Infighting among Democrats is threatening to derail one Congressional aspirant before his campaign even gets off the ground.
Iowa Democrat Matt McCoy “is seriously considering a challenge” to Rep. David Young in IA-03. Unfortunately for McCoy, not everyone is thrilled with that idea:
Democrats in both Washington, D.C., and Iowa are concerned about the Des Moines Democrat’s congressional ambitions in the 3rd District, a must-win seat for Democrats looking to slice into the Republican majority this cycle.
In fact, their concern about McCoy’s candidacy has “been pretty constant since he threatened to run back in 2002,” one Iowa Democratic operative said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of interest in him running.”
McCoy’s past isn’t exactly squeaky clean, which could be the source of Democrats’ unease:
In 2005, McCoy was accused of funneling money from a businessman to a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and he agreed to pay a fine to settle the accusations in 2008.
He was indicted on a federal extortion charge in 2007, when he was accused of “threatening to use his influence as a senator to force a business partner to pay him $2,000,” according to a report from the Associated Press.
…
In 2003, he had one of the worst attendance records in the state Senate, according to a Des Moines Register report at the time, missing 104 of the 344 votes recorded in the chamber.
Yeah, that could be it.