The Liberal Netroots Reboots in North Carolina

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The liberal netroots was dealt a big blow last week with the defeat of Bill Halter in the Arkansas Senate primary against Sen. Blanche Lincoln. But the activist left is now trying to regroup and is now rallying behind another Democratic Senate prospect who’s challenging the party establishment. On Tuesday, MoveOn.org came out in support North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who’s running against former state Rep. Cal Cunningham in the Democratic primary to challenge Sen. Richard Burr (R-SC).

The MoveOn endorsement marks the culmination of the national netroots support that’s coalesced behind Marshall, whose supporters include Howard Dean’s Democracy for America and ActBlue, which has raised over $45,000 in grassroots donations for her campaign. Marshall bested Cunningham by 9 points in the May 5 primary but didn’t break 40 percent of the vote, forcing a run-off that will be held next Tuesday. The pick of the Democratic National Committee, Cunningham has raised almost twice as much money as Marshall, heavily bolstered by nearly $80,000 from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But Marshall has tried to use her outsider status to her advantage, painting herself as an unabashed progressive who’s running against the Beltway status quo.

But when it comes down to it, there’s not much to differentiate the two candidates in terms of policy views. In a televised debate last week, they “mirrored each other’s positions on offshore drilling (they oppose it), the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy governing gays in the military (they want to repeal it) and even used similar language on illegal immigration (“we cannot deport our way” out of the problem, they said.),” as Politico reports. And either candidate would face an uphill battle to unseat Burr, whose favorability ratings remain low but still leads both Democratic prospects by double digits. The main difference seems to be between who’s received the blessing of the party establishment and who hasn’t. The liberal netroots has made it clear which side they’re going to take.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate