Kerri Harris – Current Front Runner vs John Carney in Gov Primary
There will be a progressive challenge to the directionless governorship of John Carney.
Looking at possible progressive primary challengers, you have to put Kerri Harris at the top of the list. She has a statewide profile and has stayed active up and down the state. She has kept her campaign peeps close, and she still has some Senate campaign debt to retire. It all adds up to Kerri Harris being the frontrunner to knock off the rudderless and widely disliked John Carney.
“Our elected officials are now trying to prove that they are truly the elected officials for the people. And that is something that they didn’t have to do before,” she said.
How worried should John Carney be?
He would be a fool to not be worried. He is frankly terrible. He hasn’t built any real base of support inside or outside of the party. If he sees Ken Simpler ramping up a campaign, all the alarm bells will be ringing on the 12th floor of 820 N. French Street. Will those alarm bells stir Carney to try and govern as a Democrat? Sadly, no. Because the alarms will be warning him about Ken Simpler, not Kerri Harris.
What does Simpler have to do with this?
There is no way Simpler runs if he thinks Carney is going to be the nominee. What would be the point of two centrists “budget smoothers” facing off against each other? If, however, he thinks Harris can pull off an upset, he would probably think he has an opening. He wouldn’t in a Presidential year, but he could be persuaded to try and win over some “dems” who think they have more in common with an Ivy League legacy millionaire than they have with someone who works for a living. Without hope (and his millions) what else does Simpler have?
I don’t get the KEH thing? So is she running just to run for something? Because someone who wants to be a US Senator works on a whole base of issues different from being a Chief Executive of a State. Regardless, if she really is going to try this she better start soon considering we may have an April primary. But if I was a betting man, my money still easily be on Carney.
The point isn’t to win. The point is to influence the governor to move to the left.
All Republicans and all shitty Democrats must constantly be put on notice that the bullshit days are over.
There is no offseason. This isn’t an election, it is a movement.
Simpler isn’t running. Trump at the top of the ticket is a non-starter in Delaware. If Alby is right, I think it’s very possible KEH runs and has the same affect she had on Carper. Which depending on your perspective can be a productive thing. That said, expect the same electoral results that she had with Carper.
It’s early in the session, but I haven’t seen any of the presumed KEH impact on Carper. Yes, she nudged him to the left in the campaign but I’m betting he closes his Senate career with six years as a pro-Pharma, pro-business, reach-across-the-aisle-and-latch-onto-nothing DINO.
KEH might nudge Carney into a kinder, gentler posture during the campaign, but he’d go back to being a State Chamber stooge the moment the hatchet is buried on Return Day.
A challenger who might prick his conscience, or just wake him up for a couple of months, really won’t do any good.
We need someone who can toss him onto the street.
Carney is no Carper. If she gets similar numbers, she wins.
LOL
Being a progressive around here who also understands things take time can be humorous.
I had to look it up.
Carney got 35K vs Markell.
Harris got 29K vs Carper.
Obviously, Carney goes in as the favorite. But if this matchup happens it will be close. If Carney uses the next year to continue building his brand as a checked out middle manager – it could be very close.
This is very doable.
Carney had a million dollars and a large state apparatus and a 2 year long campaign… and neither candidate was the incumbent. KEH would be running against an incumbent Governor which is unprecented in modern times. Not saying it couldn’t or even it’s not something that is possible. However there would have to be a huge shift for it to go from a pulling the agenda left to a credible challenge.
The impossible is always impossible up until the moment that it is possible.
I’d rather she take down Coons.
Coons is no Carper, but he sure knows how to get his face on TV.
The state is billion of dollars in the red, yeah lets elect a progressive….that should turn those billions into trillions
The only way the state is in the red is that it issues bonds, and it pays them off well enough to earn a top bond rating.
So with all due respect, which ain’t much, what the fuck are you babbling about?
You are correct, I used the term “red” as a shorthand bonded debt, Delaware ranks 40ith (the highest being 50) in bonded debt per capita. We also have the highest corporate income tax rate (that includes gross receipts tax).The current unfunded state health care and pension liability is estimate to be at $13 billion. I suspect that a “Governor Harris” administration would drive those numbers higher. And by the way, why do discussions on progressive websites always seem to include vulgar language (which I use regularly but not in correspondence that others may read)?
“We also have the highest corporate income tax rate (that includes gross receipts tax).”
