Former Hillary Clinton aide, Peter Daou, who led digital operations for Clinton’s 2008 campaign, is contemplating running against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY). The revelation came about when Daou joined MSNBC’s Ari Melber.
"The Democratic Party leadership needs to change. And I'll be perfectly frank. I've floated this and I'm actually seriously considering. I've been a long-time Upper West Side resident of Manhattan and I'm considering running to primarily Representative [Jerry] Nadler," Daou said. "I respect him, he's a good progressive–"
"I know you but I didn't know that," Melber said.
"The reason is–" Daou started to say.
"People would argue Chairman Nadler, more than [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, has been trying to push for impeachment, which what you're talking about," Melber said.
"Well, that's what's being said, however, just like many other Democratic politicians who have been willing to step up in the House, and say, look, whatever the Speaker says, I believe it should happen now," Daou said. "The reason I say this, and I'm only considering it, I'm considering it because I want to walk the talk. I can't just say we should do this if I'm not willing to stand up and do this."
Daou has also said he wants Democrats to use their “inherent contempt power” to hold those who defy Congressional subpoenas accountable. Specifically, Congress can “unilaterally arrest and detain an individual found to be ‘obstruct[ing] the performance of the duties of the legislature,'" although it hasn't been utilized since the 1960s.
This will be extremely interesting to watch. The Democratic Party has so much infighting going on right now. On one hand, Pelosi wants her caucus to play more to the middle as a way of helping a Democrat take down Trump next year. On the other hand, there's a large faction of her caucus that is more progressive and wants these "bold approaches" to things, like impeaching President Trump.
Nadler has represented the same district since 1992. He's Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. By all accounts Nadler's seat should be considered "safe" but he may be in real danger if progressives feel as though he's not pushing hard enough or advocating for progressive policies as much as they'd like.
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