Aas these months leading up to the midterm elections have shown us, the Democrat Party has not recovered from Hillary Clinton’s loss in November 2016.
For people who shout FORWARD and CHANGE, the progressive wing of the Democrat Party shows no interest in moving FORWARD or in CHANGE. Everyone else must move forward and change though. They cannot accept the fact that the majority of Americans, even within the party, do not hold hard leftist views.
Democratic leaders, however, have absorbed this information and have begun to back more so-called “moderate” Democrats in an effort to flip the House and even the Senate to the annoyance of left-leaning progressive Democrats.
The Democrats need 23 seats to flip the House and two seats to flip the Senate.
The New York Times published an article Sunday that detailed a few of these “moderate” Democrats. Look at Clarke Tucker who is running for the Democrat nomination for Arkansas’s 2nd District:
He supports the Affordable Care Act, but not a single-payer system. He signals misgivings about Nancy Pelosi as the next House speaker. And even when addressing an audience of Democratic Party regulars, he does not attack President Trump by name.In short, he comes across as a moderate — and exactly the kind of candidate who leading Democrats believe the party should field in Republican-leaning districts to bolster the majority they hope to win in the House in November.
Tucker received backing and support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which means they want him to take on incumbent GOP Rep. French Hill.
Paul Spencer, one of Tucker’s opponents in the primary, has spoken out against Tucker’s views, asking the party if it’s “really worth the win to keep pushing back against the people you’re supposed to be serving.” He complained that the Democrat “party used to stand for something” and that “[A]t some point, you’ve got to stand up, and you’ve got to move the party in the right direction.”
There it is. Here is one candidate who refuses to budge because he thinks his way is the right way.
Newsflash, Spencer. You’re elected to Congress to represent people within your district, not just your views. The Cook Political Report rates Arkansas 2nd District as Likely Republicans. So Tucker will probably have a hard time flipping the seat. Someone like Spencer will have an even harder time making gains in Arkansas’ 2nd. Granted, a Democrat held the seat in 2010 and President Donald Trump barely won the district.
From The New York Times:
Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a first-term Democrat who wrested his closely divided district from a hard-line Republican in 2016, said his party should strongly back moderate candidates who have the potential to compete in areas that often prove politically grim for Democrats. Mr. Gottheimer, who is backed by the conservative-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged liberal Democrats to accept some ideological dissension in the party’s ranks in order to achieve a congressional majority.“If we’re going to win some of the places we can win, in redder parts of the country, it’s with people who may not be aligned on certain issues with some other Democrats,” Mr. Gottheimer said.
Spencer insists “that a liberal platform would fare well among Arkansans if given the chance.” The party leaders, along with Democrats in the state, find that they all “must play a long game and not expect voters to swing all the way from Republicanism to a Bernie Sanders” like platform overnight.
Tucker has expressed that he wants “‘to appeal to different kinds of people,’ from his party’s most progressive voices to disgruntled Republicans.”
Marion Baker, 93, a Democrat in the state, told The New York Times that “you don’t build Rome in a day” and that it takes time. It’s a slow build.
America is not a far-left country. With few exceptions, party fringes may have their moments, but they’re usually short-lived.
For the past few weeks, I’ve blogged about the Democrats’ loss of registered voters, how millennials have turned their backs on the Democrats because they want jobs, and a Democrat pollster’s recommendation the party concentrate on the economy. Even Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) embraced the latest data and has urged Democrats running this year to concentrate on economic issues and cool it with impeachment talk.
It’s a little late to be making huge adjustments, but leadership seems to understand that the true Democrat agenda is not a vote-winner. Not this election cycle.
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