Imperative that Democrats figure out what went wrong in 2020

[DonViejo]

BY ALBERT HUNT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 04/25/21 10:00 AM EDT

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of Bloomberg News. He previously served as reporter, bureau chief and Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal. For almost a quarter century he wrote a column on politics for The Wall Street Journal, then The International New York Times and Bloomberg View. He hosts Politics War Room with James Carville. Follow him on Twitter @AlHuntDC.

This past election, the Democrats won the big one — the presidency — and unexpectedly swept two Senate seats in Georgia. Overall, however, it was a bad year. Some Democrats realize if they don't figure out why — and what to do about it — deeper troubles lie ahead.

While a 50-50 Senate gives Democrats control, they lost several races they were supposed to win. Instead of picking up House seats, they lost more than a dozen to barely retain a majority. Devastatingly, they made few gains in contests for state legislatures, which Republicans have dominated for a decade. The biggest disappointments were failing to win the North Carolina Senate and Texas House to neutralize Republican gerrymandering plans.

Thus, the Democrats are at a decided disadvantage in the post-2020 redistricting — on top of the reality that the party holding the White House usually fares poorly in the midterm elections.

These problems occur at a time, ironically, when the politics should be moving the Democrats’ way. On big national issues — the economy, jobs, health care, voting rights — the Democrats have a clear advantage. It has long been conventional wisdom that America is a center-right country politically; it looks more center, tilting left, today.

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https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/550144-imperative-that-democrats-figure-out-what-went-wrong-in-2020

[nycbos]

1. The defund the police narrative hurt us.

Of course no Democrat who is credible actually said they were going to do it, but Republicans lied about it enough that people actually believed it.

Something we haven't learned is when you repeat a lie often enough the lie becomes accepted as facts. Republicans just keep repeating bullshit and tell me that people believe it. We say the truth one or two times and assume the truth will catch on. We need to learn how to constantly correct the lies.

[empedocles]

3. republicons just needed to amplify 'defund . . . '

'' . . .Earlier this year, progressive Democrats backed proposals to defund police departments across the country. In July, Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), both members of the far-left "squad," endorsed a bill that would strip federal funding for police departments and disband several federal law enforcement agencies. Ocasio-Cortez, who has also backed efforts to defund police departments, said New York City's decision to cut more than $1 billion in funding for the city's police department in June did not go far enough, saying "the fight to defund policing continues. . . . "


https://freebeacon.com/democrats/dems-turn-away-from-defund-the-police-and-socialism/

[Deb]

2. Lets discuss news agencies spread of Twitter lies first.

How condescending these tools can be.

[Zambero]

4. Trumpistas showed up with him on the ballot

And voted GOP down-ballot. In the 2018 mid-terms, he wasn't a draw for many of them, while anti-Trump voters were motivated to show up in large numbers and vote Democratic top to bottom. The House flipped, exceeding all expectations. In 2020, anti-Trump voters showed up in force once again, but were partially offset by always-Trumpers who sat out 2018. And more than a few non-Trump Republicans voted for Biden while casting votes for other GOP candidates.

[PortTack]

5. A good number of the seats lost were freshmen seats in CA qgop strong holds

It shouldn’t be surprising that they flipped back.

All in all, we did quite well..my opinion, and others

[empedocles]

6. Dems were running against the trump disasters, including Covid, and trump himself.

Couldn't hold on to seats that had flipped in 2018? [Defund?].

2022 is an absolute must.

[YorkRd]

7. Our door to door GOTV was crippled by COVID

I think Democrats not going door to door and having rally’s because of COVID hurt them while Republicans proudly campaigned without being COVID safe. Bad messaging about “defund” the police also hurt. [link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/22/texas-democrats-election-2020-report-voters|

[shrike3]

10. I agree

Republicans disregarded Covid guidelines and had an on the ground presence.

Same with Defund the police. Worst slogan ever.

[bullimiami]

8. voter suppression. voter suppression. voter suppression. voter suppression. WTF already.

[lees1975]

9. There was some voter fraud involved, including some Russian help for Trump

How else could a miserable failure of a President manage to pick up 74 million votes? The Dems got the turnout for the Presidency based on their insistence that they needed a big one to overcome Trump cheating, but the cheating helped some really ignorant people to get elected like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Green, among others.