OR-Sen: Working Families Party Threatens Contest Against Ron Wyden (D) Over TPP

DailyKos:

Shit just got real: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

If Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, helps push through a massive free trade deal using fast-track authority, an Oregon progressive party would likely oppose him in the 2016 general election, Working Families Party state director Karly Edwards told HuffPost. The WFP typically endorses Democrats, as it did with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) in 2014, unless they break too far from the WFP's progressive-populist agenda. Edwards said endorsements ultimately are up to WFP members at the 2016 summer caucus, but trade will be the biggest issue. President Barack Obama is asking Congress to grant him the authority to fast-track international trade deals without amendments from lawmakers. Proponents of these trade deals say the legislation is needed in order for the president to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. Support from Democrats like Wyden, who has been working on fast-track legislation, could prove key to its passage. - Huffington Post, 3/4/15

Edwards also said this: "Our voters are very interested in trade and that will be a deciding factor in who gets our nomination" for the Senate race, Edwards said. "I would say this would be determinative, but it's a democratic process." She added: "It's hard for me to imagine a situation where Working Families voters find it in their hearts to forgive a vote like that." The WFP is preparing a mailer asking its members to lobby Wyden against fast-tracking the TPP. WFP is not the only group who's been going after Wyden: Last week, Democracy for America asked its Oregon members whether it should recruit a primary challenger to run against Wyden. The group floated as a potential challenger Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), a trade deal critic who ran for the Democratic Senate nomination against Wyden in the 1990s, but lost. DeFazio has said he's not interested in running against Wyden but you can help keep the pressure on Wyden. Click DFA's link to make a call to Wyden's office to turn up the pressure: http://act.democracyforamerica.com/...

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