We just flipped a deep red district in PA, and we didn't do it by alienating ANY voters there.

[LBM20]

Is everyone happy that we just flipped a deep red district in PA that voted for Trump by 19 points? I certainly hope so. I certainly hope no one would have wanted the Republican to win.

How did it happen? Well, it sure as heck didn't happen because the Dem candidate insulted and alienated people there who voted the wrong way in 2016. He ran as an INCLUSIVE economic populist and a social moderate with a laser beam focus on the bread and butter issues important to the people in the district. And he could not have won and sent shock waves into the Republican Party without having had many people who voted for Trump there in 2016 come back over to vote for him. And this is GOOD.

Many people voted for Trump in 2016 NOT because they were racist and wanted a racist in the White House but because he promised jobs and government reform and anti-establishment change. They were upset, frustrated, and wanted change. I am not condoning it. I am not apologizing for it. I myself of course voted for Hillary Clinton and wish everyone had. But I understand why many people, including some of own highly educated professional colleagues, and even some highly educated and good people who are my friends and extended family members (including a close friend who is married to a person of another race) and people in my own congressional district that supported Obama twice but then voted for Trump, did this. And it is NOT because they are racist or hate women or any of that stuff. This is complex, and there were other reasons.

Next, we also have to get those who didn't vote at all to come back. Conor Lamb got new voters too and people who had been disengaged. In 2016, too many people who voted for Obama, across the map, did not vote AT ALL. They stayed home entirely. And that too helped Trump get in. Should we be attacking them and alienating them now for staying home? Will that help us win in 2018? Of course not.

We need to value all voters in the party, rural and urban, white and non-white, progressive, moderate, and even more conservative. And we need candidates who fit their districts and can flip them back to us. We need to run smart compelling campaigns targeted to the districts. No ridiculous litmus tests. No ridiculous ideological purity. That has KILLED us all over the country.

I would like to wipe out the Republicans with a blue tsunami in November. And we won't do it by insulting and alienating ANYONE. It is not about "pandering" to anyone at the expense of anyone else. It is about speaking to the bread and butter issues and running the right candidates for the particular districts so we can save the party and save the country.

[elleng]

1. INCLUSIVE economic populist and a social moderate with a laser beam focus on the bread and butter.

[SHRED]

2. Well said.

[democratisphere]

3. He/She who truly supports the massive number of working class voters with things

of substance will win!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. What does "inclusive" look like in a 95% white district that trends old?

More specifically, how does a strategy built by white people for overwhelmingly white voters for a white candidate translate to more diverse districts? Or are you saying you're ready to downplay some issues to appease some kinda racist white voters?

[MrsCoffee]

5. Except this is your eleventieth thread apologizing for them.

Why the fuck should we capitulate in the middle of the Blue Wave that is powered by anti-Trump sentiment?

You want to know how to kill the wave? Reach out to appease the folks that voted for a white supremacist, misogynistic piece of shit. To the folks who voted to take away everyone else's rights but their own (or at least that's what they thought). To folks who voted to take away our healthcare. That will do it.

[sheshe2]

11. +1000!

Thank you.

[LSFL]

6. You won me over.

I shall saunter forth and give one of the vile bastards who voted for Trump a yuuuuge hug.

Cheesus Rice.. Another post defending Trump supporters.

[Adrahil]

7. This post assumes a lot.

You say we need to value all voters in the party. Well, duh. Who said not to?

It's important to remember PA-18 is a lily white district. Lamb was the right candidate in the right district. He is not the model for every district or a national candidate.

But Trumplican assholes don't get a pass for supporting a vile racist. They wanna repudiate him and change their mind, they are welcome.other than that....

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. I agree with one caveat

It is deplorable how successful Republicans have been to disenfranchise, through various noxious means, minority communities in America. That is both a political crisis for Democrats and a moral horror for any society that wants to consider itself just. Democrats have to put in the resources to counter that for pragmatic reasons, yes, but more importantly, for principled reasons first and foremost.

So while I agree that we should not needlessly alienate any voters (though sometimes there is indeed a need as with the case of the Charleston march) we must make it a proactive effort to counter voter disenfranchisement.

[NCTraveler]

9. Its one of the easier seats to campaign in...

With respect to the district only. It’s borderline monolithic. Little point can be made when referencing it on the national level.

His campaign wasn’t even close to all inclusive if his message is viewed on a national basis. He did not have to aggressively court the national base of the Democratic Party, minorities.

Deceptive argument. Politics is local. You attempt to draw a more grand conclusion from a district that is 95% white.

Fuck Trump voters who can’t see the detestation of their actions. Snowflakes.

KB to a T.

[Codeine]

10. We dont need to woo the Trumpkins.

We need to mobilize minority voters, mobilize young voters, and mobilize labor. None of that requires ignoring the fact that the supporters of the Tangerine Idi Amin are OVERWHELMINGLY racist pieces of human shit who will be crushed under the weight of change and historical progress.

Fuck this sudden urge to excuse and defend this almost-entirely-imaginary subset of Trump voters who aren’t racist homophobes. Fuck this suspicious spate of posts urging us to accept a false narrative of Trump voters who were merely “voting for change — any change!” rather than acknowledging that it was the dying gasp of white supremacy.

This is all such complete tripe, and the sudden - dare I say orchestrated - cascade of posts all pushing the same theme is patently absurd and more than a little suspect.