Former Alaska Sen. and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel told House Democrats to “fuck off” after the caucus’s Twitter account attacked Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Friday.
The caucus called out Saikat Chakrabarti for “explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color” when the staffer insinuated in June that freshman Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas was enabling a “racist system” when she voted to provide emergency funding for the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Fuck off, @HouseDemocrats. https://t.co/50j04wek8q
— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) July 13, 2019
Gravel, 89, served in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1981. He’s most well-known for effectively declassifying the Pentagon Papers by reading them into the Senate record in 1971.
The Democrat ran a highly unusual presidential campaign in 2008 where he ran ads such as “Rock” — a nearly 3-minute video of Gravel staring into a camera and throwing a rock into a lake.
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Gravel’s antics have carried over into his 2020 presidential campaign, which he launched in April with the intention not to win the Democratic nomination, but to qualify for the televised debates. (RELATED: Former Alaskan Senator Is Running For President: But Not To Win)
Gravel launched his latest bid with a campaign ad titled “Rock 2.0,” which again features the former Alaska senator staring into a camera and throwing a rock into a lake.
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“It’s time to make some waves for change,” Gravel said in the ad.
Gravel reversed course on his no-win intentions weeks after launching his campaign in a Twitter announcement that “after extensive consideration and discussion,” he’s running to win the 2020 Democratic nomination.
Gravel didn’t qualify for the first round of debates held in June, but he participated in his own way by launching a Twitter offensive while sitting in the audience.
extremely ready to boo John Delaney until he cries pic.twitter.com/5cDkmHcSz9
— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) June 26, 2019
“What’s the one issue you’ll focus on as president?”
“Defeating Donald Trump.”
Joe Biden is an idiot.
— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) June 28, 2019
Gravel’s highly provocative presidential campaign is focused almost exclusively on his Twitter account, which is run primarily by his teenage staffers.
The former Alaska senator announced Friday that his campaign had raised money from 65,000 unique donors, one of the Democratic National Committee’s thresholds to participate in the second round of debates on July 30 and 31.
Gravel announced on Twitter that his 65,000th donor would receive a signed rock.
whoever steps up to become our 65,000th donor will be receiving a signed rock from Mike as well as a phone call from him and the teens
it could be you: https://t.co/R8N3DrihCD pic.twitter.com/MvyiMy7Uxn
— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) July 12, 2019
But Gravel has yet to meet the DNC’s second threshold of polling at 1% or more in at least three party-approved polls.
“I’m grateful to every one of the 65,000 who donated to our campaign, and the thousands more that have followed and supported us,” Gravel said in a statement Friday. “I will do all I can to ensure their voices not be silenced in this primary.”
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