For those upset that Ellison didn't win, let me remind you...

[politicat]

43. My IWW state level rep had an interesting argument.

The TGOP is in a mood to set fires just because they like to watch things burn.

Ellison promised to quit the House if elected. Which would mean a special election for his seat. Special elections are lower turnout and favor TGOP, and because nothing else is competing for the money at the time, they can be drastically overfunded. The TGOP has a war chest that the Dems don't have right now, and have a lot of money on tap.

Ellison's seat is considered safe, but safe because he's in it. MN5 doesn't have a deep bench because Ellison is good and popular there. In an open election, it gets a lot less safe, and it only has to be unsafe by a small margin, because TGOP doesn't care about longevity right now. They'd love to take that seat not because they need it, but because it would be a big old kick curb-stomp. It wouldn't even matter much if they retained the seat in 2018; taking it once would be a kick in the goolies. We need Ellison where he is, because it puts him in a better place to take a Senate seat (if Amy or Al retire or move up) or to run for the Governor's office, given that Mark Dayton is having some health issues and may not be up for a re-election fight. Personally, I'd much rather have the former public defender in the House and the civil rights lawyer at the DNC. They're both fighters, but with differing skills and strengths.

Perez was widely viewed as far-far-left as recently as 10 months ago, and is not significantly less left than Ellison. (Yeah, it would have been great if he had managed to get some criminal charges against the banksters who illegally foreclosed on veterans' houses. But that was a civil, not criminal case, and I'm pretty sure those vets were happy to have their money back...) When Wobblies are saying the guy is fine, really, Perez is fine.