Beto vs. Democrats: Texas Lawmaker Frequently Voted to Help Trump and GOP.

[elleng]

Co-published by The Guardian

'How Beto O’Rourke, a potential Democratic candidate for president, has undermined his own party’s efforts to halt the GOP agenda.

A rising Democratic star has voted for GOP bills that Trump critics say have aided big banks, undercut the fight against climate change and supported the president’s anti-immigrant agenda.

Following Beto O’Rourke’s spirited run for the U.S. Senate, powerful voices in the Democratic Party establishment have touted the outgoing Texas congressman as a 2020 presidential candidate who, as the party’s standard-bearer, would offer a vision of America contrasting against that of Republicans. However, a Capital & Main review of congressional votes shows that even as O’Rourke has represented one of the most Democratic congressional districts in the entire country, he has in many instances undermined his own party’s efforts to halt the GOP agenda, frequently voting against the majority of House Democrats in support of Republican bills and Trump administration positions.

Capital & Main reviewed the 167 votes O’Rourke has cast in opposition to the majority of his own party in the House during his six-year tenure in Congress. Many of those votes were not progressive dissents alongside other left-leaning lawmakers but were instead votes to help pass Republican-sponsored legislation. In many cases, Democratic lawmakers said that those measures were designed to help corporate interests dismantle Obama administration programs and regulations.

Amid persistently high economic inequality and a climate change crisis, O’Rourke has voted for GOP bills that his fellow Democratic lawmakers said reinforced Republicans’ tax agenda, chipped away at the Affordable Care Act, weakened Wall Street regulations, boosted the fossil fuel industry and bolstered Trump’s immigration policy. Consumer, environmental, public health and civil rights organizations have cast legislation backed by O’Rourke as aiding big banks, undermining the fight against climate change and supporting Trump’s anti-immigrant program. During the previous administration, President Barack Obama’s White House issued statements slamming two GOP bills backed by the 46-year-old Democratic legislator.

O’Rourke’s votes for Republican tax, trade, health care, criminal justice and immigration-related legislation not only defied his national party, but also at times put him at odds even with a majority of Texas Democratic lawmakers in Congress. Such votes underscore his membership in the New Democrat Coalition, the faction of House Democrats most closely aligned with business interests.'>>>

https://capitalandmain.com/beto-vs-democrats-texas-lawmaker-frequently-voted-to-help-trump-and-gop-1220?

[jberryhill]

1. I Hereby Declare Primary Season To Have Started - Let The Games Begin!

https://capitalandmain.com/advisory-board

Advisory Board

Jared Bernstein
Former Chief Economist, Vice President Joe Biden

[elleng]

2. Guess so. PLEASE put the gun aside!

[jberryhill]

3. Can't have a circular firing squad without guns

[elleng]

4. Sure we can, we're DEMOCRATS!!!

[jberryhill]

6. .

[KPN]

15. Circular firing squad? Factual information is

equivalent to that?

I’ve been a Beto fan based on what I saw and heard from him in his campaign for Cruz’s position. But this is eye opening info of use for me in assessing whether he deserves my vote in a primary. I saw it The Guardian and was going to post it here at DU before I saw elleng’s post. Haven’t made any decisions, but I definitely value information about a candidates record. You?

[Gothmog]

20. CNN-Bernie Sanders Supporters should worry about Beto

Harry Enten has some good analysis https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/bernie-sanders-beto-orourke-supporters-2020/index.html

The Beto O'Rourke 2020 train seems to be gaining steam. Those backing other potential candidates want donors and pundits to slow their Beto roll, however.

Among the most prominent critics are supporters of Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders who believes the Texan isn't progressive enough.

Sanders fans have at least some reason to worry. O'Rourke or really any other candidate with outsider appeal could eat into Sanders' base of young, independent-leaning voters.

If Sanders is going to win in 2020, he'll need to hold onto his support from 2016. He won more than 40% of the national primary vote, though he lost by low double-digits to Clinton national

[Gothmog]

5. I love the fact that sanders supporters are so terrified of Beto

[itsrobert]

8. Yup, they are trying to rally their base

Bernie backers like The Guardian and Robert Reich out with hit pieces thinking we are stooges to fall for it.

