Secret recording shows a top House Democrat pushing a progressive candidate out of a primary

A newly released secret recording shows a rare glimpse into the Democratic Party’s strategy of boosting certain candidates in primaries across the country as the party enters a competitive 2018 election with a shot at taking back the US House of Representatives.

The recording, first reported by the Intercept’s Lee Fang, features House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, who has been campaigning and fundraising on behalf of many candidates. Hoyer was secretly recorded by Levi Tillemann, a progressive Democrat running in Colorado’s Sixth District, as the two met at a Denver Hilton.

In the recording, Hoyer is heard saying, “Staying out of primaries sounds small-D democratic, very intellectual, and very interesting. But it was clear that it was our policy and our hope that, early on, try to come to an agreement on a candidate that we thought could win the general, and to give that candidate all the help we could give them.”

The Sixth is a competitive district that Democrats have their eyes on; it went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 but is represented by Republican Rep. Mike Coffman. Tillemann, who served as an Energy Department official under the Obama administration, is running in the Democratic primary against attorney and Army veteran Jason Crow, who is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue list — a group of candidates in competitive districts who receive extra resources from the DCCC. To be on the list, candidates have to fundraise a certain amount and have local support and good campaign infrastructure.

“We have been clear all cycle that we reserve the right to get involved in primaries to ensure that there is a competitive Democrat on the ballot in November,” the DCCC’s National Press Secretary Tyler Law said in a statement.

Hoyer and his PAC AmeriPac first donated to Crow’s campaign in June 2017, a month before Tillemann entered the race. Hoyer has donated $4,000 to Crow’s campaign, while AmeriPac has donated $10,000, Federal Election Commission records show.

Despite party officials saying they would remain neutral in Democratic primaries, the secret recording of Hoyer makes it clear the party isn’t doing that. Hoyer noted that the Colorado delegation consolidated around Crow early on; therefore, Crow was the candidate the national party would throw its weight behind.

Much has been made about enthusiasm among Democrats in the Trump era and how it’s translating to record numbers of candidates signing up to run. But that wave of candidates also illustrates a dilemma for the DCCC, which has long boosted some candidates over others.

House Democrats are running general election-like campaigns during Democratic primaries, and a lot of candidates like Tillemann are coming forward with stories of being pushed aside or asked to exit the race to make way for the DCCC-backed candidate.

“Whip Hoyer is committed to taking back the House, and that involves working with local leaders to identify and support the strongest candidate for that district,” Hoyer’s communications director, Katie Grant, said in a statement.

On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended Hoyer — and the party’s tactics in general — during her weekly press conference.

“I don’t know that a person can tape a person without the person’s consent and then release it to the press,” Pelosi told reporters. “In terms of candidates and campaigns, I don’t see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in — a conversation about the realities of life in the race as to who can make the general election.”

Here is a transcript of a section of Hoyer’s conversation with Tillemann. The recording published by the Intercept can be listened to here:

HOYER: Levi, obviously I wanted to talk to you about this congressional race.

TILLEMANN: You would like me to get out of the race.

HOYER: You keep saying I would like you to get out, and of course that’s correct.

TILLEMANN: I know you’re fundraising for Crow.

HOYER: Yeah. I’m for Crow. I am for Crow because a judgment was made very early on. I didn’t participate in the decision.

TILLEMANN: So your position is a decision was made very early on because voters had a say. That’s fine because the DCCC knows better than the voters of the Sixth Congressional District, and we should line up behind that candidate.

HOYER: That’s certainly a consequence of our decision. There are two things I would like you to consider. One may be easier than the other. First would be, if you stay in the race — and frankly, I hope that you would not — but I’ll get to that in a second. But if you stay in the race, it is not useful to the objective to tear down Crow. Crow’s clearly the favorite; doesn’t mean he’ll win, just means he’s the favorite.

TILLEMANN: I hear you.

HOYER: That doesn’t mean it’s right, just means —

TILLEMANN: No, I hear you.

HOYER: I don’t know Crow well, but I think he’s a decent human being.

TILLEMANN: So before we go any further on that, Crow is the favorite in no small part, Congressman Hoyer, because the DCCC not only put its finger on the scale, but started jumping on the scale very early on. I’m born and raised a Democrat, I mean, it’s undemocratic to have a small elite select someone and then try to rig the primary against the other people running, and that’s basically what’s been happening.

HOYER: I hear you, and I disagree.

TILLEMANN: But you were part of that process.

HOYER: Absolutely.

TILLEMANN: You said, “Abso —”?

Hoyer: Absolutely.

TILLEMANN: Yes.

HOYER: I’ve been at this a long time. When I said we need to get in strong, hard, and early, you disagree with me. You know, obviously, that’s your choice.

TILLEMANN: You guys are shoveling money at him.

HOYER: We’re going to continue.

TILLEMANN: You’re going to continue to do it?

HOYER: We are going to continue to do it, and the reason, Levi, we’re going to do it is because a decision was made to focus. It was clear that was our policy and our hope that we could, early on, try to come to an agreement on a candidate that we thought could win the general, and to give that candidate all the help we could give them so that we would have a unified effort going into a general election.

TILLEMANN: Which means effectively, Congressman Hoyer, I’m running a campaign against Crow, and against you, and against the DCCC, because you guys are on Crow’s side.

HOYER: Yeah. You know, frankly, that happens in life all the time.

Other Democratic candidates running around the country have similar stories to Tillemann’s — saying that the Democratic Party had thrown its weight behind one candidate and encouraged them to stand down.

The DCCC has already landed in hot water for intervening strongly in one primary race, in Texas’s Seventh Congressional District. During a competitive primary in March, the DCCC tried to torch candidate Laura Moser, a freelance journalist and founder of the grassroots resistance group Daily Action, who was one of seven candidates running.

The move appears to have backfired. After the DCCC released the Moser memo, her national name recognition and outside fundraising numbers spiked. She made it into a May runoff, along with opponent Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (the DCCC has not added either candidate to its Red to Blue list).

By trying to push out Moser early, the DCCC ended up elevating her national profile and opened up an intraparty rift in the process, galvanizing progressive groups that came out to support her. They also got a rebuke from Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez, who chided the group for “anointing candidates.”

“It made this a national race in a way that I would not have chosen,” Moser told me in a recent interview. “I’m running a local congressional race on local issues, and I didn’t mean to be this kind of folk hero of the left. That’s definitely not what they wanted to do, but that was the result, I think.”

Update: This article has been updated to include a statement from the DCCC about its involvement in Democratic primaries.