WASHINGTON – Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) is calling out one of her Democratic colleagues in high-profile fashion, arguing her party needs to start living up to its rhetoric about protecting democracy by stamping out anti-democratic practices in its own ranks.
Gluesenkamp Perez is forcing the House to vote this week on a symbolic resolution expressing disapproval of retiring Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) for scheming to install his chief of staff as his successor.
“I believe election subversion is wrong no matter who’s doing it,” Gluesenkamp Perez said Sunday on CNN. “And I think that right now, we’re seeing a profound, very loud call from Americans for transparency and accountability,”
“It’s not fun to call out a member of your own party, but I think it’s important that we’re consistent,” she said.
Many Democrats would argue the party clearly has a better record than the GOP at protecting voters’ rights, considering the modern Republican Party is built around loyalty to a man who tried to overturn an election. But Gluesenkamp Perez and a handful of others say the rhetoric can ring hollow when many blue-state politicians are all too eager to limit voters’ choices so their preferred candidates can triumph.
