The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC was the first allied group to back Mondaire Jones – the PAC’s first-ever independent expenditure campaign spent nearly $200,000 in support of his campaign

[WASHINGTON, DC] – June 26, 2020 – While votes are still being counted, all three of the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC’s endorsed candidates from Tuesday’s primaries hold commanding leads.

Mondaire Jones (NY-17), Dana Balter (NY-24), and Ritchie Torres (NY-15) are widely recognized as likely victors, as independent outlets have begun to call the races and opponents have begun to concede.

Jones, Torres, and Balter were all endorsed and supported by CPC PAC as they navigated contested Democratic primaries.

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  • The shakeup in New York also marks a huge moment for the Democrats’ left wing in the halls of Congress, including the 100-plus member Congressional Progressive Caucus. 

  • And the caucus is likely to pad its ranks even further in 2020 with more Democrats who support their ambitious agenda of tackling climate change, providing universal health care and overhauling the immigration system.

  • Tuesday’s primaries were a big test of the CPC’s political arm, which had endorsed two candidates in uncertain open-seat New York primaries with double-digit contenders in each race. Both of those candidates — Ritchie Torres and Jones — are now on track to win in New York’s 15th and 17th districts, respectively, though the races will not be called until after absentee ballots are counted next week.

  • Torres and Jones — who are both running in safe Democratic seats and are all but certain to win the general election this November — would also be the first two openly gay Black members of Congress.

  • The CPC’s campaign arm upped its efforts to play in open-seat primaries this year, launching its first ever independent expenditure to provide backing for Jones. It was the first allied group to launch ads supporting Jones, spending nearly $200,000 promoting his candidacy.

  • Their efforts this year were a big jump from two cycles ago when the CPC PAC raised just $300,000 in total. Buoyed by small-dollar donations, it has brought in more than $2 million so far in the 2020 cycle, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), co-chair of the CPC, said in an interview last week. 

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  • Getting Jones elected was a top priority for the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC. The group spent about $200,000 backing Jones’s candidacy, its first-ever independent expenditure.

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  • As of Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Jones, a lawyer supported by the institutional left and many national progressive leaders, had garnered more than twice the votes of his nearest rival, Adam Schleifer, a former federal prosecutor and the son of a pharmaceutical billionaire who had outspent Mr. Jones by more than five to one. Mr. Jones, however, benefited from some independent expenditures on his behalf, including by the Congressional Progressive Caucus [PAC].

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  • Torres has picked up the backing of the political arms of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the House LGBT Caucus, but he is far from the only credible candidate in the race.

  • In the affluent suburbs north of the city, a competitive primary in the 17th District to replace the retiring Lowey has also declined to show a clear frontrunner. National and local progressives have rallied around Jones, who is also the beneficiary of the first-ever independent expenditure from the political wing of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

POLITICO: Ally Mutnick: House progressives wade into New York primary

  • The political arm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus is launching its first-ever independent expenditure by weighing into a rare open seat in the suburbs north of New York City. The CPC’s political action committee is investing about $100,000 in digital ads and mailers to boost attorney Mondaire Jones in the 10-candidate race for the deep-blue district from which longtime Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) is retiring. 

  • Jones, an attorney who worked in the Obama administration, would be the first openly gay black member of Congress. He supports key progressive platforms like the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All” and has nabbed endorsements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) ahead of the June 23 primary. 

  • The PAC has vowed to spend at least $1 million in support of its endorsed candidates in the 2020 cycle and describes itself as one of the only outside spenders dedicated to solely to helping left-leaning candidates.

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  • Over the weekend, the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s political action committee, which had initially stayed out of a race with multiple liberal candidates, also threw its weight behind Mr. Torres. “Having a candidate who doesn’t fit a democratic mold, much less a progressive mold in New York City doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D, Wisc.), co-chairman of the Progressive Caucus PAC. “We wanted to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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  • By endorsing Jones last week, Sanders joined other progressive groups and leaders in backing the lawyer, who worked in the Obama administration. The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC launched its first independent expenditure to boost Jones, who is in a crowded field of eight Democrats.  Jones is among three candidates who have raised more than $1 million in the primary.

  • The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC endorsed New York City Councilman Ritchie Torres, noting in its endorsement that there are “dramatic stakes” in the race, since another city councilman, Rubén Díaz Sr., could win the primary with a plurality, given his high name recognition.

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  • “Mondaire is the only person really running with a progressive ideology,” said Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, the co-chair of the CPC [PAC], which has already endorsed 11 candidates this cycle and is making Jones the first beneficiary of a $1 million independent expenditure. “He’s got a great life story. He has the right value. And that made that a very easy race. You know, whoever wins that primary is more than likely to be the next member of Congress, so that’s the type of race that we’re more likely to get involved in.”

AuburnPub: Robert Harding: Francis Conole concedes, urges supporters to unite behind Dana Balter for Congress

  • Before absentee ballots are counted in four central New York counties, Francis Conole has conceded to Dana Balter in the 24th Congressional District Democratic primary election. Balter, D-Syracuse, has a nearly 30-point lead after the early votes and election night ballots were counted.

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