Blame for Democrats' down-ballot losses lies with the party, not social movements

[marmar]

(Salon) In the aftermath of many down-ballot Democratic losses, from U.S. Senate races to the House to several state legislatures Democrats were hoping to flip, we are in the finger-pointing phase of the 2020 election. While some are blaming grassroots social and political movements, the fact is that this is the second cycle in a row in which Democrats had no clear positive and substantive message to offer voters.

While Republicans seized on racial fear and division to tell a compelling, if bleak, story to moderate white America — and even some swaths of communities of color, including Black, AAPI and Latino voters — Democrats completely failed to tell an equally compelling narrative based on movement priorities such as economic justice, climate justice or criminal justice reform.

What we know about movements — whether it's the movement for Black lives or the youth-driven Sunrise Movement for climate justice — is that it's their job to create new space for what's possible in society. Martin Luther King Jr. and the leaders of the civil rights movement did not craft their message in terms of what they thought was politically feasible in the mid-1960s, but rather as bold vision and rallying cry that attracted millions of people.

Movements come out of real-life experience, and are often born in pain and injustice. Organized Black communities, despite years of calling for reform, watched an innocent Black man choked to death under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020. Organized young people, seeing their futures crumble before their eyes under the weight of climate change, have had enough of government, largely led by people over 60, doing nothing to stop it. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/12/01/blame-for-democrats-down-ballot-losses-lies-with-the-party-not-social-movements/

[FBaggins]

1. Can't agree

It may or may not be the job of “movements” to “create space” - but that doesn’t mean that their actions don’t have impacts on races - and “blame” doesn’t then transfer to someone else.

Swing districts were lost when comparative moderates were unable to distance themselves from more radical positions in other parts of the country. Telling those representatives that they needed to do a better job of talking about “economic justice, climate justice or criminal justice reform” doesn’t help.

[SharonAnn]

3. We convinced many "R"s not to vote for Trump. They still voted "R" down ballot.

It’s a start, convincing them that it’s ok to not vote for an R candidate.

[FBaggins]

4. We don't know that to be true

We know that republicans, in general, did better than Trump did. But we don't know that it's because R's wouldn't vote for Trump. His insanely high polling support among self-identified republicans hints that this might not be the case.

It's just as likely that moderates, or even some Democrats, were turned off by the antics of some that they perceived as far left... but not enough so to pull the lever for Trump.

Something we've known for decades appears to no longer be true - that high-turnout elections favor Democrats. This was the highest turnout in over a century yet the expected blue wave never appeared. Instead, it was a small/moderate red wave apart from Trump.

[Gothmog]

2. Why 'Defund The Police' Attacks Were So Potent Against Democrats

I personally support reforms to the police. I worked hard and we got a good Democrat elected as District Attorney in my county two years ago and this cycle we got a good man elected as sheriff of my county. Our new DA has made a tremendous amount of difference in my county and I believe that the new Sheriff will also help. However, it is clear that we lost races that we should not have lost Defund the police was used very effectively by the GOP in down ballot races. A good number of races that Democrats should have won were lost due to this issue.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

The GOP ran a ton of ads using this issue

Sure enough, Republicans saw an opportunity. Painting Democrats as supporters of “defunding” the police became the focus of campaign literature, TV and digital ads, and live televised debates. That forced Democratic candidates to divert resources that might otherwise be used discussing COVID-19 relief, health care or education to be used disavowing themselves from the slogan and otherwise defending themselves.

Out of 31 broadcast TV ads that Trump and other allied campaign groups used to attack Biden and other Democrats for being soft on law and order, 11 spots ― that aired a total of 77,647 times ― explicitly mentioned “defund the police,” according to an analysis Kantar Media/CMAG conducted for HuffPost. And out of 216 Republican broadcast TV ads in congressional races blasting Democrats, 157 spots that aired 103,000 times used the phrase.

I was disappointed to seen Susan Collins re-elected. It seems that Collins was able to use the "defund the police" issue very effectively

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the GOP’s Senate campaign arm hit her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, in a TV ad for links to a “defund the police” billionaire. The basis for the ad was Gideon’s attendance at a fundraiser hosted by an environmental coalition that includes NextGen America. NextGen, funded by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, supports defunding the police

[DFW]

5. In a nutshell, if you're carrying some rope and a Republican wants to borrow it

It's because he wants to hang you with it.

Better not to walk around carrying rope.

[Gothmog]

6. Obama Says 'Defund The Police' Alienates Voters, Drawing Sharp Rebuke From The Left

I trust President Obama on this issue

Link to tweet

Former President Barack Obama drew criticism from progressive Democrats this week for suggesting that “snappy” slogans like “defund the police” are alienating voters and making it harder from a political standpoint to enact “changes you want done.”

In an interview with Peter Hamby, who hosts the Snapchat political show “Good Luck America,” Obama said “you [lose] a big audience the minute” a slogan like “defund the police” is used, making “it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done.”

“Defund the police” refers to the reallocation or redirection of government funding from police departments to social services for minority communities. As Rashawn Ray of the Brookings Institution noted, defunding does not mean the abolishment of police departments but instead “highlights fiscal responsibility” and “advocates for a market-driven approach to taxpayer money.”....

Obama ― echoing other centrist Democrats who’ve similarly taken issue with “defund the police” and what they’ve decried as radical messaging ― told Hamby that Democrats could benefit from adopting softer rhetoric when talking about police reform.

“If you instead say, ‘Hey, you know what? Let’s reform the police department so that everybody’s being treated fairly. And not just in policing, but in sentencing, how can we divert young people from getting into crime?’” he said.

[JonLP24]

7. All this fracturing is not good

Even the progressives are fracturing. The fact we live in a post truth environment doesn't help.

All I can say is I don't think either side knows what we are up against. All I know is I'm powerless to solve the problems.