[jberryhill]

9. This particular website linked in the OP...

https://capitalandmain.com/advisory-board

Robert Reich
Former U.S. Labor Secretary

[hedda_foil]

7. Sanders, Schmanders. I don't want the nominee to be a pro-corporate "New Dem"

I actually voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, though this year, I'm almost certainly going to support another candidate yet to be determined. I have been dazzled by Beto's skillz but I would never vote for a business Democrat in the primary. That's the last thing we need, no matter how adorable he is.

[George II]

10. Oh geeze..........that simply is NOT true! Here's ProPublica's analysis of his votes:

https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/O000170/votes-against-party/114

For 2013-2014:

Rep. O'Rourke voted against a majority of House Democrats 60 times (6.0%) in the 113th Congress (2013-14). The average House Democrat voted against his or her party 11.0% of the time.

For 2015-2016:

Rep. O'Rourke voted against a majority of House Democrats 47 times (4.9%) in the 114th Congress (2015-16). The average House Democrat voted against his or her party 5.6% of the time.

For 2017-2018:

Rep. O'Rourke has voted against a majority of House Democrats 60 times (8.2%) in the 115th Congress (2017-18). He ranks 74th among all representatives in voting against his party. The average House Democrat votes against his or her party 7.1% of the time.

These are just raw vote counts, which include hundreds of procedural votes not votes on policy or legislation. Over his entire ~6 years in office he's voted "against" his party less than the average of House Democrats.

[elleng]

11. Thanks.

Will be interesting to compare the 2 'analyses.'

Note: 'Capital & Main reviewed the 167 votes O’Rourke has cast in opposition to the majority of his own party in the House during his six-year tenure in Congress.,' so they examined his particular votes, it appears.

[George II]

12. No problem. BTW, I just did the analysis for his entire six years....

He's participated in 2691 votes and voted against the Democratic majority 167 times. The average number of votes against the Democratic majority for House Democrats is 216.

Overall in his six years he's voted against the Democratic majority 6.2% of the time, the average for House Democrats is 7.1%

So O'Rourke has voted against the Democratic majority in few votes than most House Democrats.

That's excellent, especially considering (as I mentioned above) that these 2691 votes included hundreds if not thousands of procedural votes.

ProPublica has a listing of the actual votes themselves.

[emulatorloo]

13. Thanks for posting n/t

[Gothmog]

19. From Prof. Tribe

Link to tweet

[KPN]

16. That's good info. We should all be careful to not

jump to conclusions.

Having said that, this is a general metric that really doesn’t provide a clear picture. I want to know more about those particular votes (against the Dem Party) by any candidate. What they voted against and why may well be more important than the rate of voting against when evaluating Presidential candidates to my way of thinking.

Thanks for the Propublica reference.

[George II]

17. That would be good information to have. All these numbers being tossed around (mine, too)....

....are raw votes, and many of those could very likely be procedural votes that ALL Democrats vote for from time to time over the session.

Even so, despite the portray O'Rourke in a bad light, he's voted with Democrats much more than a lot of other Democrats.

[Hassler]

14. "Frequently" is 6% of the time--sounds like editorializing disguised as reporting.

[Gothmog]

18. Inside Bernie-world's war on Beto O'Rourke

Link to tweet

[Paladin]

22. Sure feels like "Bernie-world" to me. (nt)

[Gothmog]

21. From Governor Howard Dean

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

23. from my twitter feed

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

24. This NYT articles explains why sanders and his supporters are so worried about Beto

Link to tweet

Further, the political consulting firm led by three of Mr. Sanders’s top digital aides from the last campaign — Kenneth Pennington, Hector Sigala and Elizabeth Bennett — worked for Mr. O’Rourke’s Senate bid and are hoping to work on his presidential campaign should he run, according to a Democratic strategist familiar with the firm’s thinking.

Two veterans of Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign, Becky Bond and Zack Malitz, were instrumental this year in helping to organize Mr. O’Rourke’s race against Senator Ted Cruz. Both said they are eager to be a part of any “Beto for President’’ effort.

“I don’t know if Beto is going to run, but if he does I’m all in,” said Ms. Bond.

Mr. Malitz added: “I want Beto to run and would want to work on that campaign.”