CD8 candidate Kumar Barve was on News Channel 8 with Bruce DePuyt on Tuesday morning. For the 99.44% of you that didn’t see it, here’s the 11 minute video segment.
Kumar Barve
New Barve Endorsements
Press release from the Barve team:
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS UNITE BEHIND BARVE
Members of Congress, Maryland Leaders Endorse Congressional Campaign
Kumar Barve for Congress announced today the endorsement of Asian Congressional and Maryland leaders for his campaign for Congress.“Kumar Barve is a leader in the innovation and technology sectors and is a proven job creator. He is a fighter for the middle class and working families,” said U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA). “His family history is the American immigrant success story and I would welcome him as a partner in Congress.”
“The AAPI community is united behind Kumar Barve in Maryland,” stated U.S. Rep. Grace Meng. “Kumar is a fighter for social justice. AAPIs are underrepresented in Congress and Delegate Barve has been a long been a national leader in promoting and protecting the civic and political rights of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.”
“Kumar Barve rose through the Montgomery County Public School system to become a groundbreaking leader in our community. His story – from his grandfather’s fight for citizenship to his historic election as the first Indian American state legislator – is our story,” said Delegate Aruna Miller, who represents state legislative District 15 which is included with the 8th Congressional District. “Kumar has been a great mentor to those of us who have followed in his path.”
List of Endorsements
U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Madeline Bordallo (D-GU)
U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY)
Norman Mineta, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and Member of Congress Maryland Delegate Mark Chang
Maryland Delegate Clarence Lam
Maryland Delegate Aruna Miller
Maryland Delegate Kriselda Valderrama
Virginia Delegate Mark Keam
Tufail Ahmad
Alan Cheung, former Member, Montgomery County Board of Education
Ed Chow, former MD Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Suresh Gupta
Rajan Natarajan, former MD Deputy Secretary of State
Farook Sait
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Leadership PAC
Asian American Action Fund
BREAKING: Barve $132,000, $276K COH
Via email from the campaign, Kumar Barve raised $132,505 in Q3, and has $276,344 cash on hand. As he had $229K COH at the end of Q2, this means he spent approximately $85,000 in Q3, a burn rate of 64.4%.
Kaiser Endorses Barve
House Majority Leader Anne Kaiser endorses Kumar Barve for CD8. Press release from the Barve team seconds ago:
Delegate Kumar Barve won the endorsement today of Maryland House of Delegates Majority Leader Anne Kaiser, a leading voice in the LGBT community. Barve is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives 8th District seat currently held by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is running for the Senate.
“For more than 20 years, Kumar Barve has been the reasonable, progressive voice voters have trusted to protect the environment, promote our shared values, and champion our causes. As Majority Leader, Kumar Barve was instrumental in the passage of marriage equality legislation. That is why I encourage you to join me and support him as he runs for Congress,” said Majority Leader Kaiser.
Delegate Kaiser represents Montgomery County’s 14th Legislative District in the House of Delegates. Barve has also been endorsed by Dels. Eric Luedtke and Craig Zucker, Kaiser’s colleagues in the 14th District delegation. There are 14th Legislative District voting precincts in the 8th Congressional District.
“I am thrilled to receive the support of Majority Leader Anne Kaiser, a respected leader in the legislature and a trailblazer in the community on women’s rights and LGBT rights, said Barve, who served as Treasurer of Maryland NARAL prior to election to public office. “We have worked closely together for many years on number of progressive initiatives including marriage equality”, added Barve.
“Anne and I share the same values and have worked throughout our careers to give voice to those who had not previously been included government decision making and to ensure that our political leadership reflects the composition of the people that they serve”, continued Barve.
Delegate Kaiser succeeded Barve as House Majority Leader in January of this year when Barve assumed the Chairmanship of the House Environment and Transportation Committee. Barve had served as House Majority Leader under Speaker Mike Busch for twelve years, from 2002-2015.
Barve has also been endorsed by his predecessor as House Majority Leader, former Delegate John Hurson, who represented Montgomery County’s 18th Legislative District and served as Majority Leader from 1995 until being succeeded by Barve.
Barve Gets AAPI Endorsements
Press release entirely too early this gray Monday morning from the Barve team:
Leading Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Members of Congress have endorsed Delegate Kumar Barve in his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Leadership PAC (CAPAC Leadership PAC) recognized Barve as an historical AAPI leader and the candidate best suited to advance the values important to the AAPI community. Barve, the first Indian American to be elected to a state legislature in American history, would be the first Asian American elected to Congress from Maryland.
”Kumar Barve would be a great addition to the U.S. House of Representatives. He has a long record of leadership in promoting and protecting the civic and political rights of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Chair CAPAC Leadership PAC. “AAPIs are 6 percent of the U.S. population, but only 2.6 percent of the Congress. We need more AAPI lawmakers in Congress like Delegate Barve, who have the long-standing experience to lead.”
“I am honored by the support of this group of national AAPI leaders in Congress. I look forward to working with them on issues of importance to the AAPI community and to engaging AAPI citizens in Maryland throughout this campaign.” said Barve. Since his historical election in 1990, Barve has worked to increase the participation of the AAPI
community in the civic and political life of their communities.AAPIs, comprising about 8-9% of the population, represent a growing and increasingly active community within the 8th District of Maryland. Barve was also recently endorsed by the Asian American Action Fund, a progressive political organization that works to help elect AAPI Democratic candidates who have a demonstrated commitment to the community and engaging Asian Pacific Americans in the political process.
