Ryan GrimVerified account

1/ I want Democrats to win, keep winning, and come out sustainably strong in 2018. To that end, the DCCC should stop trying to engineer primaries. It is undemocratic, tends to fundraisers vs. great candidates, and the DCCC staff is not good at understanding local politics...https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/956135744711659520 …

2/ In the 2016 primary, I had a good relationship w/ my opponent. We disagreed on issues (trade, fair elections), but had positive, vigorous debates about it. In my view, the DCCC treated both of us badly and clumsily. First, they tried to push me out by commissioning a push poll

3/ Then, when I didn't leave, they tried to help me behind the scenes, hurting him. Their clumsy maneuvering just got in the way. Instead, if they had provided us both with the same resources and tools, we could have focused wholly on our own district.

4/ I believe the DCCC this cycle can choose to stop engaging in primaries and focus entirely on supporting candidates. One of the most striking things about my experience with DCCC staffers was their level of incuriousity. They rarely asked what I was hearing on the ground....

5/ .. rarely asked about the employment situation, how people were dealing with opioids, what kinds of questions I got, etc. They told me lots of things. Some of the advice was great and really useful. Some of it was terrible. But by not asking, their advice was limited.

6/ The DCCC's incuriousity is not necessary, and was not true of all people in DC by any means: Keith Ellison and Cheri Bustos were some of the biggest counter-examples (along with many others, I was just particularly struck by them). Ellison and Bustos asked LOTS of questions.

7) Ellison and Buston (and others who were interested, engaged) gave fantastic advice. They were at the top of their game and confident enough to be curious, instead of dictatorial, overconfident, pushy.