After the defeat of Hillary Clinton in last years election, and the splitting of the Democrat Party by the Sanders faction, everyone thought that leadership would have to make some major concessions to the members of the Socialist left wing. But in the wake of the expulsion of the Party’s national chairman for trying to fix the election in favor of Hillary, Nancy Pelosi chose to double down on the current path that has cost the Party hundreds of seats nationwide over the last 8 years.
But Bernie Sanders‘ supporters who scoffed at Pelosi’s re-election as House Minority Leader have now taken aim on the Party’s “Sacred Cow” from the Bay Area of California. Following the election, Pelosi confirmed she would preserve the status quo, claiming “I don’t think people want a new direction.”
In fact, at a CNN Town Hall as recently as February 2017, she again revealed her disdain for the Socialist wing of the Party, telling a Sanders supporter who asked if the Party would embrace Sanders’ populist message: “Well, I thank you for your question, but I have to say we’re capitalists—that’s just the way it is.” Pelosi then launched a rant, that the solution was to make billionaires and millionaires more empathetic. “We have to change the thinking of people,” she said.
That attitude has motivated Sanders Socialists to recruit more Radical candidates to challenge establishment Democrats in their primary elections. Including Stephen Jaffe, an employment attorney, to challenge Nancy Pelosi in her home district. When he was asked why he decided to run against the Party icon, He replied: “Two words: Bernie Sanders,” Jaffe went on to say: “My goal is to try to pull the Democratic Party away from the establishment, corporations, big money, big oil, big pharma, and return it to the people.”
Jaffe has worked on several campaigns and initiatives in the San Francisco area and was recruited by Bernie Sanders campaign as a senior attorney to observe and monitor the Nevada caucuses. “They were really chaotic. Lots of wild stuff was going on, which I personally witnessed—kind of underhanded tactics by a certain unnamed campaign (Hillary Clinton), opposing Senator Sanders. I worked on that, and when I got back I continued to help out with his campaign until he lost the nomination—which I don’t think he did; I think he was more or less cheated out of it,” Jaffe said.
But why challenge Ms. Pelosi? “I think Ms. Pelosi has served long and—for the most part—well. But, from my observations of the last year or so, particularly in her Town Halls with voters, I think she’s really out of touch with the voters in San Francisco. I think the district needs to be represented by someone more in touch with the voters and the constituents here, and I think I’m that person.”