Barve Endorsement
Busy day - the news keeps coming. Kumar Barve has been endorsed by the Maryland doctors’ PAC. A press release was issued just minutes ago, fresh as fresh can be:
Rockville, MD, September 28, 2015 -The leading physicians group in the State of Maryland today endorsed Delegate Kumar Barve in his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
The Maryland Medical Political Action Committee, the political arm of MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society, voted unanimously to support Barve recognizing his history of public service and work on public health issues.
“Kumar Barve is a tireless fighter for patient’s rights and protecting health care providers from insurance companies seeking to interfere in medical decisions,” said Gene Ransom. Chief Executive Officer of MedChi. “Barve has a deep understanding of health care issues and has been a leader in increasing access to health care among all populations”.
‘I am honored to be supported by Maryland physicians for my role in making Maryland a national leader in health care reform - from fighting HMOs, protecting those with pre-existing conditions and supporting several bills that became centerpieces of our successful national health care legislation,” said Barve. “In Congress I will continue to fight to expand health insurance and access to preventive care and for a patient’s right to see their own doctors and not have their medical decisions dictated by insurance companies.”
In a letter to the American Medical Association PAC expressing their support of Barve, the Maryland group said that “Delegate Barve was also a key leader on numerous insurance reforms, including landmark Appeal and Grievance legislation that protects physicians, patients and the public health of Maryland from unfair arbitrary insurance decisions”.
Statement From Kumar Barve On Boehner
Received from the Barve press office:
Speaker Boehner’s imminent resignation is a sign of just how broken Congress is and in need of a new kind of leadership.
It is imperative that we Democrats take back the House and elect Progressive representatives who fight for their causes and have a proven track record of working with reasonable members of both parties to advance responsible social and economic policy. The time for extremist screaming is over; we need a Congress of skilled legislators willing to work with each other on behalf of the American people.
Barve Statement On Ervin
Kumar Barve:
“Valerie Ervin has been a long-time progressive advocate for working families in Montgomery County and her voice in this campaign for Congress will be missed. She is correct to point out that too much attention is paid to fundraising and that our political system does not make it easy for women, people of color, and the non-wealthy, to compete on a level playing field. And I agree that we must recruit and train more women and people of color to run for office.”
The Persuasion Game
Kumar Barve’s campaign manager, Seth Maiman, gets the star treatment in the Washington Jewish Week today. The life of the campaign operative is indeed a glamorous one.
a sit-down interview at Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase, where Maiman serves as executive vice president, he says in an unmistakable Brooklyn accent, “campaigns are about persuading voters for a long period of time, and over the course of persuading voters, you identify who your voters are, and at the end — literally in the last few days — you turn your campaign into one get-out-the-vote machine.”
But the nuts and bolts of that persuasive offensive takes time and considerable funds, particularly in a race with five, potentially six, other candidates.
“You have to communicate, you have to raise money, you have to have organization, paid media, free media, go out to the events,” said Maiman.
I’ve known Seth for a good while - we belong to the same synagogue and he’s as sharp as they come in this business. Plus a genuinely nice guy.
As the article notes Seth’s been around politics for a long time. While things have changed in some ways, the same fundamentals still hold true.
Maiman said that getting out the vote is more complicated than it was back then “because you have 10 days of early voting at multiple sites a couple of days before you actually have the election, so a lot of the old ‘get-out-the-vote’ mechanics are now supplemented by this whole early-voting thing.”
Paid media and social media are more prevalent than ever before. The candidates have websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. In a crowded race where a candidate could win with “certainly less than 50 percent and more like 30” percent of the vote, chasing down every vote is an imperative, but with a larger electorate comes new challenges.
* * *“In order to compete on a congressional level — because you just have that many more voters and that more of a national play coming in in terms of fundraising and support — the larger the electorate the less the candidate has the ability to meet everyone and meet everyone individually and the more they have to rely on paid media,” said Maiman.
Barve: Middle Class Jobs
Kumar Barve spoke this morning to the District 18 Breakfast Club, and Lou Peck of Bethesda Magazine reports on Barve’s comments:
Trying to set himself apart in the crowded race for the Democratic nomination in the 8th Congressional District, Del. Kumar Barve Monday frequently cited his long experience in public office and his emphasis on economic issues during an appearance before a group of local Democrats in Silver Spring.
“As a person who has spent 25 years in the legislature, I have focused on many of the social issues on which I think the [Democratic primary candidates] are identical—when it comes to women’s right to choose, when it comes to marriage equality,” Barve told a gathering of the District 18 Breakfast Club. “But the distinguishing feature in my instance is that I have a track record of having worked on programs to get skills to people in the middle skill range.”
Peck notes that Barve is making an appeal to business-oriented Democrats, an often overlooked segment of the population in Montgomery County.
In his appearance Monday, Barve, chief financial officer of an environmental services firm, appeared to be making a strong pitch to business-oriented Democrats in a county often described by local public and private officials as the state’s economic engine.
Several times during an hour-long appearance, Barve pointed to his role in the 1998 start-up of the Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO), which he said in 2013 had created 2,000 jobs with an average salary of $70,000. TEDCO facilitates transfer of technology from Maryland’s research universities and federal labs for use in commercial ventures.
“The thing that is the most troubling to me is that people graduating from college in many instances, unless they have degrees in chemical engineering and accounting, don’t have a clear pathway to a decent job and a decent salary,” Barve told Monday’s gathering. “We have to relearn what we did in this nation to make ourselves into a great, middle-class republic. We have to relearn those lessons of training people.”
He added: “Very few candidates talk about these things. To my knowledge, in this race, no other candidate talks about these things.”
With Kathleen Matthews taking an approach that directly challenges Jamie Raskin for the progressive vote in CD8, and also clearly making a play - as Peck also notes - for the women’s vote, Barve is positioning himself to appeal to the more moderate segment of the electorate, at least on economic issues. It will be interesting to see how that appeal plays out.
