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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIt Wasn't Ideology That Sank House Democrats. It Was Bad Strategy.
Poor decisions from the national party left Democratic candidates in swing districts unable to hold their own.
By MITI SATHE and WILL LEVITT
11/25/2020 04:30 AM EST
Miti Sathe is the executive director of Square One and a former Obama White House appointee.
Will Levitt is a co-founder of Square One.
The results are still uncalled in several closely-contested House racesbut that hasnt stopped congressional Democrats from launching into deep dive mode, trading bitter accusations as they try to come to terms with their partys unexpectedly poor performance in key battleground districts this year. The scale of the losses has come to many as a shock, and yet the intramural immolation is all too familiar: Progressives accuse moderates of having alienated the partys base, while moderates blame progressives for having scared off potential crossover voters, independents and even some Democrats in tough swing districts with sloganeering around socialism and calls to defund the police.
For the past three and a half years, through our organization, Square One, we have been working exclusively and on the ground with Democratic candidates running in precisely those sorts of districts. We are with many of our endorsed candidates from day one, providing the connections, resources and support to launch, run and win their campaigns. And from our experience, we are sure that both arguments are wrong.
It wasnt ideology that this year sank seeming Democratic shoo-ins like Gina Ortiz Jones, a first generation American and Air Force veteran who, when she first ran in 2018, came only 927 votes short of winning her longtime red south Texas border district. (We endorsed and supported her in 2018 and again in 2020.) Nor were too-progressive politics what sent highly regarded first-term members of Congress like New Mexicos Xochitl Torres Small back home to traditionally Republican districts, or that consigned other high-performing freshman incumbents like Lauren Underwood of Illinois into painfully protracted ballot countsthe latter of whom weve endorsed and worked with for the past two election cycles as well.
It was weak strategy, based on bad polling information and poor decisions from the national party that left Democratic candidates in swing districtsand candidates of color in particularunable to hold their own in the face of a massive, and massively underestimated, Republican voter surge. The fact is: If youre going to win a campaign, youve got to campaign, which means getting in front of voters and meeting them where they are. And that was the one thing that Democrats running for Congress could not do this year, upon orders from the partys campaign arm in Washington, DC.
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more at link
JI7
(89,239 posts)Republicans didn't care about that .
NoMoreRepugs
(9,371 posts)me to characterize as a mistake .
ananda
(28,834 posts)Reeps just didn''t care about the lives put at risk.
kentuck
(111,052 posts)In my opinion, many of them were Democrats.
Also, we cannot overlook the job that Republicans have done at gerrymandering.
Any candidate that can win by 6 or 7 million votes should have a landslide and win a huge majority in the House. The system prevented it, in my opinion.
My Pet Orangutan
(9,179 posts)that's what did it - digging deeper into their base via social media than anyone thought possible.
All the rest is marginal. The big story is GOP turnout
Ferrets are Cool
(21,102 posts)click bait, why not use the term "didn't do better"? That would be MUCH more accurate asswipes.
brooklynite
(94,333 posts)It is NOT enough to win the Presidency.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,102 posts)I am a glass half empty kind of guy. And I still am happy with where we are. We are getting rid of a wanna-be dictator and we have a chance to take the Senate and we still own the House. That makes me pretty fucking happy. Happy enough to not use the word SANK.
MrsCoffee
(5,801 posts)beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)1. fear sells and the GOP is 100x more successful in marketing fear than democrats
2. cognitive dissonance by millions of Americans who somehow believed in voting trump they lessened the impact of COVID in their lives
3. major voting blocks did not turn to democrats as predicted: non-affiliated, women, hispanics, seniors
4. a significant portion of the voting base are LOW information types and these voters go GOP as they are so easily manipulated. As long as there is unfettered propaganda channels to these people, this can not be corrected
GOP took full advantage and democrats were to eager to believe their own messaging was going to resonate every where and the polling was basically worthless as we now see.
I know in Illinois a "Fair Tax" amendment was being voted on that would allow the legislature to have progress taxes instead of a flat tax. This would cut state taxes for 90%+ of Illinois taxpayers BUT the GOP opponents ran an easy campaign of misinformation and the initiative failed miserably WHICH also caused democrats losses down ballot including in Il-13th where our candidate loss was 10x greater than her loss in 2018. This went back to the fair tax proposal as well
dustyscamp
(2,223 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Oh no! Democrats in disarray! Here we go again!
Here's the thing: The "base" are the ones who donate, who volunteer, who put the shoe-leather on the sidewalks, who work phone-banks... but most importantly... the "base" are LOYAL to the party and will be there on election day, without fail (and without needing their egos stroked and vanities catered to.)
I'm a proud member of "THE BASE". Nobody is going to alienate me.
