key funding mechanism of the Affordable Care Act. The effort eventually met with significant success.
While she ran it, the PAC spent heavily on Republican politicians, directing funds in the 2012 cycle to Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell, Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch, Scott Brown, Mike Enzi, Richard Burr, Bob Corker, and John Barrasso. Then-Speaker John Boehner and presumed-future-speaker Kevin McCarthy, as well as the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, all got money from Craig’s PAC.
My only child is a millennial cancer survivor who’s relied enormously on the ACA. He finished treatment in 2010 at age 21, and his ability to stay on my plan to age 26 was life-changing for us, as was the removal of pre-existing conditions. He’s also relied on the marketplace in periods of self-employment. I don’t even like to think about where our lives would be without the ACA, and the idea of a so-called Democrat working to support the most vile, anti-Obama Republicans in Congress to weaken the ACA for the sake of a private medical device company’s bottom line is profoundly upsetting.
I’m not naive; I know PACs give money to influential members in both parties to foster influence, and that to be viable, congressional candidates need to raise money. Business is business; obviously you expect a major medical device company to oppose a medical device tax. But business doesn’t have to be business when it comes to picking Democrats who will actually fight for the interests of working and struggling people. Is it too much to ask, in 2018, that Democratic candidates haven’t literally made millions by working for a private medical giant and actively backed Republicans trying to take down President Obama and our Democratic agenda? If it is, we’re in deeper trouble than even Ken Martin thinks.
Craig was not a rank and file employee following orders; she was the chair of the PAC and an executive and board member at the company. If you believe in the ideals of the Democratic Party and see accessible healthcare as a basic right, how on earth do you go to work every day and direct money to racist, malevolent Republicans like Mitch McConnell, who was making zero secret at the time about the fact that taking down Barack Obama and repealing the ACA was their central agenda?
I’m really glad this came out before the Tuesday, February 6 caucus. I want to believe this will be disqualifying in a Democratic race. If it’s not, who the hell are we?