Not really.
In reality Delaware is a tax haven
“why do discussions on progressive websites always seem to include vulgar language?”
Because I find that vulgar language separates the wusses from the people whose priorities are in the right place.
These metrics that you mention are meaningless. Who cares where we rank among the states for these things? And in what way is our bonded indebtedness having any effect on anything in the real world? Hint: It doesn’t.
Keep reading right-wing nonsense and you’ll turn into a moron. Keep going, you’re about halfway there.
You can’t seem to muster a reasoned response…would that not be the definition of a wuss?
Dude, Delaware is a renowned tax haven. Millions laundered in secret through here everyday.
Go listen to Michael Dell at Davos make the same stupid argument as you do and get fucking embarrassed.
Oligarch “charitable foundations” are money laundering operations.
Now run along little guy….
https://youtu.be/8akySjXuOAs
I watched the whole thing. I’ll preface by saying I agree that Davos is a lovely world wide Kumbaya of cultural and economic progressive elitists, They generally have “sage” advice telling other people how to manage their lives. I found Sam Seder to have almost no useful insights (I could have learned more
by watching ESPN)….Your obsession with Michael Dell’s exchange lacks intellectual rigor. Dell is basically correct. And the MIT economist left out a vital fact. Yes it 20th century with did have some very high tax rates on our most wealthy citizens BUT we had so many legal tax avoidance schemes that the effect tax rate was nowhere near the 70% to 90% range. . I suspect Mike Dell and Bill Gates both use foundation dollars towards better results that if the money was placed in government hands.
Oh Vanella, one more thing….If you have a college degree I suggest you ask that institution for a refund
“Your obsession with Michael Dell’s exchange lacks intellectual rigor.”
This is the kind of sentence dumb people write when they’re trying to sound smart.
Is that your idea of a smart response? Dell is basically correct. This week’s Economist has some thoughtful ideas on the best way to increase taxes on the most weathy, you might try putting ideology aside and read it
intellectual vigor!
Yeah, your entire premise relies on “I suspect” Dell and Gates…
Your suspicions are quite vigorous.
And yes everyone understand the problem of tax avoidance.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/30/historian-berates-billionaires-at-davos-over-tax-avoidance
No, it wouldn’t. The reasoned response was right there: Those metrics are meaningless. They were made up by the people who compile them, and they don’t actually mean anything. Let’s say your state finishes first? What difference does it make to you?
The only meaningful measure of “indebtedness” is how your bonds are rated by the market. Ours are very high, demonstrating that the “market” you quacks love had reached a different conclusion than a couple of wingnut welfare cases hired by a wingnut welfare factory.
Until you learn that conservatism is not intellectually honest, there’s no point in giving you a “reasoned” response.
You are entirely incorrect to assume that bond rating is the only measure. I find it completely intellectually dishonest of you to assume by raising the tax burden on the wealthy (really the burden falls mostly on the middle class) will have much affect on those at the lower end of the income scale. We will do more for those who are economically disadvantaged if we improve the economic environment here in Delaware. The wealthy always find a way of minimizing their taxes as they did when the highest rate federal rate was 90%. I suspect you and I both agree that it a well designed tax code should minimize “loopholes”
“really the burden falls on the middle class”
really, it doesn’t.
Fuck off, eric. Apologist scumbag.
You seem incapable of a meaningful discussion. Although I assume you dont let facts interfere with your emotions. And for those of you reading this discussion I hope you understand that I don’t assume to have all of the right answers. I want everyone in Delaware to thrive, simply taxing the rich won’t succeed is not a cure (although I wouldn’t mind being rich)
Here are some statistics from the Tax Foundation, Vanella dont read this, it will confuse you:
The data demonstrates that the U.S. individual income tax continues to be very progressive, borne mainly by the highest income earners.
In 2014, 139.6 million taxpayers reported earning $9.71 trillion in adjusted gross income and paid $1.37 trillion in individual income taxes.
The share of income earned by the top 1 percent of taxpayers rose to 20.6 percent in 2014. Their share of federal individual income taxes also rose, to 39.5 percent.
In 2014, the top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97.3 percent of all individual income taxes while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 2.7 percent.
The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (39.5 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (29.1 percent).
The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 27.1 percent individual income tax rate, which is more than seven times higher than taxpayers in the bottom 50 percent (3.5 percent).
Choke on my balls you fucking bootlicker.
