The Pragmatic Reason to Vote for Jess Scarane

It’s a common challenge posed as a question: “How can Bernie Sanders get his plans through Congress?” Jess Scarane is part of the answer. The “revolution” Bernie invokes hinges on cashing in corporate careerists like Chris Coons for lawmakers who are advocates for the people.

Doing this is easier than establishment Democrats want you to believe it is — and make no mistake, they want you to think it’s not just hard, it’s impossible. That’s why so many of them come here to voice scorn about Scarane’s candidacy and their tacit, sometimes overt, support for Coons.

But why should Delaware Democrats elect a moderate? What’s in it for them?

There already are lots of Democratic senators with moderate views. In some cases it’s justifiable because they represent states with strong Republican parties. West Virginia’s Joe Manchin often sounds like a Republican because it’s mainly his ability to sound like a Republican that keeps him in office.

That’s not the case for Coons, or Delaware. The state GOP, as Jason has pointed out repeatedly, is comatose at best. The reality is that either Democrat, Coons or Scarane, will win this general election handily.

For Delaware Democrats, that reduces to question to this: What can Chris Coons do in Washington that Jess Scarane can’t? The centrist/moderate argument would be that he’s been there and so knows the ropes. Carper has always brought home pork in the form of protecting Amtrak, DAFB and, until real attacks began, the USPS. Coons has sucked up to individual Republicans, but there’s no evidence of his approach bearing fruit — he’d be crowing about it on Morning Joe if it had.

That brings us to a related question: What will Chris Coons do in Washington, and what would Jess Scarane do instead?

Coons has made clear with his every action and statement that he will prioritize working with Republicans. He will not join in the push for more progressive laws on health care, education or wealth taxes. He will continue to be among the Senate’s most hawkish supporters of Israel’s Likud Party. Jess Scarane, on the other hand, has pledged to work with the growing progressive movement in Congress. She won’t be doing it because it’s the easy way to extend her career in Washington. She’ll do it despite opposition from corporatists of both parties because it’s the right thing to do for the country and its people.

So we can either vote for a favor-currying accommodationist boomer who will act as a brake on the progressive movement or a service-oriented millennial who embraces it. Unless and until someone comes up with a legitimate risk associated with trading in Coons for Scarane, the choice is obvious. There is, quite literally for anyone who claims to share Democratic values, much to gain and nothing to lose.