Demsrule86
(68,456 posts)Hillary Clinton,we don't sent message votes by helping elect Republicans (2010 and 2014) and demand power we have not earned at the ballot box. I am the base. I have worked every election for years...midterms and presidential. I donate. I am completely loyal to my the Democratic Party-my party.
Once the primary is over no matter how I feel about the person that emerges...I will vote for them. I don't rely on enthusiasm, need 'excitement' or big rallies. I know that we need every Democrat we can get of all stripes (conservadems, moderates, liberals etc) elected in order to hold majorities in Congress. We succeed only when we build a loyal big tent Party comprised of those who can win elections in their areas. Those that attempt to destroy the big tent, make demands that have not been earned via the ballot box and even consider voting third party are not and never will be the base.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Not long ago I read an analogy that tried to explain the behavior of those on the furthest fringes of the entire political spectrum. In the analogy, these individuals were compared to the "emo" and "Goth" kids who refused to attend the school's prom because they were fundamentally opposed to dress-codes. So instead, on prom night, they gathered in the school's parking lot and complained about the theme, the decorations, the music selection and yelled through the windows that they couldn't hear the band. In the analogy, these were the kids who didn't like rule, didn't agree with the standards of dress and behavior. They refused to make an effort and they refused to buy a ticket. They were the ones who refused to volunteer and participate... yet they were the loudest complainers and felt entitled to have their way. And in spite of all that, they were determined to make a spectacle of themselves and make everyone else as miserable and annoyed as possible.
Demsrule86
(68,456 posts)Happy Hoosier
(7,216 posts)Ladies and Gentlemen.... the KING of bad takes.
Johnny2X2X
(18,969 posts)I saw it in every race in my state. Dems ran against Trump extremists and never mentioned Trump. They thought it was bad strategy to tie their opponents to Trump for some reason. No idea why.
Demsrule86
(68,456 posts)BelieveCassandra
(39 posts)I did a lot of "unknown" voter to id texting during the summer in a rural, very Republican area,with a high level of voter registration, but normally about 1/3 never vote. The most pro-Trump, F-bomb, Democrats are evil because they are [socialists, baby killers, satanists, sex traffickers, communists, whatever crazy thing they had just heard, etc.] responses came from these never-ever-before voters. Voters with a Republican voting history usually would respond more politely. Voter turn out was up by about 6% in this area, and I believe this surge came from the never-before Trump voters. Just my opinion, but I believe pollsters were not factoring in these unlikely voters.
JoeOtterbein
(7,699 posts)...cool screen name!
gulliver
(13,168 posts)The Republican Party has a huge advantage. The fear of change is on their side, and change is unusually prevalent and hazardous in our day and age. I'm not a big believer in "campaigning" at this point, nor do I believe in "protesting." What Dems need is to speak to what they want to create and what they want to preserve.
Some people want change and it's a source of hope for them. Others have been burnt by change, and they don't like it. We need to make changes that are win-win. Then we get everybody.
lpbk2713
(42,736 posts)These stories are so boring.
Phoenix61
(16,993 posts)working the Greek system for years! The Democratic Party has nothing even close to them. It gives them a huge advantage when you have 1,000s of young, energetic folks ready to support your candidate at the drop of a hat. We have GOT to do better at having a net work running 24/7/365 instead of trying to build one every election cycle.
JoeOtterbein
(7,699 posts)Thanks!
Demsrule86
(68,456 posts)There is no doubt that defund the police and socialism is good messages from the left hurt us as did the protests that turned violent. But, I would also add the failure to put a simple Covid bill on the floor that dealt with extended unemployment and a stimulus only and make McConnell turn it down.He would have been blamed and not us.
Defunding the police is and was a big issue. I saw ads in Ohio based on AOC's website where she explains why she thinks the police should be defunded. I don't disagree with her. But it simply hurts us electorally. It works in a deep blue district but not in moderate red districts or states.
R B Garr
(16,950 posts)Why do we have to pretend some Politico article has any credibility when we saw with our own eyes how socialism and defund the police was used to attack Democrats and turn off voters. And New York is as far away from So Cal as you can get she has one small district. Time to get smart about this.
Demsrule86
(68,456 posts)stop Joe Biden's cabinet picks is ludicrous. The Senate does this and McConnell has vowed to stop all nominees. We don't need this sort of thing.
Yavin4
(35,421 posts)He understands that the "fringe" vote is far larger today than it ever was in the past. It's one of the main reasons why he hasn't conceded and why he's okay with conspiracy theories being floated out there.
Trump is the one politician who dared go where other politicians felt uncomfortable treading. The up side for the Democrats is that no other Republican can duplicate what Trump did.