What are you talking about? We pass a balanced budget every year, and even have a Rainy Day Fund surplus. We have a top bond rating.
Poor chap. The state is awash in money. We just let it move to the Cayman Islands without getting our cut. So, yeah let’s elect a progressive who has the guts to go after some of that dough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NYFq7ZJg4c
https://www.mercatus.org/statefiscalrankings/delaware
Thanks. More evidence that we need someone with the guts to go after the huge piles of money that move through the state.
Right-wing nut jobs make up a bunch of metrics that nobody else cares about to measure what they claim constitutes “fiscal health.” The giveaway is “George Mason University,” which is a right-wing welfare mother lode for crackpot economists whose theories never match real-world practice.
Pass.
Alby’s on it. George Mason is Koch Brothers shit. Weak like a rube.
You’re right about the Koch brothers!, they give money , apparently close to $1.5 billion to public television, medical research, higher education, criminal justice reform and the arts…and environmental stewardship …..lets vilify them!
Yeah, those Koch’s are real givers.
No, let’s make them pay their fair share of taxes. The “defense” budget, for example, is money spent to keep oligarchs rolling in dough, so normal people shouldn’t have to fund it. And so on.
Their money was made through their father’s “intellectual property” patents, so I see no reason not to vilify them. Or am I supposed to like them because they support the most useless art form known to man, ballet?
Carney is different from carper, who casts votes in a legislative body. Unlike a senator, Carney lacks peer pressure from his actual peers. There’s less for him to gain by running to the left.
Besides, his appeal is to centrists a la the Delaware way. I bet a primary challenge won’t do much, if anything to change his agenda as a lame duck gov.
“There’s less for him to gain by running to the left.”
A possible second term? Then again he doesn’t seem very interested in that.
Seems doable. I’m in.
@Eric: “You are entirely incorrect to assume that bond rating is the only measure.”
I said it’s the only measure with real-world effects, making it the only measure that matters. You can make up any measure you want; the trick is showing its effects, and not just on the economic equation level. Economics is a pretend science, as its theories continue to be either untestable or impossible to separate from the background noise. Beyond that, rating the states against each other rather than a standard demonstrates the intellectual falsity of the entire enterprise. It’s not a fucking contest, unless you’re a wingnut welfare recipient trying to justify your paycheck.
“I find it completely intellectually dishonest of you to assume by raising the tax burden on the wealthy (really the burden falls mostly on the middle class) will have much affect on those at the lower end of the income scale. ”
I’d be more impressed by your false intellectualism if you knew the difference between “effect” and “affect,” but to treat your statement as serious, you attribute a claim to me I never made (that’s intellectual dishonesty, pal, which I point out because you clearly don’t know the meaning of the term) and then make a claim of your own that 1) isn’t true and 2) you provide no evidence of.
“We will do more for those who are economically disadvantaged if we improve the economic environment here in Delaware.”
No, we won’t. We’ve been trying that for 40 years and, other than legalizing usury and thereby making life miserable for much of the middle class you claim to worry about, it hasn’t worked. What evidence do you have?
“The wealthy always find a way of minimizing their taxes as they did when the highest rate federal rate was 90%.”
As you point out, they always find a way, and they do it no matter what the rate is. It’s lower than ever now and they’re still doing it. So the intellectual failure of your “reasoning” should be obvious.
“I suspect you and I both agree that it a well designed tax code should minimize “loopholes”
Define loopholes, and demonstrate why a tax code with more than two income levels would fail to meet your standard of being “well designed.” Also, the ways that rich people cheat the taxman involve what I think you’re calling loopholes, which negates your complaint that they always dodge taxes.
Thanks in advance, I’m out for the afternoon. I’ll check back tonight.
@Eric:
“The data demonstrates that the U.S. individual income tax continues to be very progressive, borne mainly by the highest income earners.”
First, that’s not the definition of “very progressive”; second, that’s sloppy use of “mainly,” when it’s a plurality; and third, so what? The rich pay more, but is it too much, and says who? You’re simply reciting statistics, comparing them to nothing — not rates of the past, not rates in other countries, nothing. Yet you claim that the rich always dodge taxes anyway, so why raise them.
You’re an empty vessel, son, that’s been filled with the intellectual equivalent of ultra-lite beer. Fluffing rich people is no way to go through life.
Also, if you’re going to cut and paste from the Tax Foundation, be a mensch and provide the link.
This isn’t the Senate. You actually have to know how state government works to run for Governor. Platitudes and national talking points will work in a Senate race, but not in a Governor’s race. She also won’t be able to depend on out of state organizations to support her in a Governor’s race in little Delaware like she could muster in a Senate run. She’ll get eaten alive. Say what you want about Carney, he is no absentminded professor like Carper. He knows his stuff and is more reflective of Delawareans than KEH. Her performance was not that good against Carper anyway, so I’m not sure where all of this faith in her comes from. Also, Carney can’t even be pushed to the left by the Dems in Dover, so good luck.
“You actually have to know how state government works to run for Governor. Platitudes and national talking points will work in a Senate race, but not in a Governor’s race.”
How did Carney win then?
word
(The idea that Carney “knows” and Kerri “doesn’t know” is suspicious as fuck.)
Like there’s some special knowledge!
Ya, everyone should apply your diplomatic methods of insulting everyone and expect results.
I get the exact result I’m after every single time you anonymous worm-brained dumbfuck.
True story.
Good on ya my friend!
Bane.
I got news for ya motherfucker. No one’s gettin’ “eaten alive”.
I know you think there is some special thing. There isn’t. You’re confused.
Well, there is, but it ain’t what you think it is.
I’m so tired of hearing abou KEH. She had some good ideas and is a good person but let’s stop pretending she ran good campaign! She got creamed by over 30 points losing every county and the city of Wilmington. I see progressives saying they want to “build off that”, what 34 percent? My cat could of gotten 34 percent being an alternative to carper
Haha. No.
Actually, we have a number for how your cat — or a guy named Keith Spanarelli, which is pretty much the same thing — performed against Carper. Spanarelli got 12.1% in 2012. Kerri Harris nearly tripled that percentage, and almost quintupled the 6,000-odd votes Spanarelli got.
So, short version, your claim is bogus. Considering how little money she had, she ran a remarkably successful campaign.
Lotta dumbfucks out lately. It’s fun.
Attn: This is a local blog on the internet. It is replete with anonymous cowards, trolls, fucksticks and the mentally deficient. There are maybe four people here in good faith. If you were under some impression that this is the space for rational persuasion and results driven commentary I’m afraid I have terrible news.
“Rudeness is the weak mans version of strength”*….. and as for chocking on your balls….no thanks we’re having leftovers
*Eric Hoffer
@Eric: Here’s how you kicked off your little visit to our humble internet abode:
“The state is billion of dollars in the red, yeah lets elect a progressive….that should turn those billions into trillions”
This is either absurd or hyperbole, but you have not acknowledged that it was either. Instead you have turned to what one supposes was the original source of your claim, a “study” by a conservative think tank ranking the states in order of what someone at George Mason University has decreed is their “fiscal health.” This consists mostly of an entirely unremarkable amalgamation of budget items involving long-term debt.
Yes, that number can be measured in the billions, but your claim that it would reach “trillions” is absurd even as hyperbole. The state has an annual budget of about $4.5 billion. If we put the entire budget on credit, it would take 100 years to reach $450 billion — not even half a trillion dollars. Granted, we’d have to pay interest, but when you owe the bank that much money, you don’t have a problem — the bank has a problem.
Does this help you understand why we won’t treat you seriously?
My guess was either a.) owns a car dealership or b.) real estate. Real estate right?
Yeah, like I get why you’re bought in, pal. You, and people who share your political and economic ideas, are fucking vile swine. I hope for nothing but pain and darkness in your life.
Fucking, real estate. Jesus god damn christ. You fucking fraud. This is fucking bro wonder bread shit. Guy’s a joke. REAL ESTATE.. hahaha. Intellectual titan this fucking guy.
Thinks he’s part of the Davos set. Middle class Yucubian devils! Are creations of capitalism and privilege. Eric.
This is the dumbfuck shit we’re dealing with, folks.
https://twitter.com/_waleedshahid/status/1092589787259781125
….. Howard Schultz says billionaires should be referred to as “people of means” or “people of wealth.” ……
I bet Eric calls ’em “POWs”…
Alternatively…
https://twitter.com/AoDespair/status/1092609308062232581
….. “Cash-bloated guillotine basket bait” is permissible on a second reference.
As soon as he figures out that he is damaging his brand and losing money we’ll find out exactly how badly he wants to “walk in the shoes of the American people.”